WP: MSNBC's Shuster to Offer On-Air Apology to Clinton
By Howard Kurtz
Using a prostitution metaphor for the daughter of a presidential candidate is a surefire way for a journalist to get into trouble. On MSNBC yesterday, correspondent David Shuster went there, amazingly enough, while interviewing two guests about Chelsea Clinton's role in her mother's campaign. "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" he asked.
When Hillary Clinton's spokesman, Phillippe Reines, contacted Shuster and told him the comment was offensive, the reporter e-mailed back that he was referring to the fact that Chelsea is making calls to convention superdelegates but refusing to talk to the press. Shuster did make that point on the air -- after his pimped out comment, which was not delivered as a joke.
Reines was incredulous at the lack of an apology, but Shuster stood his ground. Until this morning, that is. Shuster plans to apologize tonight on "Tucker," the 6 p.m. show on which he was filling in for host Tucker Carlson yesterday.
"The comment was completely inappropriate, and we have called the Clinton campaign to apologize," network spokesman Jeremy Gaines said today. This is the second apology to Clinton by an MSNBC journalist. "Hardball" host Chris Matthews expressed regret last month for suggesting that her political success can be traced to sympathy stemming from her husband's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/08/msnbcs_shuster_to_offer_onair_1.html?hpid=topnews