Throughout the weekend and into this morning, the networks continued to weigh in on the suspension of MSNBC’s David Shuster. The suspension, which TVNewser has been told is “temporary,” was the result of Shuster using the phrase “pimped out” referring to Chelsea Clinton‘s role in her mother’s campaign.
• The issue has been raised on several FNC programs, including this morning’s Fox & Friends, on Friday’s Hannity and Colmes and on Saturday when FNC anchor Julie Banderas interviewed Bill Press, the man who was asked the now-infamous Shuster question. Press also blogged about the incident on The Huffington Post.
• On Meet the Press, Tim Russert brought up the Shuster situation without mentioning his name. In an exchange with Gwen Ifill discussing the ways words have been used to attack the Democratic candidates, Russert said, “That MSNBC reporter has been suspended indefinitely, and the president of NBC News has apologized. Words do matter.”
• On CNN’s Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz discussed the suspension with the National Review’s Jim Geraghty: “Apparently Shuster graduated from the Don Imus school of tact and diplomacy and sensitivity here,” said Geraghty.
• Friday on Countdown, just hours after the suspension, Keith Olbermann issued his apology to the Clintons for Shuster’s remark. “We are literally dreadfully sorry,” he said. Meanwhile, Extreme Mortman questions whether Olbermann’s use of “pimping” in September when discussing Gen. David Petraeus‘s Congressional testimony warrants a second look.
• Sen. Clinton’s communications chief Howard Wolfson, whose outrage on a conference call Friday propelled the controversy, was a guest on Morning Joe today. The topic did not come up during the interview.
• The story also continues to generate email to TVNewser. Click continued to read more of them…
> Has anyone considered that these reporters are EXHAUSTED and maxed out and perhaps not using their best judgment. I agree that was a bad comment but wasn’t the view more disrespectful of Chelsea herself rather than how she was being used?
> MSNBC set the precedent when they caved to Sharpton vis a vis Don Imus. When you capitulate to the professional victims in political correctness-ville you slide down a slippery slope.
> Clinton should stick to firing her own staff. Firing other people’s staff is something politicians don’t get to do in a free country.
> It’s because blogs like yours that good guys like Shuster get suspended. The focus and concern about ratings, and MSNBC’s obvious desperate desire to not lose the politics-coverage edge to a surging CNN and still-popular Fox.
> So Olbermann’s got Eric Burns’s back but not David Shuster’s who just a few short interviews ago was praising him? Et tu Brutus?
> I met David Shuster at a Hardball Plaza taping, and he was probably the nicest guy there. He can be over-the-top sometimes, but I’m a Hillary supporter, and while I like the fact that this is something for her campaign to seize on for attention, I do not want this to escalate.
> Shuster and Matthews should both get spanked for their comments about women. Boys club is right!