Letterman vs Palin

[Tristam]

It was a really crude and sexist joke, I'm honestly surprised it came out of Letterman and didn't get removed somewhere along the way.

That being said, I don't think this is an issue where Palin should try to "win points". There are plenty of women's advocacy groups correctly and justifiably slamming Letterman for the joke.

[Warudo Ecksu]

The reason why Palin won't let this go is she enjoys being in the spotlight. Shit had died down with Bristol's ex boyfriend being all over the news, and finally something else happened that would put Palin back in the headlines, and she's dragging it on forever.

She should have just ignored the joke in the first place, but she fell into Letterman's trap.

[Dimmauk]

I laughed hard at Palin's interview with Matt Lauer.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin intensified her war of words with comedian David Letterman on Friday, claiming his controversial joke about one of her daughters had contributed to the "acceptance of abuse of young women" and calling on people to "start really rising up."

Appearing on NBC's Today show, Palin also told host Matt Lauer that he was "extremely naive" if he believed the "Late Show" host's explanation of the joke.

When Lauer noted that Letterman had not mentioned Willow by name and later denied that he was referring to her, Palin responded, "Matt, I would say that you and anybody else are extremely naive to believe that very convenient excuse of David Letterman's the other day. He took a couple of days for him to think of that excuse that, oh, no, he wasn't talking about my daughter who was there with me at the [Yankees] game, the 14-year-old. Well, I think it's a weak excuse."

She added, "I would hope that people really start -- really rising up and deciding it's not acceptable. No wonder young girls, especially, have such low self-esteem in America." Palin said that she could "connect the dots to a degrading statement made about young women, and that does contribute to some acceptance of abuse of young women."

Later, Lauer pressed Palin to explain a line in a statement from her spokesperson that "it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman." Lauer asked, "Are you suggesting that David Letterman can't be trusted around a 14-year-old girl?"

"Hey, take it however you want to take it," she said. "It is a comment that came from the heart that Willow, no doubt, would want to stay away from David Letterman after he made such a comment. And you can interpret that however you want to interpret it."

"Well is that not perhaps in bad taste also, governor?" Lauer asked.

"No, it's not in bad taste," she said. "Hey, maybe he couldn't be trusted because Willow's had enough of this type of comments and maybe Willow would want to react to him in a way that maybe would catch him off guard. That's one way to interpret such a comment."

Moving on to Republican Party politics, Lauer told Palin that "your name has been on a list with people like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney," and that she was considered a fund-raising superstar. "Does that translate to you being the future of the GOP?" he asked. Her answer: "Absolutely not necessarily."

"You know, I want to help," she explained. "I want to be able to help the cause. And the cause is to get Americans to remember that big government is not the answer. That's not the way that we're going to secure our nation and progress our nation and get our economy back on the right track."


Sarah Palin "Today" Show Interview With Matt Lauer (VIDEO)

[Despain]

People still care about Sarah Palin? Does she really want attention that bad?

[Tristam]

"Absolutely not necessarily" is my new favorite Palinism.

[Norellicus]

It's stupid of Palin to get this up in arms about it, but Letterman (or his writers, or what the fuck ever) isn't completely without fault; if the 14-y/o was the one with Palin at the ballgame, then that's really uncouth for him or anybody else to joke about...Letterman tried to about it by pointing out what his intent was (even though it doesn't fit the facts of the story and thus creates this clusterfuck), and Palin is seeing red too much to put two and two together about his intentions.

[Akiyama]

This could be summed up as "lolwomen", but eh. I can understand how she'd think Letterman meant someone else, but I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do a joke about a 14-year old girl having sex with A-Rod. Not to say A-Rod probably wouldn't do that...

[Plow]

The reason why Palin won't let this go is she enjoys being in the spotlight. Shit had died down with Bristol's ex boyfriend being all over the news, and finally something else happened that would put Palin back in the headlines, and she's dragging it on forever.

I think this hit the nail on the head.


The sole purpose is keeping her name in the public consciousness.

[Cephius]

This could be summed up as "lolwomen", but eh. I can understand how she'd think Letterman meant someone else, but I don't think he'd be stupid enough to do a joke about a 14-year old girl having sex with A-Rod. Not to say A-Rod probably wouldn't do that...

You leave A-rod alone, he's banging Kate Hudson now!

[ZarakiKujata]

Letterman isn't gonna get fired over this, lol. Who the fuck would they replace him with? They'd have a gaping timeslot to fill. That means less money I guess. Palin & her daughter (the 18 year-old one fyi. :>) would have to blow the entire board multiple times to even stand a chance at turning this into anything.

More so then that, Letterman owns 100% of his and Ferguson's shows, CBS has shit. That's how he was back on the air with his writers before anybody else during the writer's strike. So even if they fired him, they would essentially have to start their whole late night line up from scratch since Letterman could and would just take both shows to ABC or whoever would have him.

OTH, it'd probably mean Jon Stewart/Colbert would get the slots and that would be funny too....

Also Alleya: if the democrats were this meanspirited/anal/what have you, John McCain and about half the GOP would not currently be in politics or on the airwaves after all the shit they said during the 1980s-1990s about Chelsea/Hillary Clinton, women in general and minorities.

[Dimmauk]

Its obvious that Palin's team heard about the joke, and they are trying to spin it now.

[Talint]

Letterman make a joke about a fourteen year old having sex? OOOH that's so tasteless and wrong!

[Kiro]

Letterman make a joke about a fourteen year old having sex? OOOH that's so tasteless and wrong!

I... dunno what to do with this one. Am I being wooshed?

[Alleya]

Also Alleya: if the democrats were this meanspirited/anal/what have you, John McCain and about half the GOP would not currently be in politics or on the airwaves after all the shit they said during the 1980s-1990s about Chelsea/Hillary Clinton, women in general and minorities.

No, I'm right. The thing is, they are still around because a lot of people agree with them. That's the scary part.

[Talint]

I... dunno what to do with this one. Am I being wooshed?

There are some out there trying to distinguish the fact that the daughter in NY was the fifteen year old, and not the previously pregnant eighteen year old.

As if it has any bearing on the fact that it's a joke. It may move the punchline a bit (Palin's daughter is sexually promiscuous versus Palin's abstinence-only education platform ironically doesn't work), but it's still a joke.

[Azkarin2]

The age limit moved the acceptable (and funny) joke to the 'off limits' not-so-funny joke. When I first heard it I assumed it was about the 18 year old. Now I know it probably wasn't intended towards the 14 year old, but either way underage kids are off limits to those kind of jokes. You don't call a 14 year old a whore on national TV when they haven't done a single thing to deserve it. The 18 year old obviously is a different story but a 14 year old? Doesn't matter if it was a hilarious joke or not, it ain't right to call her out on national TV like that.

[Tristam]

Why, pray tell, is it ok to call an 18 year old unwed mother a slut but not a 14 year old girl? I was sexually active at 18, does that make my girlfriend at the time a slut? What if our contraception failed, would we be sufficiently slutty to merit jokes on national tv then?

In either instance, the joke was in incredibly poor taste.

[quannum]

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/...alin-alone.jpg

[Dimmauk]

The age limit moved the acceptable (and funny) joke to the 'off limits' not-so-funny joke. When I first heard it I assumed it was about the 18 year old. Now I know it probably wasn't intended towards the 14 year old, but either way underage kids are off limits to those kind of jokes. You don't call a 14 year old a whore on national TV when they haven't done a single thing to deserve it. The 18 year old obviously is a different story but a 14 year old? Doesn't matter if it was a hilarious joke or not, it ain't right to call her out on national TV like that.

I doubt he was talking about the 14 year old, but the GOP sure is trying to make the joke about her. Which in my opinion is hypocritical.

[Azkarin2]

In either instance, the joke was in incredibly poor taste.

Joking about the 14 year old is in incredibly poor taste. Joking about the 18 year old is debatable. She slept around and got pregnant. The joke was about sleeping around. Relevant? Yes. Funny? Kinda. In good taste? Probably not but it wasn't terribly offensive.

I don't think that politician's family should be fair game for comedic material unless they attempt to profit off the limelight. If Bristol sank back into the shadows during the campaign then leave her out of it. But if she was used as a tool to help promote her family then fair game for certain jokes.