About Shuster

Over at the crack pit this afternoon there was a lot of cheering over MSNBC's decision to suspend David Shuster for his tasteless, inappropriate and frankly, stupid remarks about Chelsea Clinton. (And a lot of flaming of me for thinking it's all overblown, but iz okay)

As I said over there, I'm not going to defend his remarks, but I do feel free to criticize the Clinton campaign's reaction to the event, which in my opinion is something of an over reaction. They got their well deserved apology, fair enough. But they went further, threatening to boycott NBC and MSNBC forever. Really? and in the same week that Hillary Clinton agreed to do a debate on FAUX news? Last time I checked, FOX still employes some of the wankers who have called the Clintons murderers, traitors, terrorist appeasers and worse.

For what it's worth, Josh at TPM has a similar take on the issue. Any maybe he's right- they couldn't touch Tweety, so they went after Shuster's head. If true, I think that's kind of crappy. YMMV.

Not to beat a dead horse here, but I just get annoyed at democratic politicians' propensity for beating the crap out of peeps who aren't really the enemy. Anyone remember Congress' silly condemnation of Moveon.org's Betray-US? ad? A little perspective would be nice.

Flame away!

(Note: and yes, reporters should not engage in silly gansta or sexist talk on the air. It's unprofessional and counterproductive. And I shouldn't have to explain that my criticism of the Clinton campaign doesn't equate to approval of Shuster's original remarks, but apparently I do. Alas, a blogger's existence, even a 16th tier one, is a cruel existence. However, I shall endeavor to soldier on. Bravely. )

Update: Oy. Josh says the is pressing MSNBC to fire Shuster. I agree with what Atrios said yesterday. It's a fair point that the Clintons are generally held to a different standard than everyone else, and that there's nothing creepy or inappropriate about a family member campaigning for a candidate.

That said, I stand by what I said yesterday. Ruining Shuster's career, a guy who does solid reporting, much of it extremely tough on the Bush administration, is going too far. In the meantime, over at the WH they're capering with glee over the idea that one of their most irritating opponents is going to lose his job. Sheesh Hillary, you've got your pound of flesh, let it go.