Last night, embattled, but intrepid, newsman David Shuster broke his Corporate-imposed Garbo-esque vow of silence to answer the insipid Byron York's rightwing Washington Examiner's "exclusive" hitpiece on him.
Had Shuster once again taken York to task for his pathetic reporting and excretable defense of Scooter Libby, using some Vulcan mind trick while he is contractually muzzled?
Had he confronted Orly Taitz and her bizarre birther notions on national TeeVee?
Had he and Markos so angered racist Tom Tancredo with a dogged insistence on facts that Tancredo removed his earpiece and walked off the set during a live interview?
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Or, possibly, had he set the teabaggers straight in one of the most memorable segments on Countdown, ever?
No. This alleged "non-team player" had played softball on a Metropolitan Media Softball League NBC Team over the weekend.
The Examiner implied Shuster showed up for the casual game in full uniform, looking like "a dork," and told at least one fellow player he was on "paid vacation" for the duration of the remainder of his contract. They mentioned he had played with the league for 2 years.
Except, according to David Shuster, on his FaceBook Page, he didn't do those things, and he has been with the league for 20 years.
Here's what the famously polite Shuster had to say in his defense:
"I'm flattered that the conservative DC examiner would choose to write about our media softball team. I'm frustrated they got nearly everything wrong... from what I wear (a t-shirt/shorts like everybody else) to how long I've been in the league (20 years, not "two) to what I've said about my work status. (Nothing, nada, zip.) Then again, this is the DC examiner."
The last thing David said publicly, after an MSNBC spokesperson said Mr. Shuster would be "appropriately punished" for filming a pilot with NPR's Michel Martin for a possible CNN branded show of his own, was that he expected MSNBC Pres. Phil Griffin to "rip me a new one."
On this count, the award winning journalist was wrong.
Griffin effectively sewed another vital orifice of Shusters shut. Then, Griffin put his sewing kit to use on the mouths of every other employee of MSNBC, until a deafening silence fell over the cable news network where everything Shuster was concerned.
With the exception of a shout out at an industry dinner from its hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, and cryptic tweets by "team player" Keith Olbermann, the tireless utility man, David Shuster, never existed at MSNBC.
Olbermann's tweets were interesting. "Contracts are contracts," he said, although it would be extremely unusual for Keith to have ever seen David Shuster's contract.
Almost as unusual would have been a corporation continuing to pay an employee his full salary from the months of April through December, had that employee actually violated his contract and given the company grounds to summarily fire him.
But that's the career purgatory David Shuster finds himself in, at the hands of a boss that claims to be "deeply, personally hurt" by the newsman's attempts to keep himself employed in a profession he dearly loves.
Represented by highly regarded news talent agents N.S. Bienstock, it is almost inconceivable that he would have been sent on an "audition" that would have jeopardized his standing with his current contract, or if they hadn't been notified that Shuster's future at MSNBC was bleak.
Griffin has never stated publicly that Shuster violated his contract, instead, responding to angry fans of Shuster via email, that Shuster was "NOT Moral, NOT Ethical, and NOT Professional," all the while inadvertently positioning himself as a defendant in a potential defamation lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Shuster is all but muzzled, unable to defend himself, lest, in doing so, he calls Griffin's veracity into question, which would be a firing offense.
He's left twisting in the wind, so to speak.
With all that in mind, and without further adieu, here are the Top Ten Things David Shuster Can Do While Phil Griffin Leaves Him Twisting In The Wind:
By sgarystewart at 2010-05-14
You can support David Shuster by signing the Petition To Bring Back David Shuster,
And by joining our fun-loving FaceBook Group Punish David Shuster With his Own Show!
UPDATE: David Shuster sets the (baseball) record straight with the Examiner.