Is MSNBC Biased Toward Barack or Against Hillary?

by D. Cupples (photo from IowaPolitics.com) | Bias is hard to prove without a functional mind-reading machine, but evidence does suggest that some MSNBC personalities have a pro-Obama or anti-Clinton bias. I first noticed it just after the Iowa Caucus, when MSNBC kept hyping the notion that Barack Obama was somehow "the change candidate," essentially helping Obama create a new campaign slogan, despite the fact that all Democratic candidates were pushing for major change: Clinton, Edwards, Dodd, Kucinich, Gravel....  TPM also noticed it.

Yesterday, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster made an out-of-left-field comment about Hillary Clinton's daughter Chelsea (an adult who is helping her mother's campaign).  The Washington Post reports:

"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."

Pimped out?  This reminds me of when Rush Limbaugh insulted a 13-year-old Chelsea Clinton.

How would we respond if a journalist had said that Mrs. Obama had been "pimped out" after she delivered the weighty message on ABC's Good Morning America that Barack might not support Hillary Clinton if she gets the nomination?

Would anyone have even thought to say that Mitt Romney's sons -- who traveled the nation to stump for their father, instead of fighting the war in Iraq that their father so staunchly supported -- were being "pimped out"? 

Remember last month's bizarre fervor over Hillary Clinton's statement that referenced Martin Luther King?  Like most Democrats, Clinton has repeatedly praised Dr. King's work.  Still, if Congress and President Johnson had ignored him, we wouldn't have the laws that Dr. King had fought for.  Period. 

Hillary Clinton was merely saying that she would be the kind of president who helps such reformers -- as did Johnson and the Congress of that time.  It was a pretty nice statement.

When certain Obama surrogates or supporters decided to twist Clinton's words into a degrading remark about Dr. King, MSNBC was right there, contributing to the emotional fervor.

I don't begrudge any journalist his or her constitutional right to personally support or oppose political candidates -- but using their media outlets to play with their audience's emotions is a bit much.  We already have one Fox "News": does our nation really need another?

As Shakesville points out, it couldn't hurt to let MSNBC know how you feel (politely, of course): the email address is viewerservices@msnbc.com 

Memeorandum has other bloggers' reactions: Shakespeare's Sister, Feministe, Taylor Marsh, Spin Cycle, The Page, Anne Schroeder's Blogs, Tom Watson, Wonkette, MyDD, Feminist Law Professors, TalkLeft, Feministing, FishBowlDC, Open Left and Liberty Pundit

Other BN-Politics Posts:

* Approval Ratings Low for Bush & Congress

* Congress Passes Stimulus Package: Taxpayers to get Rebates

* So, Let Him Veto FISA (and "Protect Terrorists")

* High Cost of Private Contractors

Comments

[D. Cupples]

RG,

That is soooo Cool of you.

[RG]

Here we go again. ABC is getting slammed for being so hard on obama at the debate. Strange that Hillary was given such a hard time and the media elite found all kind of excuses for being disgustingly biased. Obama was rattled! I guess he thought he was going to be given another soft pillow to sit on. RG

[Alicia]

Conservative here..I have NEVER seen such a disgusting display of bias for a candidate in my life! It was obvious that cnn and msnbc wanted Obama to be their little baby Jesus. I don't FOX has ever been this bad!
Boycott MSNBC! Destroy Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman.

[Buck Naked Politics]

HI Alicia,

Fox has been that bad -- against anyone who questioned George Bush between 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

Oddly, Fox was very nice to Hillary during her run, though.

What surprises many of us progressives is that the so-called "liberal" media turned on Hillary and adopted Obama, though he's less progressive than Hillary.

I am disgusted by our media.