David Shuster is naughty

I've found David Shuster, who appears regularly on Morning Joe and Hardball on MSNBC, to be an intelligent commentator (even if he started on Fox), but lately he seems to be a little ill-tempered and harsh. Turns out, his tendency to speak his mind got him in big trouble this week:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/08/msnbc-reporter-begrudging_n_85706.html

Guest-hosting "Tucker" last night (2/7/08), MNSBC's David Shuster commented on Chelsea Clinton's Super Tuesday phone calls to the ladies of "The View." In discussing whether this was appropriate, Shuster made an interesting word choice: "Doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?"

Needless to say, Hillary Clinton was outraged and, among other things, threatened to pull out of the MSNBC-hosted debate in Ohio on Feb 26. Shuster was promptly suspended from MSNBC and forced to apologize (which he had so far been unwilling to do).

It was an obnoxious comment, but Cenk Uygur, who hosts a show called The Young Turks, makes a very valid point about why this is unfair:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/defending-david-shuster_b_85951.html

I think he wanted to serve notice that she [Chelsea] is in the political sphere now, and he did it in a clumsy and nonsensical way. But I would give him a pass on it. Why?

Because he was acting in the role of a talk show host when he made the comment. Talk show hosts are not news people, they give their opinions and are often wrong and misguided. I should know, I am one. We talk for hours on end and often say stupid things. If you suspend or fire every talk show host who says something inappropriate, you would have three hosts left in the country. And they would be the three most insipid people you've ever met.