David Letterman's Palin Child Joke

[MacUser]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/0 ... erman.html

But it was a line in Letterman’s monologue that set off a firestorm: “One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”

Palin was in New York with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

The line prompted an angry response from the Palins. In a statement posted on Facebook and distributed to the press yesterday, the governor said:

“Concerning Letterman's comments about my young daughter (and I doubt he'd ever dare make such comments about anyone else's daughter): 'Laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/NY entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands - that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.' ”

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Well said on Palin's part. I like Letterman's show.. but he needs to fully apologize for these horrific jokes about Palin's kids. Not pander in a sideways "sorry". Full on impact.. eat crow.. sorry. The politician herself is fair game.. but when you go after the young kids.. you are descending to another angry level. Letterman should not act SHOCKED over the fact that he might need a bodyguard to protect him if Todd comes on his show.

If he wanted to invite her (as he stated Todd could stay home).. I think that could have been done much easier. This off color stuff will do nothing but hurt David in the long run when his ratings are apparently soaring.

He's feeling the HEAT apparently over the backlash... and appeared all jittery last night talking about this. Not his average cool personality. Apparently he grabbed onto a tigers tail here and got bitten back.

What say you?

[MacUser]

Conan O'Brien reverses ratings...
http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/06/conan-ob ... erman.html

The talk show rebounded 10% from Monday's performance, climbing to a 3.2 last night in the household ratings.

That was enough to edge out David Letterman's "Late Show," which had bested O'Brien's "Tonight" in the overnights for the first time Tuesday evening. Letterman pulled a 3.1 rating, dropping slightly from the previous night.

Letterman's lower number comes after headline-making jokes about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

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Wow.. so my theory was correct. David grabbed onto a TIGER and whirled around and scratched him back.

Apparently Conan only has to wait for Letterman to hurt himself. This is his game to lose. I'm sure his advertisers are thrilled.

[one love]

I say it was a awful thing to say and wonder if he knew that her 14 year old was there? Goes to show he should not jump on the "slam palin" band wagon! People like her.

What if that was said about Obamas daughters? hmmmmmmm

I was on a radio (liberal) show this morning telling them to stop making false accusations regarding conservatives which is setting the precedent that we are a racist/southern radical right wing party that is the cause of the shooting yesterday in holocaust museum and blaming oreily for the abortion doctor "Tillers" death.
I explained that Bush was slammed for years and people camped on his front yard yet they never painted them with such a broad brush!

[EagerBeaver]

Poor taste indeed.

[dolfan]

Letterman is a privileged thug, no better in quality or character than the thugs who rapped about raping Tipper Gore's two 12-year old nieces in the early 90's. He's white, he's got a "reputation" as an "intelligent, clever" humorist. Truly, he's not one penny or one iota better than those rappers.

[Pastor Gary]

Letterman's writers saw a chance to take a cheap shot at someone they hate (a conservative politician) and they didn't fact check.

I suspect that they did NOT realize it was the 14-year-old daughter, rather than the unwed mother teen, and they would have scratched the joke if they had known... but the damage is done. They DID use it, and a classy guy would issue and apology and move on -- but an ideologue like Letterman will not.

[MacUser]

Letterman's writers saw a chance to take a cheap shot at someone they hate (a conservative politician) and they didn't fact check.

I suspect that they did NOT realize it was the 14-year-old daughter, rather than the unwed mother teen, and they would have scratched the joke if they had known... but the damage is done. They DID use it, and a classy guy would issue and apology and move on -- but an ideologue like Letterman will not.

I understand. We all would like to believe that.. Honestly.. we gracious extend that benefit of the doubt because of the awful nature of the attack on a underage child... or we used to. When in actuality the extreme shrill voices of today make me more and more cynical and less likely to extend anything anymore.

[oletimer]

David Letterman was sick long time before this, sick of mind, soul, and character. So is his writers, example of what is leading our country as they pushed to get them elected.

[rjjunior]

Letterman's writers saw a chance to take a cheap shot at someone they hate (a conservative politician) and they didn't fact check.

I suspect that they did NOT realize it was the 14-year-old daughter, rather than the unwed mother teen, and they would have scratched the joke if they had known...

I don't believe it. Switch it an 18 year old daughter and it's SO much more appropriate? They were simply slimy as usual and got called out.

[RamboPreacher]

nobody has anything to say about Alex Rodriguez? I don't know who that is, but I am guessing he is a sports figure. even if he did have a "reputation" (sorry, don't know any assumed context here), does he deserve this?

[Pastor Gary]

Letterman's writers saw a chance to take a cheap shot at someone they hate (a conservative politician) and they didn't fact check.

I suspect that they did NOT realize it was the 14-year-old daughter, rather than the unwed mother teen, and they would have scratched the joke if they had known...

I don't believe it. Switch it an 18 year old daughter and it's SO much more appropriate? They were simply slimy as usual and got called out.

Switch it to an 18-year-old who has been on magazine covers with her unwed baby, who has made herself a public figure by making TV appearances in support of celibacy, and who is of legal age, and it becomes less offensive, yes, IMHO. Stupid? Of course. But UBERstupid since the 14-year-old was the one traveling with Palin and the writers didn't fact-check.

Someone pointed out that had Letterman made the same joke about one of the Obama girls, his show would be OVER.

[MacUser]

Someone pointed out that had Letterman made the same joke about one of the Obama girls, his show would be OVER.

Exactly and a very sincere eat crow on knees would be in effect from Letterman... but this is more than just a double standard as Palin so clearly points out.

[Full Quiver]

nobody has anything to say about Alex Rodriguez? I don't know who that is,

Like we didn't see this coming.

I can't for the life of me figure out how someones knows about Palin, her children, Letterman, etc but doesn't know who Alex Rodriquez is considering he makes the news just as much if not more than any of the above names.

[Pastor Gary]

nobody has anything to say about Alex Rodriguez? I don't know who that is,

Like we didn't see this coming.

I can't for the life of me figure out how someones knows about Palin, her children, Letterman, etc but doesn't know who Alex Rodriquez is considering he makes the news just as much if not more than any of the above names.

News?? Alex Rodriguez is never in the "news" - he is in the SPORTS, a section of the newspaper I discard unread each day.

[Full Quiver]

Gary, it is more than Sports reports that follow A-Rod. Congressional hearings on steroid use, etc. make top news, front pages, etc.