I need to stand up and take Senator Hillary Clinton’s side on this one.
There is no excuse for a network on-air personality to say Chelsea Clinton was “sort of being pimped out” by the Clinton campaign. And Barbara Walters is rather deluded if she thinks this issue really should be dropped by the Senator.
I’ve heard from numerous sources Chelsea Clinton is a fantastic and energizing public speaker and (gasp) fully supporting her mother (no way?) during this election. Let’s just go ahead and assume a daughter can and would want to support her mother if she ran for office.
Now that Chelsea has stepped a bit further into the limelight on her own, it stands to reason the media will discuss her role, her events, her candor, her demeanor. We are no longer in the situation of the 90’s where Chelsea was the daughter of a president, in the limelight due to her parent’s choices.
Reporter David Shuster has apologized for the “pimp” comment. Keith Olbermann has apologized. The head of NBC has apologized. Then Senator Clinton sent a letter, reiterating how inappropriate the comment really was, and Barbara Walters thinks she’s gone too far.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah. You come after my daughter…my kids-make some stupid remark or say something inappropriate-do you think *I* would let up?
Exactly.
Hell no.
I want heads. And I want them to roll.
In fact, I want them rolling and then wrapped in a bow and then served on a golden platter while you kneel at my feet.
I think the Mom and Daughter get to decide when to drop it, not Barbara Walters.
I’d have to argue against the idea this is a campaign ploy to keep Hillary’s name in the news. I mean, really. It’s all we’re hearing about, so that’s not a problem. I don’t think it’s some ploy by the campaign for Clinton to play victim and have us all feeling sorry for them. I really think this is a matter of being tired of the bullshit.
How much Chris Matthews and David Shuster can you take before you finally write the head of NBC and say WTF??!!! Enough already you assholes.
Notice Senator Clinton didn’t make such a bru-ha-ha about all this when they were just going after her. Cross the line to the kids, regardless of their age or voluntary or involuntary involvement…
..and the gloves are off.
I got your back Senator Clinton. Let them brand us pimps and accuse us of exploiting our kids. We know better. And we’re certainly changing the world, aren’t we?
So, wait – does this mean I have to talk about how I pimp my kids out to their grandmother’s for killer Valentine’s Day chocolate that we then eat instead of the kids because they only need a little because they’re toddlers?
Is it really the word pimp that’s so awful or is it a matter of “no one can make fun of my family/friends but me” – because if he said it looked like he was using and abusing her there would be no apologies, no freaking out.
I just don’t get what the big deal is with the word pimp. If he said “working her like a slave” however, I’d be sending letters of my own.
Jenny you don’t see any negative connotations with the word PIMP? Really? PIMP, as in I am hooking out chelsea on the corner for votes…..really?
Just sayin’….um, totally not cool at best. Completely offensive in the context of the daughter of the woman who could be our first female president.
Yeah, I usually love all the guys involved – but what were they thinking? And Clinton really has reason to be tired of this crap, it’s just continual! (One of the reasons I prefer Obama but that’s another subject). I think Hillary had a right to be pissed over this one.
And I agree with you, “pimping” is a really negative thing to say in this format. It’s one thing to use that word as a joke with your friends and whatnot or even for people to use that word within the entertainment industry, but for newscasters to actually say that about a presidential candidate’s daughter, and a former president’s daughter? SERIOUSLY?
I actually thought all of this was being handled appropriately on both sides, and didn’t get all that annoyed until Barbara Walters opened her mouth today and thought Clinton should drop it. I mean really-the mother and daughter should be dropping it if and when they are satisfied. It annoyed me Walters thought she knew better, as if it were some issue that the parties involved needed to just let die. I think in these situations the offended party gets to decide, not Barbara Walters.
I really enjoy it when you get mad. I just don’t want to do anything to get you mad at ME.
You’re absolutely right about the word “pimp” in this instance. No one accused any of the Bushes or the Kennedys because their kids were stumping for them on the campaign trail. This reeks of gender-based double standard.
I totally agree with you. Say what you want about me, but my kid?? Fuggedaboutit. Chelsea has never been anything but stellar, and we should all hope our kids grow up like her and would put themselves out there to help us achieve something.
If someone suggested that I ‘pimped my daughter out’ I’d be royally pissed, too. No question. Plus, I like Chelsea Clinton and admire her poise, especially given the difficult circumstances she faced as a teenager.
With that said, why stop with MSNBC and Chris Matthews? How about the Fox folks, who will say and/or do anything outrageous, especially if it makes anyone they dislike look bad. The issue here for me has less to do with the specific Chelsea incident and much more to do with the utter lack of boundaries these clowns feel when they’re on the air and talking politics.
How about Wolf Blitzer asking Obama during the debate if he mentioned CSpan debates as a put-down to Hillary? He was nearly indignant when asking that question. Yet no one batted an eye at that, despite the fact that it was a complete non-sequitur.
These anchor-type guys are supposed to be ‘reporters’ (yeah right) first, pundits second. I realize it’s hard to keep the convo going when they’ve run out of things to say, but that doesn’t mean they should run off at the mouth just for the sake of it.
bottom line — using the term ‘pimping’ with regard to Chelsea was insulting and rude. Now let’s hold every other anchor out there to the same standard and boycott any one who makes rude, debasing remarks about others. (Think O’Reilly’s ‘slip’ when he called Obama Osama)
ABSOLUTELY- I really think this is the culmination of the all the nonsense. I agree-let’s hold all their asshole feet to the fire.
Ok, just to clarify, I am not SUPPORTING the use of this term. But I heard the original broadcast. And I giggled. I’m just trying to figure out how bad I’m supposed to feel that I really enjoyed hearing a news anchor say what he thought in words he uses outside of the office. At least he said what he thought instead of just being another talking head.
It got people talking about Hillary and Chelsea – which I think is a good thing – so…if it had a good result…see I’m just thinking out loud here…I’m going to end up sounding even worse than I did in the first post.
I hear what you’re saying Jenny. I think it’s something they’d whisper in the back office-idiot said it on air and I would have giggled out of SHOCK had I heard it live. In a “DUUUUUDE…did he just say that?” kinda way. Then you know, realized how totally awful it was and want to kick him in the nuts.
I’m all for nut kicking lately.
I am so appalled at the extreme misogyny that is inherent in this and so much of the Hillary bashing. It makes me nauseous.
Point of clarification. During the Jamie Lynn Spears hubbub last month, you defended the girl’s right to stay on the air after an error in judgment. Now, after a newscaster has made an error in judgment, you say, “I want heads. And I want them to roll.”
Come on, Erin. The guy said something stupid; that fact is not even debatable. But we have all used the word “pimped” in this context. The dude used it in an extraordinarily inopportune time and in reference to a very high profile person. Must he face the guillotine for that?
Oh DGM, I will totally take that bait.
1) Jaime Lynn did nothing ON AIR. She did not get knocked up on the air. She did not talk about getting knocked up during ZOEY 101. She didn’t even lift her skirt.
2) She’s a fictional character on air.
3) She’s a MINOR
4) she’s an actress not a newscaster
5) I don’t really care what MSNC does to Shuster. I think what was done is sufficient. However, it’s the offending party here that I think gets to make the call on this-are they satisfied?
6)take my words in context. “You come after my daughter…my kids-make some stupid remark or say something inappropriate-do you think *I* would let up?
Exactly.
Hell no.
I want heads. And I want them to roll.
In fact, I want them rolling and then wrapped in a bow and then served on a golden platter while you kneel at my feet.”
That has nothing to do with Shuster or MSNBC. That’s what I would want if anyone said or did anything to my child.
7) Ducks Suck
If the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks suck, what does that say about your Detroit Red Wings, whom the Ducks beat yesterday in their own rink?
In other news:
“She didn’t even lift her skirt.” If that’s true, I have that whole birds and bees thing all wrong.
I don’t think I took anything out of context. You were essentially saying, “If I were Hillary, I would want heads to roll.” Same difference.
This just in: the Red Wings have signed David Schuster to be the team’s new goon. News and highlights coming up.
Hey Danny,
Erin wants me to tell you to shut up. So…you know…shut up. Or something. Just so long as she gets off my back, too.
DGM-I totally missed the Zoey 101 episode where she lifts her skirt. Can I get a tape of that?
I would want heads to roll. I would be satisfied when I was satisfied. Not when Barbara Walters dictated I should be.
..and yes, I see the ad for the VIEW running in my sidebar. What? It’s called blogging-we engage in discussion. Ms. Walters is welcome to join us.
But not Elizabeth. She Scares me.
I think the word “pimp” has pretty much lost its meaning in the traditional sense. To me, this is just another ride on the Hillary Clinton Victim Train Tour 08.
…at least SueBob has a real point that we can debate. Is Hillary playing Victim?
When I heard about the “pimped out” comment, I laughed. Then I went, “waiiiit a second.” That’s one of those things that we use so much in casual conversation that it’s lost the some of the shock value inherent in its implications. BUT, that doesn’t make it ok to use in a serious news broadcast. An apology is one thing, but I think it is worthwhile to point out how inherently inappropriate something is, especially when we’ve apparently all become culturally inured to casual misogyny, myself included. I don’t think Hillary is playing victim here.
(But that’s one of the reasons I feel so torn about her candidacy and how I’m supposed to feel about it — are we ever going to get past the point where we can evaluate a female candidate on grounds that *aren’t* a minefield of misogynist assumptions, however unconscious those assumptions may be?)
Yeah you know..this stuff.
And i think Hil has bit her tongue waaaay too much on this stuff.
I saw a snipped of an interview where she was asked if she makes president …’can she control her husband.’
I was like..WTF? And i waited for Hil to say the same thing..but she answered it…and I like to think that she was just thrown off by such a rude remark….it really pissed me off.
I don’t think I have heard a male runner for prez being asked to muzzle or ‘control’ his wife!!!