MSNBC's David Shuster on Saturday told his fans at Twitter that he intends to report on some ugly comments made about President Obama's daughter Malia at the conservative website Free Republic last week.
For those unaware, a British Daily Mail article about a peace sign t-shirt Malia was wearing in Rome before the start of the G-8 summit was posted at Free Republic Wednesday evening.
According to the Vancouver Sun, this generated some tasteless remarks (readers are advised to see update at end of post dealing with this writer's possible connection to Daily Kos):
"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."
These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.
The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."
On Saturday, Shuster informed his fans:
@mikelord @thejoshuablog. We will cover this monday: http://bit.ly/3pqS7M. But follow @joetrippi for what can be done on-line.
As the Freep post in question has been disabled, there's no way to assess just how vile the comments were, how pervasive, and how many Freepers protested. However, comments sections and message boards throughout the blogosphere are notorious for containing astoundingly offensive material.
Shuster should certainly know this. After all, on May 4, while subbing for Keith Olbermann on "Countdown," Shuster used an altered logo of the GOP that was created for the ultra-liberal website Daily Kos.
Further complicating matters, the guy Shuster often subs for regularly posts at DKos...and anybody that has ever ventured into the comments sections at that website knows how disgusting things can get there.
With this in mind, it does seem interesting that MSNBC and Shuster would delve into this matter at Free Republic, especially as that network and its anchors don't seem to mind when Republicans and their children are viciously attacked.
Maybe someone should remind Shuster before he goes in front of the camera Monday that Olbermann actually defended Letterman's recent remarks concerning Sarah Palin's daughter as did Contessa Brewer.
In fact, maybe Shuster ought to identify whether or not he took a position against Letterman's joke last month before he casts any stones.
(A LexisNexis search identified no comment from Shuster concerning this highly-publicized issue, although MSNBC only produces transcripts for its prime time programs.)
Readers should be advised that whatever ugliness occurred at Free Republic is by no means condoned. We very much agree with what candidate Obama said during last year's campaign: children should be off limits. We wish those on both sides of the aisle -- including Obama's supporters in the media and the blogosphere -- would heed his request or cease being outraged when someone they revere is shamelessly defamed.
*****Update: The Vancouver Sun article was posted at FR earlier today. Those interested should read some of the comments as they deal with what occurred there Thursday.
*****Update II: Maybe before Shuster goes any further with this, he might want to investigate the Vancouver Sun writer's possible connection to Daily Kos (h/t NBer carolina09).
"HollywoodOz" has written some pretty vile stuff at DailyKos during his tenure. These included playing a mnemonics game wherein "BUSH" was "Bloody Useless Sack Of Hatred" and CHENEY was "Can He Eat Negro Eyes Yet."
He's also fond of creating Google bombs, including one in 2005 to make Bill O'Reilly look like a terrorist sympathizer.
What's the connection to the Sun's Chris Parry? Well, Moxie Online has a member named HollywoodOz, real name Chris Parry. Technorati also shows HollywoodOz as Chris Parry.
Beyond this, a man simply calling himself Oz runs a blog called Notes From the Nat which follows baseball, in particular the Vancouver Canadians. In 2006, a fan sent in an e-mail message wherein Oz was referred to as "the wizard of HollywoodOz, Chris Parry."
Finally, DKos's HollywoodOz often cites Vancouver newspapers and other Canadian media as he did here, here, and here.
Is this all a coincidence?
Maybe, but as you might imagine, the Freepers are up in arms about this revelation.
Will MSNBC and Shuster investigate any of this before they go ahead with this planned report?
Stay tuned.
