The politics of “pimping”

By Contributor Archive

Filed Under Race for White House 2008 on Feb 10 

Chelsea is in the spotlight now.Senator Clinton is mad, and David Shuster is screwed.

David Shuster, for now of MSNBC, make a comment last week that the Clinton campaign was “pimping out” Chelsea Clinton by using her to call superdelegates to try to convince them to vote for her mother. Was that the real motivation behind the outrage? Was the comment so offensive that it warranted the letter Senator Clinton sent to the head of NBC?

Chelsea Clinton has been treated with kid gloves when she lived in the White House and while in college, as she should have been. She didn’t run for anything, wasn’t campaigning, was just a kid living her life. The media treated her much differently than they did the Bush twins, whose every adolescent folly was all over the news. Maybe Chelsea is the perfect child who have never done anything wrong, never had a sip of alcohol before the age of 21, we don’t know and don’t really care. Just interesting how the media cared when it was the children of a Republican…

Anyway, that was then and this is now. Chelsea is no longer a little girl, she’s 27 and a well-paid hedge fund manager in New York City, though she doesn’t seem to have been to work lately, spending a lot of time on the campaign trail both with her mother and on her own. She is, in other words, fair game.

She doesn’t talk to reporters, not even 9 year old kid reporters, just gives speeches. Pretty sad when you think of it. Why is it that this woman can go out and spew talking points prepared for her by her handlers but can’t answer questions those talking points inspire? The common line is that she’s trying to protect her privacy, but that point loses all merit when she’s out on the stump. She stepped into the spotlight, it did not find her.

Shuster could have used a different word, sure. But the word “pimped” isn’t what it used to be, it’s used all the time now. But the faltering Clinton campaign saw an opening, a way to gain sympathy again, to humanize Senator Clinton without having her cry again, and they pounced. Shuster was just collateral damage.

Comments

8 Comments

  1. RedStateEddio on 10.02.2008 at 21:04 (Reply)

    Phil, you’re being too kind. Call it what it is:
    H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E Hillary. Talk about a control freak.

    Chelsea’s been pimped out for years–only now she’s choosing to do it, and that’s the difference. That and Hillary ain’t up on the latest street lingo–no cred for that one.

    I think Chelsea needs to sit Momma down and explain the new vernacular to her. It’s like the reverse sex talk–”Now mom, when someone uses the word ‘pimp’…” Chelsea’s more embarrassed over her mother not knowing the latest lingo than about being called on it by Shuster.

    I’m sure Barack understands what it means. Barack gets it, in so many more ways than you, dear.

    Watch for Obama to use it in a speech sometime soon.

  2. goldwaterconservative on 10.02.2008 at 21:29 (Reply)

    Phil, for once, I wholeheartedly agree with you.

  3. Troy La Mana on 10.02.2008 at 22:23 (Reply)

    I think “pimped” was the exact word to use here.
    I don’t get the outrage.

  4. Brian H on 10.02.2008 at 23:56 (Reply)

    More maunfactured outrage is simply….outrageous.

    “Pimped” is so 30 years ago. The word pimp is used in everyday lexicon. “Pimp” My Ride”, “Youve just been pimped”, etc. etc.

    Great job Phil….Your a “Pimp”.

  5. SA Kalinich on 11.02.2008 at 02:08 (Reply)

    It’s hard out there for a pimp!

    Say, maybe I should write a song…

  6. Gary Russell on 11.02.2008 at 09:16 (Reply)

    Why are you all still beating up on John Edwards??? I thought he dropped out of the campai…

    Wait…
    Oh, I thought the headline was “The Politics of PRIMPING”.

    Nevermind….

  7. ShawnN on 11.02.2008 at 09:24 (Reply)

    “The Politics of PRIMPING”

    Great one Gary!

  8. Troy La Mana on 11.02.2008 at 11:23 (Reply)

    You have the song “The Politics of Dancing” running through my head now… thanks.

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