Update 2-08:
Shuster apologizes, suspended.
Appearing on Tucker Carlson's show a few days ago, Hillary fan Lanny Davis observed that Tucker's is "about the only show on MSNBC that consistently allows a Clinton perspective to be expressed." But maybe not so much when, as this evening, David Shuster is the guest host. Employing one of the more graphic metaphors to be heard about a Clinton from the MSM, Shuster tonight claimed that Chelsea Clinton is being "pimped out" by her mother's campaign.
The jumping off point was a clip in which three members of The View mentioned having been called by Chelsea on behalf of her mother. Shuster's guests were Dem pundit Bill Press and columnist Bob Franken.
View video here.
DAVID SHUSTER: Bill, there's just something a little bit unseemly to me that Chelsea's out there calling up celebrities, saying support my mom, and she's apparently also calling these super delegates.
BILL PRESS: Hey, she's working for her mom. What's unseemly about that? During the last campaign, the Bush twins were out working for their dad. I think it's great, I think she's grown up in a political family, she's got politics in her blood, she loves her mom, she thinks she'd make a great president --
SHUSTER: But doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?
Press predictably disagreed, but Shuster persisted.
SHUSTER: The collective Washington media, which has respected the sort of unwritten rules about staying away from Chelsea, not asking her questions, that is now out the window, that it's now fair game, that when you and I, Bob, Bill see Chelsea out there at these campaign events, there's nothing wrong with going up to her with a microphone and saying, OK, which super delegates did you call?
BOB FRANKEN: One teensy-weensy problem: she has Secret Service protection, so it gets a little bit dicey.
Update 2-08: Shuster Apologizes
Shuster apologized during the 8 AM hour of Morning Joe:
You know how we ran this clip of women from The View; Chelsea Clinton had called them. Last night on Tucker's show we ran the same clip, and out of that I said a lot of things about Chelsea. I praised her and said Americans should be proud of her. I know Mike Huckabee has praised the Clintons for how they've raised her. The fact of the matter is all of us, everybody loved Chelsea Clinton. We also talked about the fact that Chelsea Clinton, as the campaign has acknowledged, she's making calls to these super-delegates to help her mom get the nomination, which can be the unseemly side of politics. Last night I used a phrase, some slang about her efforts. I didn't think that people would take it literally, but some people have, and to the extent that people feel I was being perjorative about the actions of Chelsea Clinton making these phone calls, to the extent that people feel I was being perjorative, I apologize for that. I should have seen people would see it that way. I'm sorry.
