To Pimp or Not To Pimp: NBC's Shuster Suspended for Chelsea Clinton Remark

I put up the poll yesterday asking if Obama's "claws" comment was sexist because I thought it was something that could justifiably be interpreted either way and would act as something of a Rorschach test about where people who read this website stood. I intentionally didn't say what I felt about the statement and my hunch that my personal response could not predict what others would think was born out by the fact that only one of the 359 comments reflected my own reaction.

Women represented 49% of those responding and men 51%, which is pretty much in line with what other surveys have indicated is the readership for this site -- men comprise a much higher percentage of the readership of other blogs. Of women who responded, slightly more (27% to 22%) found the comment sexist than non-sexist. Men were nearly twice as likely (18% to 33%) not to find it sexist.

Even more interesting to me was everyone's attribution of my motive for putting up the poll, or their assumption about what my feelings on the subject might be. Which was actually much more about them and their individual need to view this race through a particular lens than anything else. So I appreciate the time everyone took to respond, it gave me a better feel for where our readership is at. (And no, I'm not going to say what I think because I don't want people to feel judged one way or the other in the situation. I appreciate everyone's honesty and let's leave it at that.)

And on that awkward segue, I'll bring up the latest contretemps -- comments made by David Shuster to the effect that Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" by the campaign. It may surprise everyone but I actually wasn't bothered by them. The phrase is ubiquitous, I use it all the time and although it is a loaded term my initial impression was that in the wake of all the truly awful sexist stuff that's come down the pipeline from MSNBC over the course of this campaign, much of which I have personally railed about, this just didn't fall into that category.