Did she really just say that the media stayed away from Obama’s family because he’s “the candidate who must be obeyed”? On what fucking planet?

The only person humiliating Willow Palin is Sarah Palin.

Who will protect Willow from the perverted sexual exploitation of her mother?

I haven’t weighed in on this whole issue much as I’ve been sort of digesting the whole thing.  Although I deplore the way Palin used her kids as campaign props, I completely agree with most of what she said.  I thought Letterman’s “joke” was beyond the pale and he deserves to be fired over it.  I didn’t see much difference between it and the “nappy headed hoes” joke that got whats-is-name canned.  It doesn’t matter which daughter or whose daughter he was talking about, it was not funny, it was not a joke and it does contribute to a culture of sexual intimidation of women.

Oh, and flight attendants are not slutty either, David.

The look on her face is sheer “THE TEEVEE LOVES ME AGAIN!!!”

It reminds me of the look on W’s face as he prepared to announce the beginning of the Iraq war. Not solemnity at the awful magnitude of the occaision, but “OH BOY, WAR!!!”

marin, agree, and, yeah, I thought she said some things that needed to be said in the interview. I think nearly everyone is in agreement that the joke about her daughter was way out of line and, hell, I wouldn’t even call Palin “slutty” in a blog post, let alone on national TV (because I’m a horrible, horrible misogynist!). That smirk/sneer of hers and her demeanor just diluted the points she was trying to make for me, though. And she could have dialed back her statement (and her spokeperson’s statement), but clearly she has no intention of doing so. I just think she’s handling it poorly, but then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Mar, I agree 100% that Letterman’s joke was crude and lame. A firing offense? I don’t know about that, but he deserves the bad press he’s getting. I did like Palin’s shout-out to flight attendants. But she seems to be using her own kids as a pawn in this too, implying that Letterman is such a perv that he can’t be trusted around her 14-year-old.

If she said she wanted to give him five in the snot locker for his remarks, that I could understand—I would feel the same way. But for her to say kids should be left out of it and then turn around and bring the kid back into it strikes me as opportunistic. And the thing about the media staying away from Obama’s family is bullshit. Good god, how many times was Michelle O portrayed as a radical, America-hating harpie?

I don’t recall any scurrilous attacks on the Obama girls, but then again, they’re younger kids. If they do something mock-worthy in their teen years (or even if they don’t), I expect they’ll be in for some late-night jokes as well. Hopefully in better taste!

Mar, I can well understand your anger. And the “joke” was indeed unfunny and should not have been made.

But there was no kind of implication of force, at all; Palin put that in there herself, as part of her usual campaign to get the most mileage possible out of any situation, no matter what the cost to her family. Palin made her unhappy 18-year-old into an abstinence poster child; Palin is dragging her underage children, by name, into the discussion.

So, knowing full well that I don’t have a daughter, and don’t really have a right to speak except as a woman myself, I really do have to disagree with you on whether Letterman should have been fired. That he needed to apologize, and make amends immediately, is clear. But ruining his 30 year career over this, a career which includes, as Kevin said, the shows he did post 9/11, is just excessive.

I think Americans really need to relearn how to do two important things: make genuine apologies, and accept them.

implying that Letterman is such a perv that he can’t be trusted around her 14-year-old

It was actually a lot more diplomatic than what I would have said if I had been ask to respond to such a thing said about my kid.  And what has Willow done that was “mock-worthy”?  She’s not to blame for her older sister’s behavior.

I’ve expressed my distaste for Palin and just about everything about her on many occasions but on this she just came off to me as an angry mom.  Somewhat opportunistic probably, but mainly just angry.  And rightly so.

Mrs. P., I have yet to see Letterman make a genuine apology.  He made one of those “gee if anyone was offended by what I said than that’s regrettable” type of statements.  If he did actually apologize I would probably be OK with it.  And since I never watch his show anyway I’ll just continue not to watch it.

I don’t recall any scurrilous attacks on the Obama girls, but then again, they’re younger kids. If they do something mock-worthy in their teen years (or even if they don’t), I expect they’ll be in for some late-night jokes as well. Hopefully in better taste!

It’s their age and the fact that Palin dragged her kids (Piper and Willow mostly) around with her everywhere while campaigning while the Obamas kept their girls off the campaign trail as much as possible.

Mrs. P., I have yet to see Letterman make a genuine apology.

He hasn’t, but that’s probably because they came crashing out of the gate basically calling him a pedophile.  If they had asked for an apology, they probably would have received a genuine one from him. It’s just been handled poorly all the way around.

And what has Willow done that was “mock-worthy”?

Perhaps I’m naive, but I believe Letterman when he says he was talking about the 18-year-old. The joke was still lame and offensive, but I really don’t think he meant to bring statutory rape into the conversation.

I think both you and Mrs. P are right: we do need to learn to make—and accept—apologies. From what I saw of Letterman’s apology, it was of the lame “if anyone took offense” variety.

This seems to me to be a case of misdirection, anyway. Right-wing birther shoots up the Holocaust Museum?

Look! Over there! It’s Sarah Palin and David Letterman! AND Elvis!

I think I’m missing something here—not in your comments but in why this is front-page news. David Letterman made a stupid joke that was in poor taste. OK, really poor taste. But it was a throwaway line. If Palin or her people had ignored it or issued a short statement saying the joke was inappropriate and Mr. Letterman should apologize this thing would have gone away, fast.

But the thing about Palin is she LOVES this kind of thing and doesn’t want it to go away. It gives her the opportunity to pounce on the Left and beat her chest on TV and drum up support on the hate train. What’s really shameful is how Sarah Palin has totally exploited her family—her girls—for the sake of political expediency, not just once but many times.

I’m with J, Kevin, Mrs. P and Betty Cracker on this.

In summary: The joke was in poor taste. He’s a comedian, comedians cross the line sometimes. An apology is appropriate. Firing is excessive. A mother has a right to be mad and defend her daughter. At the same time, a politician shouldn’t be using her kids as campaign/PR props either and the PR statement they issued yesterday back at Letterman where they choose to mention Willow was over the line as well - and even more stupid, because it undercuts their argument.

letterman owns the show. i don’t think he’ll fire himself

Who will protect Willow from the perverted sexual exploitation of her mother?

Levi for the Double Header !!!

Sarah Palin is such a wingnut she would make birth control illegal for minors, then her own daughter gets pregnant right under her nose, and before the baby is even dry, Bristol is on a media tour promoting abstinence-only birth control????

And we are expecting comedians to pass on the knocked up jokes?  Not gonna happen.

I felt really bad for the poor kid, but when she decided to throw herself under the public microscope with the abstinence tour, she became fair game IMHO.

Letterman went down a notch though, really mean sprited jabs for sure.

Me and my wife are both medium hi profile around here, and we get attacked as evil parents, and abusers by the freeper types who hate us, it sucks, but it doesn’t seem to phase the kids at all.

i thought david letterman handled the whole thing very well.  palin turned a very minor event into a major media event.

i have been watching david letterman since 1985.  his humor is not based on humiliating people.

was palin on tv defending sonia sotomayor from the misogynist and racist attacks?

no?

david letterman told a tasteless joke.

george bush is enjoying himself in texas, dick cheney is on your tv.

yeah, letterman should definitely get fired.

Kevin said:

It’s their age and the fact that Palin dragged her kids (Piper and Willow mostly) around with her everywhere while campaigning while the Obamas kept their girls off the campaign trail as much as possible.

And Betty said:

Perhaps I’m naive, but I believe Letterman when he says he was talking about the 18-year-old. The joke was still lame and offensive, but I really don’t think he meant to bring statutory rape into the conversation.

And I think these are the two most important statements in this thread.  Let’s clear one thing up here: Letterman makes off-color jokes about any celebrity.  And in this case, it was obvious to me that Letterman’s jokes about one of Palin’s daughters was about Bristol, the one who got knocked up—not about Willow, which Sarah Palin implies and, as far as I’m concerned, is a disingenuous lie.

As far as what I quoted of Kevin’s comment, it reminds me of Sarah Palin’s first public appearance where she dragged her whole family out, baby in tow, and then a couple weeks later we found out that the elder teenage daughter of this devout Republican family was pregnant.  Now we shouldn’t jump down the throat of a pregnant teenager, but when her Mom is all over the television trying to become vice-president—and now president, apparently—based on a platform that includes teenage abstinence, I can’t help but be fucking repulsed by the hypocrisy.  Sarah Palin can’t even keep handle on her own family, now she wants to tell us how to live?  I’m sorry, but no.

Furthermore, Palin is the one that brought her family into this—for her own gain.  She has absolutely no qualifications to become vice-president, much less president.  Fuckin’ A, I’m about to graduate from college with a degree more advanced than hers, and I’m sorry but I happen to think I’m a hell of a lot fucking smarter than her, too.  WTF makes her think she should be the fucking president?  But she’s making herself into a celebrity in her effort to become president.  There’s a downside to that.  I don’t know if Sarah Palin does her own, I dunno, fucking food shopping, but every tabloid cover I look at tells me the intimate details of which celebrity of having sexual intercourse with whichever other celebrity.

That’s the lifestyle, like it or not, Sarah Palin has asked to live.  Now if we want to discuss the disgusting nature of the tabloid media, and press in general, that’s one thing.  But in Sarah Palin’s case, don’t cart your whole family out to the public, have a knocked up daughter, hypocritically preach abstinence, and then expect the press which covers celebrities to leave you alone.  When you’re a walking fucking joke campaigning for the biggest job on the planet, expect to take some fucking potshots.  That’s the culture.  Like I said, we can have a discussion and offer criticism about this culture, but let it be known that this is the culture that Sarah Palin willing walked into to achieve her own selfish ends.  To complain about it—and then lie about it, implying that Letterman made jokes about the wrong daughter—is so dishonest it’s not even funny.

I understood the joke to be about 18-year old Bristol Palin, who has voluntarily and deliberately decided to become a public figure by going on every TV show on the world to discuss her unwedded and unplanned pregnancy by an athlete.

Bristol is an adult. And a public figure who has made her “fame” based on talking about getting knocked up. Letterman was just incorporating all of that into a toss-away joke mocking A-Rod’s own infidelity and penchant for bagging celebrities when they come to NYC.

“If we must!!”

That’s real joy in discussing the rape of her teenage daughter. Real joy, folks.