Shuster Sides With Clintons on Caucus Kerfuffle

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Bill and Hillary might be taking flak for the vote-suppressing lawsuit their supporters brought in Nevada, but the couple can count on at least one supporter in the MSM: David Shuster.

On today's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough and MSNBC's David Shuster got into an extended argument over Mitt Romney's testy exchange with a reporter over the candidate's claim that Washington lobbyists were not running his campaign [in contrast with McCain's]. But while that dust-up between Scarborough and Shuster had its moments, a couple Shuster comments during the briefer Nevada-caucus discussion were, IMHO, more telling.

View video here, which includes both the MSNBC pair's discussion and footage of Bill Clinton's angry reaction to a reporter who had the temerity to question him about the lawsuit.

Background: this past summer, the DNC in conjunction with the Nevada Dem party agreed that to facilitate participation in the caucuses by the thousands of casino employees who would be working this Saturday, at-large caucuses would be established at the casinos themselves. All was copacetic till a couple weeks ago, when the Culinary Workers Union, thousands of whose members would be attending those casino-based caucuses, endorsed Barack Obama. Suddenly, the teachers union, which is backing Hillary Clinton, brought a lawsuit to stop the casino-based caucuses. A judge has now ruled that the caucuses can proceed.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: [Bill Clinton] doesn't like the idea of the caucuses being held in the casinos after they knew for a year that caucuses would be held in the casinos. But then last week, the casino workers decided to endorse Obama, and now Bill Clinton has a problem with caucuses being held in casinos. I'm confused.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: No you're not.

DAVID SHUSTER: It's easy, Joe. You shouldn't give an unfair advantage to --

SCARBOROUGH: What is that? I am an Iceman Lawyer, what is that, I am just a Caveman Lawyer. I don't know your strange political ways in Washington. Bill Clinton shocked, stunned and deeply saddened that they're going to do what they've been saying they're going to do for a year. Let's roll the tape.

Cut to clip of Clinton. Favorite morsel: Clinton angrily telling the reporter that the Hillary backers bringing the suit are "old-fashioned" when it comes to elections. Such a traditionalist, that Bill.

SCARBOROUGH: That is fascinating. Bill Clinton, very upset.

SHUSTER: He wasn't very upset! [Don't look for Dave to turn up on O'Reilly as a body-language expert].

SCARBOROUGH: And going around, the last couple of days, he's been saying the last couple days "would you rather one person's vote count five times as much as anybody else's? That's not democratic!"

BRZEZINSKI: It seems that everyone's a little ornery lately.

SCARBOROUGH: They are. But you know who's not? My good friend David Shuster. He's such a good guy.

And as you see, the two put their differences aside and "hugged it out" in a way that would make Ari Gold proud.