Hillary Hillary Clinton is threatening to cancel a debate with Barack Obama on MSNBC. Why? by rtbohan
(libertarian)
Friday, February 8, 2008
Katherine G Seeley reports in "The Caucus" blog in the New York Times that Hillary Clinton is threatening to cancel her appearance in a scheduled MSNBC debate with Barack Obama unless she recives an apoliogy from political analyst David Shuster.
Shuster, on air, commented on the Clinton campaign's use of Chelsea Clinton. Using her to make telephone calls to superdeelegates to the convention, he said, meant that she is being "pimped out in some strange sort of way." A Clinton campaign spokesman said the remark was "disgusting" and "beneath contempt". So far, he said, the network has not responded to the call for an apology.
I have several reactions to this. In the first place, it seems to me that Senator Clinton and her staff are being unduely harsh toward MSNBC. Most of its newscasters and analysts are very supportive of her campaign, even to the point of palpable bias in favor of her candidacy. And I have watched Chris Matthews twice make forced, grovelling apology for daring to suggest that Senator Clinton's first election to the senate had more to do with her being married to a former President who shall remain annonymous than any overwhelming poplarity or outstandng record of her own. And I watched MSNBC late night run repeatedly a favorable film biography of Senator Clinton which certainly looks like campaign propaganda.
My second reaction is that Senator Clinton and her staff are, or are willing to appear to be, remarkably unhip. Senator Clinton is a bright woman with an interest in and a knowlege of American society. Surely she keeps up on changing slang terms. Surely she knows "pimp" no longer has the "disgusting" connotations it did when she and I were young. Surely she or her staff have noticed "Pimp this House" and "Pimp my car" among current TV shows. If they do not, maybe Chelsea should clue them in.
All of this leads me to the suspicion that this is not about David Shuster or MSNBC or the use of slang. I suspect that the reason for boyctting the debate is that she does not want to debate Barack Obama. If she becomes the Democrats' nominee, I am sure that she will find othe excuses to not debating the Republican nominee.. It is not an encouraging prospect for the future.
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