Chelsea
Posted by: tony on 02/19/2008 03:33 AM
Updated by: tony on 02/19/2008 03:38 AM
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Expires: 03/21/2008 12:00 AM
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 Hillary Clinton is hopping mad. Anchoress believes she's justified:
Hillary Clinton has every right to be seriously teed off at MSNBC and David Shuster:
In a conference call with reporters, Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson Friday excoriated MSNBC’s David Shuster for suggesting the Clinton campaign had "pimped out" 27-year old Chelsea by having her place phone calls to Democratic Party superdelegates on her mother’s behalf. Wolfson called the comment "beneath contempt" and disgusting.
Well, that’s absolutely right, and the decline in professionalism within the mainstream media continues. Shuster’s comment was tasteless and classless. It’s not how you refer to the daughter of an ex-president and sitting senator. It’s not how you talk about anyone’s daughter.
I disagree.
Hillary Clinton is "someone's daughter", but she chose to enter the political arena, and as such needs to be congnizant that politics is a blood sport, and people get attacked.
Chelsea is no longer the gawky 13 year old daughter of the President and First Lady. She is an almost 30 year old woman who has chosen to go on the campaign trail "politicing" for her mom. If she didn't wish to get spattered with muck, she should not have actively entered the political fray. If she wants to be treated as a private citizen, she should behave like a private citizen.
That having been said, the term "pimped out" was not a slam against Chelsea, it was a slam against the Clinton campaign for exploiting Chelsea for her parents' gain. The statement, though ill-considered, was not implying that Chelsea was a prostitute. But the Clintons have taken misdirected anger to an art form.
To the Clintons: If you don't want your daughter spattered with campaign muck, keep her out of the limelight.
To Chelsea: If you want to run with the big dogs you need to grow a thicker skin. And while you're at it, you might want to explain what qualifications a recent graduate with a history major has to consult at one of those evil hedge funds that your mother is always demonizing, for six figures per year.
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