Letterman vs Palin

**Headspace** · 2009-06-15 17:56

Originally Posted by Azkarin2

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.

She became the face of abstinent-only education.

She didn't go back into the shadows.

**Neosutra** · 2009-06-15 17:57

Been said already, but:

"Absolutely not necessarily."

Is my favorite Palin quote to date.

**Azkarin2** · 2009-06-15 18:03

Originally Posted by Headspace

She became the face of abstinent-only education.

She didn't go back into the shadows.

Right, I was just giving an example. Since she didn't sink away I found the originally joke funny and the response by the Palin camp retarded.

**Tristam** · 2009-06-15 18:08

No. We know nothing about whether Bristol Palin is promiscuous or not. For all we know she may have had sex once, I know after my first time we had a helluva pregnancy scare. It's really not debatable atall, being a sexually active teenager is NOT grounds to call someone slutty or whatever equivalent given the enormous divide between using that term on a man vs. a woman. Especially not on national television. Does David Letterman make jokes about Levi Brown attempting to fuck his way into the governor's family? Of course not, it's not funny because guys are supposed to bang hot sluts right brah?

Admit it, with few exception, we all were (or wished we all were) sexually active teenagers. That does not make one a whore, man or woman, and to call one single girl out on it because of her mother's status is deplorable. This is a sexist joke, and I really thought Letterman wasn't stupid enough to make a joke like this.

edit: as per the abstinence thing, still dosen't work, if you want to make a joke about her policies on abstinence then you'd better be damn sure you're on the more tasteful side of that fence and not simply calling her a slut.

**Headspace** · 2009-06-15 18:19

Originally Posted by Tristam

No. We know nothing about whether Bristol Palin is promiscuous or not. For all we know she may have had sex once, I know after my first time we had a helluva pregnancy scare. It's really not debatable atall, being a sexually active teenager is NOT grounds to call someone slutty or whatever equivalent given the enormous divide between using that term on a man vs. a woman. Especially not on national television. Does David Letterman make jokes about Levi Brown attempting to fuck his way into the governor's family? Of course not, it's not funny because guys are supposed to bang hot sluts right brah?

Admit it, with few exception, we all were (or wished we all were) sexually active teenagers. That does not make one a whore, man or woman, and to call one single girl out on it because of her mother's status is deplorable. This is a sexist joke, and I really thought Letterman wasn't stupid enough to make a joke like this.

edit: as per the abstinence thing, still dosen't work, if you want to make a joke about her policies on abstinence then you'd better be damn sure you're on the more tasteful side of that fence and not simply calling her a slut.

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famec...etterman_l.jpg

you mad

**archibaldcrane** · 2009-06-15 18:22

Similar to the Michael Richards rant, a comedian should not be chained to the rules of 'good taste', they should live or die based on whether what they say is funny. If this joke is directed at unwed teen mom, it's mildly amusing, and the 'appropriateness' is largely irrelevant. If it's directed at 14-year old daughter, it's confusing and random, not funny particularly, and then it's tastefulness comes into question.

If you're going to be funny, take no prisoners. If not, prepare for legit backlash.

**Talint** · 2009-06-15 18:27

Originally Posted by Tristam

No. We know nothing about whether Bristol Palin is promiscuous or not. For all we know she may have had sex once, I know after my first time we had a helluva pregnancy scare. It's really not debatable atall, being a sexually active teenager is NOT grounds to call someone slutty or whatever equivalent given the enormous divide between using that term on a man vs. a woman. Especially not on national television. Does David Letterman make jokes about Levi Brown attempting to fuck his way into the governor's family? Of course not, it's not funny because guys are supposed to bang hot sluts right brah?

Admit it, with few exception, we all were (or wished we all were) sexually active teenagers. That does not make one a whore, man or woman, and to call one single girl out on it because of her mother's status is deplorable. This is a sexist joke, and I really thought Letterman wasn't stupid enough to make a joke like this.

edit: as per the abstinence thing, still dosen't work, if you want to make a joke about her policies on abstinence then you'd better be damn sure you're on the more tasteful side of that fence and not simply calling her a slut.

One, no one was called a slut.

Two, still a joke even if you find it tasteless.

Originally Posted by Headspace

http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/famec...etterman_l.jpg

you mad

lol!

**Correction** · 2009-06-15 18:29

Originally Posted by Tristam

This is a sexist joke, and I really thought Letterman wasn't stupid enough to make a joke like this.

And he apologized for it. You want more out of it go join the crusade started by a man who to this day denies Obama bears a legitimate claim to the presidency.

Where's your outrage at this joke? GOP activist DePass apologizes after joking on Facebook that gorilla is related to Michelle Obama. Surely you don't let some unfunny jokes slide while other unfunny jokes bear the full force of your internet rage.

**ZarakiKujata** · 2009-06-15 18:39

Why was there no outrage to get Leno fired in September 2008 back when all of her daughters were underaged? Or was it that Palin had enough of the spotlight already because she was wingnuts answer to chocolate Jesus?

**Tristam** · 2009-06-15 18:42

Originally Posted by Correction

And he apologized for it. You want more out of it go join the crusade started by a man who to this day denies Obama bears a legitimate claim to the presidency.

Where's your outrage at this joke? GOP activist DePass apologizes after joking on Facebook that gorilla is related to Michelle Obama. Surely you don't let some unfunny jokes slide while other unfunny jokes bear the full force of your internet rage.

Sorry, I sincerely doubt anyone would really want me to comment on every joke I or others find offensive. And I don't want anything more from Letterman, I just would prefer that people understand why the joke is offensive, and that it has nothing to do with whether or not it's a 14 or 18 year old girl.

It's not so much internet rage, I didn't want to come off as such, and I also don't mean to say anything specifically politically about this or any other joke. Is your assumption that I'm making these posts because I'm a neocon? (I'm not btw, I haven't voted republican in a very long time). Please understand that my criticism of the joke itself is apolitical. For the record, I think Palin's response has been completely absurd. The thing that bothered me about certain comments in the thread, is that when a girl has sex, they seem to be held to a standard that allows it to be assumed that they "sleep around". So yes, the joke didn't call her specifically a slut, however that seemed to me to be the implication.

Anyhow, sorry I came off as a neocon bandwagoner white knight defender of feminism. Not my intention and I didn't mean to make it a one man war.

**shukudai** · 2009-06-15 19:00

Originally Posted by Tristam

The thing that bothered me about certain comments in the thread, is that when a girl has sex, they seem to be held to a standard that allows it to be assumed that they "sleep around".

Taking it too seriously. People don't like Palin. You say the word "sex" and "daughter", the first word people will think of after is "slut", especially since it's already a negative connotation because people dislike Palin. It's trying to be hurtful, regardless of fact, not an assumption that every female who has sex even once while a teenager is a slut.

**Day** · 2009-06-15 19:07

Calm down damn have you ever listened to any standup ever, ever??? JFC.

Its a joke. You're the same people that take the internet way too seriously.

**Maguspk** · 2009-06-15 19:10

That's someone's daughter.

**ZarakiKujata** · 2009-06-15 19:10

Her perception as a whore by people in this thread and in the country is due in large part because of her mothers stance on teenage sex/pregnancy etc and her mother's purposeful intent to exploit her children to try and make political gains. Bristol being a whore or not, as well as the joke occuring would not have happened if not for Sarah Palin keeping her kids purposefully in the spotlight. (Compare how often McCain/Obama/Biden's kids/grandkids were in the media at the insistence of their parents and you should see why its funny to make fun of Bristol Palin). Also what the fuck was Willow doing at a Yankee's game period? You'd think with 2 kids who are already high school dropouts she would want to change that image of her family?