Letters to the Editor
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Hillary's support for working people
Well, people make mistakes. Sometimes they say boneheaded, dumb stuff.
To demand, as Hillary is doing, a pound of flesh for a single stupid comment is unreasonable.
Hillary should spend more time doing her JOB than complaining about dumb comments. Today, Feb. 12, she missed the FISA vote on the Senate Floor. Obama was there. Where was Hillary?
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Shuster should be fired
Oh poor David Shuster. Give me a break. Why do so many women make excuses for people who degrade them? He called Chelsea a whore. There is no excuse for that. None.
He knew what he was doing and at first even defended his comments. He only apologized when forced. And don't forget how angry he was that Chris Matthews had to apologize for saying that Hillary only has her Senate seat because her husband "messed around." He defended Matthews and blamed everything on Media Mattters.
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OMG..Have we really become such a sensitive society
All of this FAKE outrage over comments people make really makes me want to throw my guts up. In the age of FOX "News" who goes after anyone and everyone with less than credible statements that are often politically incorrect and inflammatory, we are turning in to the "moral" police and are edging ever so closely to censorship. Hey Joan..if you don't like MSNBC or how the are so demeaning to women then why don't you STOP GOING ON EVERY ONE OF THEIR SHOWS? Shuster was right..this is a NON-ISSUE and another case of people deliberately making a mountain out of a mole hill.
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You Forgot Tucker Carlson
Carlson hates the Clinton and he has the "frat boy" air of a light weight playing grown-up so it is hard to know if he is just an overall bigot or just likes playing one. However, his grasp of the truth is always shaky and his claim that others are playing the victim card without any proof, or worse distorting the facts, gives him license to be as bigotted as he likes.
He always makes me wonder if you was always dishonest and that was why he became a rightwinger and thus MSNBC puts him air or if he only took to distorting the facts after he became a rightwinger.
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Pimps and Fluffers.
David Shuster said a dumb thing. There's no excuse for it. He has been roundly and justifiably condemned. But, given that he's apologized twice and been suspended, I'm not sure what else should be expected of the man. A firing? A public flogging on the Hallmark Channel? What does the guy need to do? If Sen. Clinton can forgive John McCain for his horrific Chelsea joke, I'm guessing she could do the same with Shuster, however aggrieved she feels as a mother. (Which reminds me, Chelsea is 27 years old and has long since left the nest -- can we hear her speak about this issue, please?)
Shuster's error aside, the more serious problem seems to be a pattern of sexist statements by MSNBC talking heads. Perhaps a boycott, a la Fox News, is in order. I'd support that...then again, I don't watch MSNBC anyway. I go to CNN for election night coverage and otherwise get my news from the Internets.
Also, Joan, you do realize that you recently referred to Obama supporters in the media as "fluffers", right? (In your post-Super Tuesday column.) That's by no means equivalent to Shuster's slur, but it's in the same ballpark.
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Maybe Shuster is taking the fall for his colleagues
But I don't feel all that sorry for him. The apology sort of amounted to one of those, "Oh, I'm sorry I got caught" ones.
I do think it would be pretty interesting to see David Shuster get back on the air and say, OK, I said it. Here is what my colleagues have said over the years and exactly why did I get suspended and why didn't they get suspended - MSNBC - what's going on? But, he'd probably get fired for that one.
Anyway, we shouldn't expect people to be consistent about these things. Vivian Stringer was rightly angry about what Imus said about her team. But she showed up and defended Isiah Thomas at a press cenference after he had a judgement returned against him in civil court for sexually harassing a black woman. I guess that was OK with her. Go figure.
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On mistakes.
The first time is a mistake. The second time is a bad habit. The third time is a way of life. How many "mistakes" have MSNBC made regarding Senator Clinton, and women in general? Methinks it's a way of life.
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Meanwhile, Walsh accuses Obama of using "fluffers"
"As Greg Sargent and Craig Crawford point out, Obama's media fluffers..."
As anyone as hip and with-it as Walsh knows, fluffers are women hired by the porn industry to give male porn stars erections before their scenes.
Walsh manages to be sexist against both women and Obama.
Will Walsh suspend herself immediately from Salon?
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Agree
As an Obama supporter, I think he should comment in condemnation of the statement - it was completely inappropriate and uncalled-for.
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Thank you, Joan
First off, the comment was thoughtless, and even if the only intent was to ask a legitimate question in a "hip" way, it shouldn't have escaped the internal censor.
But I've always liked David Shuster, and the people calling for his ouster don't seem to know his record. He's not the one who talks of Senator Clinton's laugh as a "witch's cackle" or suggests that the best thing that happened to her political career was her husband "messing around" on her. Maybe I have come to enjoy Shuster as a contrast to Matthews, but the truth is that I have. Also I think it behooves Senator Clinton to accept the personal apologies he has tried to render. That's not to suggest that she should let MSNBC off the hook. But it would be good of her to at least hear him out if he is, as has been reported, attempting to reach her personally to apologize.
I have to disagree about Senator Obama weighing in. Anything he says would be seen in a political light as taking advantage of another's misfortune, even if he comes in and supports Senator Clinton in the extreme. He would be imposing himself into a story that has nothing to do with him. Though I suppose a private call, and a change of venue for their debate on the 26th, would be an appropriate show of support. She boycotted Fox News (until recently) as a show of solidarity with him. He should do as much for her.
Though I have to say, MSNBC is the only cable news network I can watch for any length of time. Fox I won't watch for obvious reasons. But CNN is visually unbearable. Have you seen the orgy of graphics they use? It's a cacaphonous insult to the sighted. That, more than anything else, is why I watch MSNBC for returns.