Hillary’s concern should
be Obama, not pundit

Robyn’s ’Hood
By Robyn McCloskey

I’m sure by now most of you are aware of the unfortunate comment David Shuster made about Chelsea Clinton on Feb. 7 while filling in for the controversial Tucker Carlson on The Tucker Carlson Show.
And by the time this hits the newsstands, the media brouhaha hopefully will have died down. But I feel compelled to write about it anyway, as David Shuster seems like a genuinely nice guy who is being taken to the mat for casually using a slang term that some people, namely Chelsea’s parents, claim to have been deeply offended by.
It seems Mr. Shuster, while in a debate with fellow political commentator Bill Press, was questioning the very visible and active role of Chelsea Clinton in her mother’s quest for the presidency. Noting that Chelsea is going so far as to make personal phone calls to celebrities (although I’m pretty sure Joy Behar of The View doesn’t count as a celebrity) to ask them to support her Mommy Dearest, he said, and I quote, "Doesn’t it seem like Chelsea’s sort of being pimped-out in some weird sort of way?"
I admit this was not in the best of taste, but the Clintons seemingly were so offended by this nebulous, offhand use of a slang term that they immediately demanded an apology, which Mr. Shuster gave on the air not once but twice. He even went so far as to call the Clintons personally to apologize. One can only hope that it was Mr. Clinton who answered the phone, and not Mrs. Clinton.
"Hello, Mr. President, this is Dave Shuster. Just wanted to call and say sorry for the social faux pas regarding your daughter."
"Hey Dave no problem, I understand you didn’t mean any harm. It’s just that right now we are taking all the publicity we can get; it seems my wife has been slipping in the polls and our spin doctors told us to make a big deal out of it so we’ll look like vigilant, overprotective parents. It seems moderate independents like that sort of thing."
"Oh, now it all makes sense. Hey, is the Mrs. there? The network wants me to apologize to her as well."
"Well, son, you might not want to approach her right now . . . believe you me I know from experience what she gets like when she thinks someone’s done her wrong. I was always kind of a day late and a blue dress short in that department, if you know what I mean."
"Why, yes sir, I think the whole country knows what you mean."
I took the liberty of looking up "pimped out" on the Web site www.urbandictionary.com, not the most reliable source, I grant you, and one that probably has Webster turning over in his grave. Just the same, the phrase did have seven definitions to choose from. It can mean anything from having a really cool car to being cool, awesome and smooth. Sure, there were a few references to the world’s oldest profession, but as we all know, and the Clintons refuse to publicly acknowledge, in today’s vernacular that part is just sort of glossed over.
I also looked up "pimped-out" in my Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary. Surprisingly enough it didn’t contain the phrase "pimped-out", but it did have a definition for "pimping" — an adjective meaning petty, insignificant. Which, if you ask me, is a very accurate description of how the Clintons are behaving — petty — and how Mr. Shuster intended the comment to be — insignificant.
And even though Dave has publicly and privately apologized, and has been subjected to temporary suspension, Mrs. Clinton still is not satisfied. She has issued a veiled threat that she might not participate in future debates at MSNBC. Gee, if we knew that was all it took, someone should have said something years ago.
But since we’re talking about Hillary, I’m sure we don’t have to worry about her keeping her word. You would also think that, by now, forgiving men for their indiscretions would be second nature to the woman, but I guess not.
So I ask you: Do we really want a president who refuses to forgive an unfortunate choice of words by a genuinely contrite political pundit who has met her every demand?
If she really is looking for that vote of the moderate independent, she’s going to have to muster up a little more graciousness than that. ••
Robyn McCloskey’s column appears each week in the Northeast Times. She can be reached at crmccloskey@verizon.net