Well, why not? Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews has called her worse, and it’s only a couple of degrees from Randi Rhodes calling her a “f*****g whore” on stage earlier this month. Politico has the story and the video:

Off camera today on MSNBC, A.B. Stoddard of “The Hill” newspaper followed up a clip of Hillary Clinton with the word “skanky.”

In the clip, Clinton tells supporters that she’d debate Obama anywhere: “We could even do it on the back of a flatbed truck, doesn’t even have to be in some fancy studio somewhere.”

“The New Argument” mentioned the clip earlier today, but only that there was an “unknown culprit” who used the word “skanky.”

MSNBC confirmed to Politico that it was Stoddard, who’s seen laughing as the camera goes back to her.

This looks like a case of sophomoric dirty-mindedness. In the MS-NBC clip, they leave out the context of Hillary Clinton challenging Barack Obama to a moderator-free debate. Stoddard, who knew better, apparently decided to let her imagination run wild at Hillary’s suggestion that they could “do it”, a phrase best left in high school, along with Stoddard’s giggles.

I’d make the argument that MS-NBC is in the bag for Obama, but then it just becomes a dog-bites-man story. Maybe we can get Stoddard’s reaction the next time Matthews describes the thrill up his leg when Obama speaks. Or perhaps NBC and General Electric could consider cleaning house at the cable network and hiring some professionals instead of the journalistic equivalent of skanks.