Althouse: "To say that Chelsea’s hire hurts the credibility of television news is a debate for J-school deans."

April 17, 2012

"To say that Chelsea’s hire hurts the credibility of television news is a debate for J-school deans."

"But there is a larger issue at stake here for our American psyche: Chelsea is a Clinton, ergo, she deserves a place in our heart, alongside her parents. So why can’t we connect?"

Oh, who cares? We should feel good about ourselves for not connecting.

68 comments:

rehajm said...: Dangerous territory Ann- as the presidents daughter, she's off limits. Oh, wait...; 4/17/12, 1:56 PM
damikesc said...: Aren't NBC's ratings in the toilet?

A three month deal for the dullest human on Earth? Great idea.; 4/17/12, 1:59 PM
Crimso said...: "deserves a place in our heart"

WTF? "deserves?" George H.W. Bush was President. If the children of Presidents "deserve" a place in our hearts (for merely being the children of Presidents), then make room for W.; 4/17/12, 2:07 PM
Matt Sablan said...: No one would have questioned if hiring her hurt the credibility of television news if she were good at it.; 4/17/12, 2:08 PM
MayBee said...: She has no place in my heart because immediately after 9/11, she said her first thought, as the towers came down, was "why did Bush reduce taxes?".; 4/17/12, 2:10 PM
Fen said...: To say that Chelsea’s hire hurts the credibility of television news is a debate for J-school deans.

No, not really. We don't need J-school deans to know that television news has no credibility to lose.

Your journalism degree is not wasted!

Sure. And yes, I would like fries with that please.; 4/17/12, 2:12 PM
The Drill SGT said...: The nut graf:

The days of Chelsea having it both ways are over. It’s one thing to want your total privacy, and stay totally private; it’s another thing to want your total privacy while reaping all the rewards and privileges that contemporary celebrity has to offer.; 4/17/12, 2:14 PM
Fen said...: FOX should hire her and sexually discriminate and sexually harass her. Bill needs to "feel our pain" again. Or at least the pain of all the fathers and brothers of all the daughters that he violated.; 4/17/12, 2:14 PM
Tim said...: I want her to interview Nina Burleigh, live, without edits.; 4/17/12, 2:14 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "Bill, universally beloved..."

What tiny, cramped universes some people inhabit!; 4/17/12, 2:29 PM
Scott M said...: No one would have questioned if hiring her hurt the credibility of television news if she were good at it.

I read In Praise Of Nepotism a few years ago because it was on sale for $5 at the bookstore. Remember book stores? And books?

In any case, he was making this exact point. It's almost like we're hardwired for aristocracy. We only bitch about nepotism with the recipients of the largess are incompetent. Otherwise, the books posits, it's a grudging acceptance usually coupled with a sense that one would do the same in the same position.; 4/17/12, 2:42 PM
SteveR said...: Bill and Hill were very deliberate to keep Chelsea out of public view. Its no surprise that no one gives a shit.; 4/17/12, 2:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: What's the problem ...Family connections opens doors as they should.

After you are hired, then you must be good like Daddy was or they fire you.

That's how life works. The only unfireables are the sons of immense wealth, or GS 15's at the Federal Agencies, and the Mafia members kids.; 4/17/12, 2:54 PM
edutcher said...: Since when did being related to the former Serial-Rapist-In-Chief and the worst SecState in the history of the country qualify anyone for a place in any American's heart?

God knows they haven't earned one yet.

And since Chelsea, despite an Oxford education (which apparently consisted of the Secret Service pouring her out of every pub within gunshot of London at closing time), can't do anything else, maybe it's time she went on unemployment and found out how the 88 million live.

Now there would be a story.; 4/17/12, 2:59 PM
Alex said...: Yawn, connections always open doors. What's new?; 4/17/12, 3:04 PM
rcommal said...: I don't care enough even to care or not care about feeling good or not feeling good about "connecting" or "not connecting" with Chelsea.

I mean, "who?" Absent occasional blog posts such as this, she'd never cross my thoughts at all. I have nothing against her; it's just that she's irrelevant to me and not interesting.; 4/17/12, 3:07 PM
damikesc said...: What's the problem ...Family connections opens doors as they should.

But for a woefully unqualified dullard?

This isn't sexism --- Punch Sulzberger isn't any better.

It's an issue because NBC --- whose rarings, mind you, are comically awful --- kept one of the most boring people on the planet on the payroll.

Their "reporter", who loves the perks of celebrity, wants her privacy tightly held --- and the press PLAYS ALONG.

They keep silent on her.

What about the lawsuits caused by people suffering concussions when they pass out watching her "reports" and smack their head on furniture?

Her dad was an effective demagogue. I guess that's good enough for some people.

I do wonder, though, why feminist groups have no problem with women like Hillary and Chelsea so blatantly riding the coattails of a man while hating Bachmann and Palin who did not do the same.; 4/17/12, 3:10 PM
damikesc said...: Is it Punch or Pinch who has worked so hard killing the NYT because daddy set him up with a job he has no qualifications to do?; 4/17/12, 3:11 PM
rcommal said...: Pinch.; 4/17/12, 3:14 PM
Matt Sablan said...: Aw. Be nice to Chelsea. She seems to be a wonk-ish and nice sort, even if I probably don't agree with her on much. It is a shame she just didn't get any of Bill's charisma.; 4/17/12, 3:16 PM
Thorley Winston said...: She has no place in my heart because immediately after 9/11, she said her first thought, as the towers came down, was "why did Bush reduce taxes?".

That’s not what she said at all:
In one passage, Clinton deftly makes clear her Democratic pedigree while embracing bipartisan unity. Venturing out again with Davison, "I was expounding on the detriments of Bush's tax cut as we approached Grand Central Terminal and were met with hordes of people running out of the station," some crying "Fire!" and "Bomb!"

"We all were crying. We all thought we were literally going to have fire rain down on us. . . . For a brief moment I truly thought I was going to die.

"Once we stopped running, I started praying. I prayed for my country and my city. I stopped berating the tax cut and started praying that the president would rise to lead us. And I thanked God my mother was a senator representing New York and that Rudy Giuliani was our mayor. I have never reacted more viscerally to a leader, particularly not to one I had been criticizing just the day before for some insensitivity or other. . . .

"I realized that I had become a New Yorker. I expect now that I'll always be one."

Pretty much the opposite of what you thought you said.; 4/17/12, 3:16 PM
Humperdink said...: Just like her mommy dearest.... achieved prominence on Wilhelm Von Slick's accomplishments.; 4/17/12, 3:21 PM
Kevin said...: The only thing I think of whenever I see her is, Yeah, I don't care what anybody says, I'd still hit that.

Which, you know, is at least something. Could be worse.; 4/17/12, 3:53 PM
holdfast said...: @edutcher said...

Since when did being related to the former Serial-Rapist-In-Chief and the worst SecState in the history of the country qualify anyone for a place in any American's heart?

I have to disagree.

Cyrus Vance.

Colin Powell.

That is all.; 4/17/12, 3:54 PM
MayBee said...: That's not the opposite. That's pretty much exactly what I said.

The planes had just hit the towers, and Chelsea starts rambling on about how bad the Bush tax cuts were. And it was so important to her she included it in her article about the day.

Once she saw scared people, she "stopped" berating the tax cuts. But her first instinct was to bring them up.; 4/17/12, 3:57 PM
Fen said...: Thorley Winston said: [...]

Nice work and linkage. Exactly the way something should be debunked. I had my doubts about the quote but...

the days of me correcting false accusations against the Left are over.

The Left wants to play Alinsky.

Let's play.; 4/17/12, 3:58 PM
MayBee said...: I don't see how he debunked me, Fen.
I didn't get the quote exactly right, but when the towers went down she started expounding on the detriments of the Bush tax cuts.

That's what he quoted. That's pretty much what I said.; 4/17/12, 4:19 PM
Scott M said...: I didn't get the quote exactly right, but when the towers went down she started expounding on the detriments of the Bush tax cuts.

I don't believe that's correct. If memory serves, she was talking about the tax cuts when the towers were hit, not after.; 4/17/12, 4:22 PM
ricpic said...: Bill was always slimy. Hillary was always the bile filled bitch who would stop at nothing to get you if you crossed her. Chelsea was always their howdy doody daughter. What's to connect to?; 4/17/12, 4:25 PM
MayBee said...: I'm reading the article Thorley linked. It says she is out with her friend after the Towers had been hit and the Pentagon had been hit.
The friend she is talking to in person in the anecdote about the taxes was at work when the tower was hit, and called her.
The friend came home.
Chelsea and the friend went out.
Chelsea was expounding on the Bush tax cuts.
A rush of people came toward them.
She stopped expounding.; 4/17/12, 4:27 PM
AllenS said...: You know, it can't be easy being Chelsea Clinton. Think about it. When she's out and about, and someone pulls out a cigar (to smoke), what do you think goes through her mind? Just this past weekend, Hillary Rodham was down in South America, drinking beer, and dancing up a storm with some of her friends. My self and Chelsea were probably wondering, did she get laid?; 4/17/12, 4:29 PM
MayBee said...: When Davison called from work to say that a plane had crashed into the twin towers, Clinton tried to call her mother but the line went dead after an assistant answered. She "stared senselessly at the television," then headed downtown, where she heard a deafening rumble. The first tower had collapsed. On her way back to the apartment, Clinton learned that the Pentagon had been attacked.

She thought of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme.

"I am still unsure about what Humpty Dumpty represented to me on that day, because I do not subscribe to -- and I even resent -- the theory that America's arrogance, even indirectly, led to the attacks. It just seemed as though the world were falling down, like Humpty Dumpty."

In one passage, Clinton deftly makes clear her Democratic pedigree while embracing bipartisan unity. Venturing out again with Davison, "I was expounding on the detriments of Bush's tax cut as we approached Grand Central Terminal and were met with hordes of people running out of the station," some crying "Fire!" and "Bomb!"; 4/17/12, 4:30 PM
SteveR said...: leslyn I believe you are new here, that you don't know how Ann works this is understandable but just be patient. It might take three or four weeks for you to catch on.; 4/17/12, 5:05 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Leslyn:

I have been reading this blog for 5-6 years and Althouse will never reveal if she even has an agenda. Though I do know she loves language, loves conversation, hates bullshit, has a wide variety of interests and she can write more words per minute than almost anyone.; 4/17/12, 5:06 PM
Kirk Parker said...: Holdfast,

I don't think much of Powell's stint as SoS, but worse than Clinton? Really???

Man, I think you should hit your reset button and think this through again.; 4/17/12, 5:17 PM
pm317 said...: Oh, who cares? We should feel good about ourselves for not connecting.

I don't think Chelsea wants you to connect with her either. Can't Everybody leave her alone, for God's sake. Yeah, she got some special treatment from NBC footlickers and other people at NBC are jealous but that is not her problem.; 4/17/12, 5:25 PM
RonF said...: Bill Clinton is universally beloved? Chelsea Clinton deserves a place in our hearts? What the F is that? By who? Since when?; 4/17/12, 5:40 PM
pm317 said...: leslyn said...
-------------

The agenda is Clinton hate.. she does not like them. Maybe with Hillary it is generational -- 'look at me I worked hard to get where I am and here is this woman who got there with no effort' kind of thinking, I think. With Bill, it is all that Monica stuff -- forget about anything else he did that may have benefited womankind. With Chelsea, it is just bad luck that she was born to those awful people. That is pretty much the attitude of the majority of the commenters here as well.; 4/17/12, 5:41 PM
Ralph L said...: Kirk P, ask Scooter Libby about Powell and his boy Armitage. The Libby trial also made the 3 stars of NBC's Washington office, Russert, Mitchell, and Gregory, look like liars and fools for anyone who followed it closely.

They should have started Chelsea in East Bumfuck TV news until she got the hang of it, if ever, but maybe they wanted her to fail publicly.

Speaking of Not failing, Happy Birthday, MayBee. Excellent rebuttal.; 4/17/12, 5:59 PM
Ralph L said...: The agenda is Clinton hate.. she does not like them
I suspect she hates the fawning over them and the excuses made more than she hates them, judging from the posts about them that I've seen, such as this one. But I could be projecting.; 4/17/12, 6:08 PM
Christopher in MA said...: With Bill it is all that Monica stuff - forget about anything else he may have done that benefited womankind.

Tell me - what did your Syphilitic Hillbilly specifically do to "benefit womankind?" Oh, that's right - he supported your holy sacrament of abortion, the one thing women should have been giving him blow jobs for.

Raping Kathleen Willey? Molesting Monica? Telling Paula Jones to kiss it? Nailing every bit of skirt in town except his wife and daughter? Yes, some role model you've got there, leslyn. Poor, poor, misunderstood Bill. If only we knew what a kind man he is, benefiting womankind the world over.; 4/17/12, 6:10 PM
David said...: They want Chelsea to reveal all about the Monica thing.

Chelsea should do that interview about what it was like to be a kid in the White House during Monica. The writer wants questions asked: The must ask questions: What was it like to live through that in the White House? What did you know, and when did you know it? How pissed were you at your father? How do you feel about marriage? Should your mother have stayed?

Take the interview Chelsea. Do it live in prime time. Let them ask each of those questions.

Then answer, to each one: "None of your fucking business."

There are worse people in he world than Chelsea Clinton.; 4/17/12, 7:15 PM
Fen said...: leslyn: What I don't get is why this post is here at all. You said, "Who cares." Then why bother? Unless there's an agenda

[cue leftist brownshirts wanting to shut down speech they don't like]

So that's twice in one day. We're not supposed to criticize Obama unless we spend equal time criticizing Bush. And we're not supposed to talk about all the women Clinton violated. Got it.

Do I get my Official Obama Armband now?

Geez Les, if you want to troll Althouse, pick something other than the "why are we talking about x" species. We already have about 6 of those.; 4/17/12, 7:16 PM
Big Mike said...: Daughters of recent presidents:

Barbara Bush: Worked with AIDS patients in Africa, and is the president and co-founder of Global Health Corps, which (I'm quoting wikipedia here) "...pairs talented young professionals from the United States and abroad to work in year-long fellowships with organizations serving poor communities in East Africa and the United States."

Jenna Bush Hager: Worked as a teacher's aide at a Washington, DC, inner city charter school, and currently is a reading coordinator at a charter school in Baltimore. Has also interned at UNICEF (the profits from her book Ana's Story go to UNICEF).

Chelsea Clinton: Worked for Avenue Capital Group, one of the largest hedge funds in the world, and married an investment banker for Goldman Sachs. Despite her Master of Public Health degree and the existence of the Clinton Health Access Initiative, her only known activities related to public health are limited to fund-raising for the Clinton Foundation (CHAI is one component of the Clinton Foundation).

I can see the first two "meriting a place in our heart," but Chelsea???; 4/17/12, 7:17 PM
Fen said...: "You? A law professor" is back up for grabs again. Although it smells of burnt troll from the last keeper.; 4/17/12, 7:20 PM
pm317 said...: David said...

They want Chelsea to reveal all about the Monica thing.
---------------------

Yeah, the article is supposedly by leftists. I could not quite understand all that goading about baring her soul about Monica and that being her only ticket to likability with these people.; 4/17/12, 7:34 PM
pm317 said...: Big Mike said...
---------------

May be those other two were not as smart as Chelsea Clinton..Obviously she is one brilliant woman. You only had to watch her on the campaign trail in 2008.; 4/17/12, 7:45 PM
madAsHell said...: Chelsea is Bill Clinton's daughter?

Hell..I thought she was Webb Hubbell's daughter. I mean they both look like catfish!

Hillary sure can pick'em, can't she!!; 4/17/12, 8:52 PM
MarkD said...: There is a sentient human being who thinks television news has any credibility left?

Who? The folks who doctored the Zimmerman 911 call? Dan Rather of Rathergate fame? The folks at CNN who rolled over for access to Saddam?

That train has left the station.; 4/17/12, 9:04 PM
Big Mike said...: @pm317, actually Chelsea Clinton had a pretty fair number of gaffes on the 2008 campaign trail. Your memory is playing a trick on you.

Or perhaps you have a low threshold for what you think represents intelligence when viewing Democrats.; 4/17/12, 9:26 PM
pm317 said...: Blogger Big Mike said...
------------

Nothing wrong with my memory.. people like you don't want to see what they see assuming you watched any of her presentations of her mom's policies. She would rattle off the numbers and stats like her brilliant dad and provide the arguments like her mom, the lawyer.; 4/17/12, 9:33 PM
Phil 314 said...: Well, she never worked for Hooters.; 4/17/12, 9:43 PM
William said...: She's got a story to tell, but it won't come out until she needs the money. My guess is that when she needs to raise bail for her third husband, she'll write her autobiography and sit down with Tim Russert's son to publicize it with an on air interview. Until then, nada.; 4/17/12, 10:36 PM
bagoh20 said...: It would be a whole lot more interesting if she turned out to be a flaming libertarian.; 4/17/12, 11:12 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: A. She is an only child.
B. Her parents will have a crapload of cash, which she will inherit.

Then, when she decides she is qualified for office she will utilize said crap-load of money to foist herself on us as a representative of some easily obtained seat (probably NY).

I pretty much do not care, except when I see things like her snapping at a college student who asked her about her fathers infamous Oval Office misadventures. She said "That's none of your business!" - when what we were dealing with was the behavior of the President in the White House, and not the family quarters, but the freaking Oval Office. He articulates a cigar in the vagina of a young woman in the Oval Office, receives oral sex there as well, and we don't get to express an opinion about that Miss Clinton/Merzvinski/whatever? Ugh.

I think that kind of imperiousness combined with a pile of cash = ego stroking run for office.; 4/17/12, 11:35 PM
Ralph L said...: It would be a whole lot more interesting if she turned out to be a flaming libertarian
When some college friends got married and listed several charities in leiu of wedding presents (she became a Presby. minister, he a math prof), I sent a sterling-handled cake knife in the hope their children would turn out materialistic and appreciate it. Instead they divorced (I think now he is gay), but she did have kids with her second husband.

Marrying a Jewish son of a crook was hardly an act of rebellion on Chelsea's part. Wonder what we didn't hear about.; 4/18/12, 12:45 AM
Fen said...: Then, when she decides she is qualified for office she will utilize said crap-load of money to foist herself on us as a representative of some easily obtained seat (probably NY).

Groan. That's exactly what will happen.

I pretty much do not care, except when I see things like her snapping at a college student who asked her about her fathers infamous Oval Office misadventures. She said "That's none of your business!" - when what we were dealing with was the behavior of the President in the White House, and not the family quarters, but the freaking Oval Office

Its not just the moral component. He's our employee. He sexually discrimiated and sexually harassed subordinate employees in the workplace. On our dime. So it IS our business.; 4/18/12, 3:59 AM
rhhardin said...: Chelsea was hired on soap opera expectations: she'd draw women.

The integrity of journalism isn't affected any more than the news business model has always affected it. They sell eyeballs to advertisers.

Women are eyeballs.; 4/18/12, 6:00 AM
Fen said...: I don't mean to be cruel, and I actually find something attractive in her, but I don't think she brings that to the table.; 4/18/12, 7:02 AM
Fen said...: It's nobody's business to ask it of his daughter.

Sure it is. For example, I would ask her how her father's abuse of women her own age has affected her.

Regardless, she's not saying what you're saying. She means her father's abuse "is no one's business", not "it's no one's business to ask me" (which really makes no sense if you say it aloud); 4/18/12, 9:27 AM
damikesc said...: Chelsea is a public figure. Being asked annoying questions is part of the equation.

She could follow the Bush daughters example and AVOID THE LIMELIGHT.; 4/18/12, 9:36 AM
Portia said...: "howdy doody daughter"

That's it, now why didn't I think of that. She looks like a girl Howdy Doody. Separated at birth, as it were; 4/18/12, 10:18 AM
Scott M said...: That's it, now why didn't I think of that. She looks like a girl Howdy Doody. Separated at birth, as it were

As a reformed ginger, I take exception to that comment.; 4/18/12, 10:19 AM
Clyde said...: Somehow I doubt that they would have said the same thing about the Bush twins.; 4/18/12, 1:04 PM
damikesc said...: Are you serious? I mean, seriously serious? What is Chelsea Clinton supposed to do, not go to college?

How easily you forget all the negative attention the Bush daughters brought to themselves.

HOLY COW! COLLEGE KIDS DRINKING!?!?! WELL I NEVER!!!

I bet Chelsea didn't drink AT ALL in college.

And this is about them now. Chelsea works for NBC. The Bush daughters? No. Much smaller time.; 4/18/12, 3:45 PM
damikesc said...: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51321-2004Sep1.html. The Bush Twins, Ready to Party .

Now, please, enlighten everybody, Les, about how the children of the President should be off-limits to the President.

Explain why Chelsea WAS ignored in college --- but the Bush daughters were not?

Is drinking in college really that rare of an event?; 4/18/12, 5:49 PM
rcommal said...: Me, I find it useful to view how folks of all sides view and both prescript and pro-script appropriate viewings. Other than that, that's pretty much it.; 4/18/12, 9:35 PM
damikesc said...: You know, damikesc, it just could have something to do with conduct.

Because, again, college kids drinking just never, ever happens.

And, again, tell me more about how the kids of Presidents should be off-limits. Because your defense of the treatment of the Bush daughters is making you look like a hypocrite and all.

And no, I still don't think anyone has any business asking Chelsea Clinton about her father.

You're the one brought up the Bush daughters--yes you did--as a comparison, so don't complain when they're compared.

Again, you are DEFENDING the press attacking Presidential kids when you dislike their father. The Bush daughters are not in the public eye at all and had the audacity of being kids who drank in college during his administration --- a practice, again, apparently so rare and abnormal in your world that it justified actual media scrutiny and their questioning Bush's parenting (which, yes, was done)

I defend somebody asking an NBC journalist and the least interesting person on Earth not named Leslyn questions. She is in the public eye. She has zero expectation of privacy at this point.

Want priacy? Then, again, do what the Bush daughters did and don't take jobs in the public sphere.

Or, heck, for once --- do something charitable. Chelsea's entire career indicates a dramatic amount of sheer greed...but, looking at her parents, we know where she got that from, don't we?; 4/19/12, 4:44 AM