I have two daughters, both in high school, who use the word "pimp" daily. It's a joke to them. The jokes aren't appropriate for adult conversation, but I've never docked an allowance or confiscated a cell phone for the use of the word "pimp" because the jokes aren't all that bad.
It's a joke that spans generations. This afternoon, a 50-something co-worker in sales asked what I'd been up to lately. She's said she'd been "pimping" too much to keep track of the rest of the office lately. We laughed.
But the multigenerational Clinton family has no such sense of humor.
Today, MSNBC responded to a Clinton hissy fit by suspending David Schuster. He said they'd been "pimping" Chelsea to call super delegates or movie stars or some such. Stupid comment, but whatever, that shit goes on all the time. Folks here cheered and jeered.
Count me among the jeerers.
Because, to paraphrase the Untouchables, when we put one of theirs in the hospital, they'll put one of ours in the morgue. At least they'll sure as hell try.
UPDATE: As commenter josephk notes below, Olbermann has accused Bush of "pimping Petraeus."
You can be sure that the other side is now gunning for Keith Olbermann, and the Schuster Precedent won't work in our favor.
What has Olbermann said? Lots of true stuff. George Bush is a "compulsive liar." Dick Cheney is "crazy."
But the cry babies on the rightwing whine a lot better than we do. They're much more effective at silencing our voices in the media than we'll ever be.
So now that MSNBC has knuckled under to us just this once (well, there was also Imus's firing and Chris Matthews' apology), count on seeing Olbermann come under serious fire from the Serious People of the Beltway and beyond.
They'll criticize his blogging here. They'll snivel about his blatant bias. They'll complain about his lack of balance and fairness. And they'll nag until Olbermann is gone. And following the Schuster Precedent, they have a stronger hand.
The Clinton's attack on MSNBC was not about MSNBC anyway. It was all about pressuring Obama to knuckle under to Fox and appear on Fox at a debate that Hillary has already accepted. That's why Hillary's mouthpiece said he couldn't think of a circumstance in which Hillary would appear in an MSNBC debate.
But watch Hillary's next move: She'll agree to the MSNBC debate as long as Obama agrees to the Fox debate, even though she's oh so outraged by David Schuster's comment.
Chess move. No principles involved. Period.