David Shuster, the television news anchor who suggested on air the other day that the Clinton family had “pimped out” daughter Chelsea in its campaign for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential nomination, has been temporarily suspended from all NBC News broadcasts.
MSNBC announced that it had temporarily suspended anchor Shuster from all NBC news broadcasts — except to offer his on-air apology for what he said about Chelsea Clinton.
Shuster had outraged the Clinton campaign by saying that the campaign had “pimped out” the Clintons’ daughter when they had her place phone calls to party superdelegates on her mother’s behalf. In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson on Friday excoriated Shuster and called the comment “beneath contempt.”
#30–Greg==Chelsea CAMPAIGNING for her mother has been going on for months now without negative comment.
Its in the context and discussion of personally contacting individual super delegates that the term pimping came up.
There is NO LOGICAL WAY you can accept Olbermanns use of the word and not Shusters. In fact, Shusters would be even more applicable in that context because of the main meaning applying to women, especially young women and older men, especially politicians, especially during a campaign.
Hilliary is THE MOST calculatingly obviously lying/manipulating/triangulating politicians there ever has been. Second only to Bill because she isn’t quite as good at it.
Do you think Hilliary was for or against drivers licenses for illegal aliens?
Do you think Hilliary is for or against having her personal papers during her term as co-president made public?–and does she have the power to make them immediately available or not?
Do you think Hilliary sent Billy Boy out to trash Obama or not?
etc.
someone really needs to get that snuke outta her snizz…
Greg;
OK, lets say that what MSNBC does is just criticism.
Why then if they are an “unbiased” “news” organization do they so quickly and severely(?) punish one comment about the Clinton family while allowing a prime time anchor to freely refer to the President of the United States as a Pimp and a Nazi without consequence? And do it on a semi nightly basis?
The issue isn’t Chelsea campaigning or President Bush hiding. It’s that the Clinton’s said “jump” and DNC-NBC said “how high” without blinking.
If that is not a clear example of bias, I don’t know what is.
What a bunch of pathetic wimps we have commenting on this situation. Since when does the politicos call the shots on what the media does or says? Pimping out is in current usage and has nothing to do with prostitution in the real sense. It has to do with being “used.” Or selling out. But that is all besides the point. The media folks are supposed to make comments in any way they see fit. This was not offensive unless you were perhaps Chelsea and had your panties in a bunch over the remark. But to excoriate this guy over the comment is amazing to me. Welcome to the USA of spineless jellyfish. And that includes many of you commenter’s who should be ashamed of yourselves. ASHAMED!!
If this guy should be fired, he should be fired for apologizing. Welcome to the club of politically correct newspeak crap.
Dvorak – read a freaking dictionary occasionally. Might keep your foot out of your mouth. Pimp is to serve as a procurer of prostitutes. No other meaning. So people telling you your daughter is pimping your show for you would be absolutely fine for you?
YOU should be ashamed for defending this cretin. He should know better, on a -semi-network show, what NOT to say. It’s called being diplomatic, something perhaps you’ve lost in your years whining on the internet. It’s also called being a grown up and debating intelligently. There are MANY ways he could have gotten his point across without resorting to crude terms that are NOT useful in a civil discussion.
This isn’t frat boy school debating — it’s the real world and that sort of crap doesn’t hack it.
I look forward to your next few columns where you use pimping in as many contexts as possible to show just how innocent it is to you and your family.
#34–Dvorak==you don’t contribute often enough. Easy to see your support for this website as “Uncensored.” Thanks for supporting the first amendment and what freedom of speech really “should” mean.
Do you get more upset or rather dismayed at our political incompetency on display?
#35–from the Urban Dictionary==
Pimping–To strongly promote and support a certain thing.
To you word devotees–the Urban Dictionary does a pimping fine job running down the derivatives of this highly adaptive word. Some are funny==going to go back and read more on “fur stacking.” I’m sure thats related to beaver pelts, but I’m not sure how.
Thanks John. Most people under the age of 30 use this word as a metaphor for promotion. To promote or talk up a person or object. To the people who only read the dictionary I say just because it aint in the dictionary don,t mean it aint. And yes John does “pimp” his blog whenever he can.
I never heard of this guy before now so I’m guessing it’s working out for him.
John C says “This was not offensive unless you were perhaps Chelsea…”
Yep, that’s what makes it offensive.
#35, Jim,
Yes, maybe you should read a dictionary occasionally. Simply because the cretins, like yourself, that don’t have one, I posted definitions of prostitute and pimp in #28. And if you think I just made them up, click your mouse on the word and it will take you to the originating site so you might read the FULL definition yourself.
So people telling you your daughter is pimping your show for you would be absolutely fine for you?
That is not what Shuster said. He referred to Hillary Clinton and her handlers pimping Chelsea to sway the super delegates. Chelsea’s going to the super delegates is the prostitution. Chelsea is not doing the pimping, it is those sending her. I just know you want this to be about sex. It isn’t.
If you’re fucking ignorant about proper use of English,
1)invest in a dictionary
2)use an on-line dictionary
3)look at the entire context of the idea
4)don’t jump to a conclusion, it will probably be wrong.
5)be prepared for some colloquial or even slang meaning or nuance you are unfamiliar with.
Yesterday, I was discussing the word “right” with my eight y/o.
“Is it right to write about the right right?”
To which she answered, “Right !!!”
( I love my kid)
***
It’s called being diplomatic, something perhaps you’ve lost in your years whining on the internet. It’s also called being a grown up and debating intelligently.
I still don’t understand your point. There was no name calling. Shuster used a word in the proper context as a verb. The conversation was about the back room machinations being promoted by Hillary Clinton and her advisors. Lobbying is generally seen as a degenerate or despicable occupation. Approaching the super delegates is lobbying. Now, go back to the definition of prostitution and read it again. Debating intelligently also involves exposing the less seemly side of life.
If you want to only see Earl Grey tea and finger biscuits served on lace doilies then try some Episcopalian afternoon luncheon.
Effan moran.
95% of news worth listening to is offensive to someone and almost always about whom the news is about.
How many want “feel good news” safe for all listeners?
Besides==again==it wasn’t news, it was commentary. Thats the trouble with “National Markets”–lose a percentage point for a week and that is worth becoming as bland as possible–just before people click off and start reading blogs instead?
#35 – Dvorak – read a freaking dictionary occasionally. Might keep your foot out of your mouth. Pimp is to serve as a procurer of prostitutes. No other meaning.
Hey Gramps… There’s this thing called popular culture. You might want to check it out and learn how the meanings of words and phrases change over time.
Gay, by the way, no longer means a happy guy.
#25, et al
As in my original post said (#21), it’s not a big deal to use “pimping” out of context as a sarcastic joke (as Keith O did). I think it’s childish, and shows bad taste, but as many before have said, it’s become part of our culture.
My challenge to you was to say there (rightly) would be just as much outrage if it were used *in* context against a republican, e.g.: NEWSMAN: “George W. Bush pimped out his daughters today to get votes.”
After reading some of these comments, I guess I’ve been a little too sheltered in the last few years (I already suspected). I just didn’t realize that a metaphor that used to be considered seamy has now become so mainstream that it’s no longer considered improper, even when highly personalized. I still remember getting a lecture the first time I uttered the word “pimp” in the company of my parents, and maybe that stuck with me a little too long, but I can change.
So if I ever make an offhand reference to Laura Bush having been “pimped out” in her 2004 campaign stump appearances on behalf of her husband, as well as the speech she made at the Republican Convention, y’all will know that I mean no offense to the First Lady.
That’s OK. The media all ready gave prime interviews for an author who claimed Laura Bush was a drug dealer.
For all you believers in a neutral media, let’s see if Dick Morris gets a spot on the Today Show talking about one of his anti-Hillary books, or maybe the head counsel of the Watergate Committee on Good Morning America saying he wishes he’d gotten Hillary disbarred for her behavior.
Aren’t these idiots just supposed to read the teleprompter and keep their personal agenda out of it?
Hmm, I was in agreement, but now Chelsea is having lunch with a superdelegate in college.
#49, Do you even understand what you’re saying, or are you just blathering on? Is “having lunch” some sort of code for taking off her panties? Is the lunch some sort of bribe? What the hell is your problem, dude?
Well, I guess we see who really runs NBC. Don’t go up against the hand that feeds you, or in NBC’s case the democratic party.
There is bad news about Clinton.
It is opined that Bill Clinton committed racist hate crimes, and I am not free to say anything further about it.
Respectfully Submitted by Andrew Y. Wang, J.D. Candidate
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(I can type 90 words per minute, and there are probably thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post. Moreover, there are innumerable copies in very many countries around the world.)
_________________
“If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Off the top of my head—it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.