Fox echoes right-wing blogs in Olbermann slam, ignores conservatives' 'pimp' pejoratives Never ones to miss an opportunity to slam the competition, the folks at Fox & Friends spent a few minutes Monday morning rehashing the brouhaha over an MSNBC host's impolitic reference to former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, and they couldn't resist taking a shot at one of Fox News' favorite targets, Keith Olbermann, who -- gasp! -- was mean to President Bush and Gen. David Petraeus four months ago, too.
The controversy began with MSNBC's David Schuster commenting that Chelsea was being "pimped out" by her mother's campaign. Hillary Clinton was incensed by what she called Schuster's "debasing language", and she has floated the idea of not participating in an upcoming debate on the network.
Noting that Schuster has been suspended over his remarks, the Fox crew rehashed some of MSNBC's other perceived slights against Hillary Clinton, especially Chris Matthews' insinuation that she was elected to the Senate because of sympathy engendered by Bill Clinton's infidelities.
The hosts then turned back the clock a few months, to September of last year, when Olbermann accused President Bush of "pimping General David Petraeus." The Countdown host was referring to Petraeus's then-recent Congressional testimony in support of President Bush's "surge" strategy in Iraq.
As they juxtaposed the slight accusing a mother of pimping out her 26-year-old daughter and one accusing the president of doing the same to his 55-year-old military commander, the hosts seemed to argue that the only reason Olbermann didn't face more pressure at the time was because Petraeus "has more important things to do" than get offended at news coverage.
Although the Fox crew ruffled its feathers at the slight of "American hero" Petraeus being equated with a streetwalker -- echoing outrage that had been kicking around on right-wing blogs for a couple days -- it ignored other pimp-laden polemics, mostly launched by fellow conservatives and aimed at anti-war voices.
CNN HeadlineNews' host Glenn Beck labeled anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan a "pretty big prostitute" and "tragedy pimp" during his conservative radio show, for which he was declared Olbermann's "Worst Person in the World". Beck then accused Sheehan of "pimping out her own son's death". Those instances were all noted by watchdog Media Matters, which also first pointed out Schuster's comments.
Fox News apparently doesn't have a problem with "pimp" being used as a political attack on its own network, either. Although you wouldn't know that from Monday morning's segment.
Conservative host Sean Hannity agreed with a guest's assessment that Al Gore was "pimping" the environment for political gain, and he featured as a guest a pastor who said Democrats -- but not Republicans, of course -- "pimp" the church to snag votes. Of course, Hannity, too, couldn't resist a dig at MSNBC after Schuster's comments last week, calling them despicable ... inappropriate, out of touch, out of line."
The Sept. 27, 2007, Olbermann "Special Comment," which became the focus of Fox's ire Monday argued that Bush was overstepping the line between military and civilian leadership by essentially relying on Petraeus as his public salesman for his political war strategy.
The commentary, which Fox barely bothered to quote from, listed a half-dozen historical examples of presidents and the military going to great lengths to avoid crossing that line, but even the "pimped out" reference was not its most hyperbolic rhetoric. Olbermann also said Bush was being "dictatorial" in hiding "behind the General's skirts," and he said the president was starting "down the long, slippery, suicidal slope towards a Military Junta."
This video is from Fox's Fox & Friends, broadcast February 11, 2008.
 
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