Clinton Sends Blistering Letter To NBC News Over Chelsea "Pimp" Remark

New York Times:

Senator Hillary Clinton sent a blistering letter today to the head of NBC, which suspended one of its reporters Friday for comments he made about Chelsea Clinton.

The reporter, David Shuster, had said Thursday that Ms. Clinton had been "pimped out" to make calls to superdelegates on behalf of her mother.

Mrs. Clinton said in her letter, to Steve Capus, the head of NBC, that she wanted to write personally to convey the "depth of my feeling" about Mr. Shuster's comments.

"Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient," she wrote.

She also said that Mr. Capus should look at "the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language."

Read the entire article here.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[ResistanceisFutile]

Cry me a river and stop pimping your daughter.

Most parents like to protect their children from the dregs of society, ie. politicians.

Chelsea seems like likeable and decent person. Don't screw her up by involving her in yours and Bill's sleazy world.

[Jazz42]

I agree.
(ResistanceisFutile)

[Jjc2006]

Hillary haters are really showing how schitzoid they are. Name one politician whose adult children have NOT campaigned for them. Hell even teens campaigned for their parents......

The Bush twins did so in between partying.
Obama's girls are on stage with Mommy at rallys and waving. Of course Rudy's kids wouldn't since they hate him, and Ronnie Reagan's two youngest were against him.

But Hillary's child does it and it is evil.

Get a life and get over your vile hatred. It's a sad thing to see a person so unreasonable they will condemn someone for what is the norm.

[neworleanslady68]

Agreed. John Kerry's daughters campaigned for him, and Vanessa did such a nice job. If I remember correctly, at one point during the primaries, another campaign tried to question his commitment to Roe v. Wade, and it was Vanessa who held talks in which she reassured voters about her father's commitment to women's equality in general and to Roe specifically, citing everyday kitchen table talks with him.

I'm for Obama, but I agree that some of this stuff toward Hillary is just crazy and unfair.

[BBGG]

Not because He condoned her sin, but because the men who brought the woman to Him were Hypocrites. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

[NoahVail]

Not to change topics, but what is with all these yellow suits Hillary is wearing? Which consultant told her she looks better in that color? If you listen to what she is saying it sounds like the same old feeble crap to me.

She can distract from the issues as much as she would like, but she got her ass kicked this weekend, and will probably lose in VA, MD & DC, too. Maybe if she had come out against the war sooner, or admitted her vote to go to war was a mistake....

Go Chelsea! You will be a much better candidate than your mom, for sure.

[NoahVail]

Remember- It only takes one child to raze a village.

[neworleanslady68]

Well, it IS a change of topics. Why the emphasis on her appearance? What color tie and suit were Obama wearing last time you saw him? McCain? Is she running for president or queen of the fashion runway? She's already dyed her hair and started wearing makeup to fit the voting public's fascist patriarchal beauty standards, so now her choice of colors is open for comments too?

Also, does it never occur to you that referring to a woman "getting her ass" kicked is not okay?

[thatvisionthing]

If a man can get his ass kicked, why can't a woman? Sexist.

[Justtellthetruth]

Senator Clinton explained that she will continue to take PAC (AIPAC, Insurance companies, defense contractors) money because organizations who have that kind of money must really be representing the will of a lot of people ..........!??!??!

Perhaps Shuster simply got the players confused.

[BBGG]

Who do you know that makes contributions totalling 32 million dollars in the month of January, when the rest of us poor suckers are paying off our credit card debt from Christmas and worrying about how much our taxes are going to be this year and dealing with the increase of insurance premiums effective Jan. 1 and the big deductibles insurance companies (all of them) are putting on us and straining our every day middle class salaries!!! Who do you think is going to save us? Dreamer! Naive fool!

[Justtellthetruth]

Whose going to save us??? Save us from the big insurance companies??? uuuuhuhhhhhhhh......

the woman who takes more money in pac contributions from the 7 largest insurance companies in the nation than any other politician in the entire US government other than George Bush? I THINK NOT.

[neworleanslady68]

I gave $20. I think he's getting lots of small donations like that.

[jubo]

Chelsea is hot, There is no way Janet Reno's her father.

[JamesA1102]

MSNBC has a pattern of spinning glowing tales of Saint John McCain while telling us why we should be disgusted by the vile Clintons (and the vile Al Gore in 2000). It is about time that someone called them out on it.

[mslindab]

Was just reading a British tabloid headline referring to Heather Mills (McCartney's soon to be ex) as 'rumpy stumpy the one legged ex hooker.' If the Clintons lived in Britain they would have to toughen up. I don't particularly like Shuster's delivery on MSNBC and think this was a poor phrase for an experienced journalist to use but let's (PER HRC) have a reality check here. How many people would have heard this without the Clinton's blowing it up? There is a motive here and I am not so naive to think it is not political. Remember when Chelsea had her photo posted in a NYC restaurant and Bill had his attorney write them insisting it should be taken down? She (Chelsea) is an adult and if she is actively campaigning on behalf of her parents, it is reasonable for the press to notice and attempt to question and/or criticize her. (Maureen Dowd recently called Chelsea 'the mute' with no uproar). As I recall, the Bush twins have had their share of really bad press including the suggestion that they serve in Iraq and they were a lot younger than Chelsea is now.

[Colmore]

Most of the bad press the Bush twins received was because of their own drunken behaviour!!

[bluesky49876]

This is idiotic sentiment, perhaps borne of anti-Hillary bent. Instead of demanding responsible journalism, this post is justifying it. Furthermore, there the two situations are not comparable.

[Issak]

mslindab

So if I say your skanky wife should leave you because your 2 inch pecker proved unsatisfactory and one can't really blame the bitch for seeking greener pastures, and should instead blow your neighbor- you won't mind will you? you'll toughen up, right?

What's wrong here is that assholes like you have taken Rush Limpbaugh's and O"Reilly style tactics as acceptable - translation cowardly geeks mouthing off with impunity-except, no society benefits when the first thing someone says is to meant to gratuitously debase and insult- Now what say you mother fucker?

Bottom line, that cheap shot toward Chelsea is unjustified. PERIOD.

[Jazz42]

(Issak)
With all of your ranting, you managed to say nothing intellegent, your ignorance is showing

[neworleanslady68]

Nicely done, Issak

[Jjc2006]

Sheesh...you people are truly perverted. It is amazing what that kind of nasty, unjustified hatred does to sanity.

Hello, Heather Mills married a rock star.......

Chelsea Clinton was essentially doing what ALL the candidates kids (teens and adults) have done for their parents running for office.
Singling out Chelsea was wrong, mean spirited and biased. Using pimp to describe it was stupid and ignorant.

[BBGG]

The Bush twins were not referred to as "pimping" by any media. It takes a "village" idiot to use this term.

[jhink465]

I would rather have Schuster as a commentator and reporter than Hillary as president. She plays the game of having Chelsea out their doing politics while remaining as an otherwise untouchable. When Schuster calls her on it using a contemporary parlance not meant to be taken in a literal sense, Hillary plays the victim card. At the rate she is going, she will soon be crying herself to a deep political sleep. Bring back the Shu MSNBC.

[AnninCA]

It really bothers you that someone says "No" to the press?

Not me. They don't have the right to demand people talk to them.

I sure wouldn't. Not the way they spin stuff.

[raptor]

Maybe Shuster defendenders should slink off to their sports bars and cry in their beer, or to their "gentlemen's clubs" to...well....

[wndrwrthg]

When you thrust yourself or, as in this case are thrusted into the public arena, espesially in a presidential race, then you are obligated to answer to the press. If she has no desire to speak to the press then she has the optiion to not place herself in the public eye. No-one is seeking her out at her private places, she is the one parading on the stage of world events. She is the surrogate for her mother, therefore she is fair game to ask questions of. Whether or not her mothers campaign is pimping her out, the fact remains that she is pimping for her mother, the method of payment being votes or access to her for contributions given to the campaign.

[bluesky49876]

Thats a blistering letter? HuffPost specializes in hyping up everything to the point of utter distortion.

[doug108]

I, too, wish discourse in this country was more civil and appropriate. It would go a long way toward restoring healthy political debate in this country.

On the other hand, I think suspension of Shuster is plenty, if not just a butt covering, CYA tactic to begin with. Does she want him to be fired? She may not like what he said, but he can pretty much say what he wants. We happen to have that right in this country. It's unseemly for a Senator of the United States, sworn to uphold the Constitution, to suggest someone should be fired from his job for exercising his right to free speech.

[MadInFla]

If Obama were not running for president would there be so much negativity toward Mrs. Clinton posted on this site by non-Bushies?

[nomobull]

what is your point?

[Jazz42]

What does Senator Obama running for President has to do with what is being discussed here? You need to lay off the KOOL-ADE. TROLL.
(MadInFla)

[thatvisionthing]

She runs for president, we bring up her past, lots to criticize, has nothing to do with Obama, just that he looks starkly better in comparison.

[Marmann]

Now: “However,” she wrote, “I became Chelsea’s mother long before I ran for any office and I will always be a mom first and a public official second.”

Back then, on March 26, 1992: "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession which I entered before my husband was in public life."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/clinton/etc/03261992.html

Not so much of a change, I guess. Chelsea's been great for Hillary -- when it's convenient.

[bluesky49876]

None of your post makes any sense.

[Bushgirlsgonewild]

.

I fail to see your point

Because you don't have one.

You found some well known known comments she made that had nothing to do with her daughter

And like any idiot, you try to link them to something.

Jesssuzz

[LorettaSingbiel]

"I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was to fulfill my profession"

GOOD POINT! Hillary (who's priority is "motherhood"?) certainly took a STAB at stay-at-home moms, with that statement!

Perhaps that's why she ALSO made the statement that "It takes a VILLAGE to raise the child" of the mom who "decides to fulfill her profession".

Stay safe, healthy and happy,
Love, Loretta

[SEQUOIABISON]

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much,"

[SEQUOIABISON]

It was a despicable, nasty, uncalled for comment.

But this is politics and Hillary keeps telling us she has the tough skin to withstand hostile attacks.

This was just a tiny sample of what she can expect if she is the nominee, callous thoughtless insults about her, her daughter and especially her husband.

Although, David Shuster really made a fool of himself, Hillary jumped all over that slanderous remark and played the victim card Again.

I think her crew may have forgotten there was a contest in 3 states and the territory of the USVI Saturday, because that neglected to remind her to cry.

[OSUMercutio]

This time, she should have had Chelsea cry instead

[Colmore]

I would have done exactly what Hillary did, if someone refered to one of my children in that way. Is McCain "pimping" his mother? Is Huckabee "pimping" his wife? Was Romney "pimping" his 5 sons? Why the different treatment for a woman candidate? Why has nobody asked "Why are none of Romneys sons in Iraq, since he is so gung-ho for the "war against terrorists"?

[Ndri789]

MSNBC specializes in nasty, mysogynistic, hateful and biased comments ALL directed at Hillary and Bill Clinton. And hyperbole blowhard comments in favor of Obama. They should have fired both Shuster and his boss Chris Matthews who is even worse.

[DavidMG]

I have criticized Schuster for the comment here, but Hillary is over the top now. I think this is a good insight into the kind of president she would be.

[Jjc2006]

If the word "pimp" had been used about Obama's wife, Shuster would have been FIRED amid accusations of racism.

On MSNBC sexism is OK. Racism gets you fired.

[booker52]

I call it censorship.

[Rockwell]

Censorship is when the power of the government is used to suppress free speech.

This is not censorship. This is the free market.

MSNBC called Chelsea a political whore.

Chelsea's Mom decided she didn't like that. She called them on it and told them she may not show up at their debate. And oh, by the way, Shuster's lame, half heated apology didn't cut it for her.

MSNBC is free to ignore Chelsea's Mom and continue to call Chelsea a whore if they want to. There are consequences, sure, but the government isn't going to raid their offices and shut down the station.

This isn't censorship. It's political theater.