In case you didn’t see it, we have here a case of a 62-year-old white guy, on national television, making crude, cruel sexual comments about a 14-year-old girl and calling them jokes. How is this possible? Well, only because said 14-year-old girl is the daughter of Sarah Palin, and therefore the OSM doesn’t consider her to be fully human, let alone a “real woman.”
I appreciate the statements on this from her parents (posted on Facebook, but not, apparently, on the SarahPAC website):
“Any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too.”
—Todd Palin
“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 are not only disgusting, but they remind us Hollywood has 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.'”
—Governor Sarah Palin
This should not be a liberal/conservative issue (as Tommy Christopher has said well)—the divide here should be between people who think it’s appropriate to make crude sexual comments about women, particularly in public and particularly underage girls, and those who recognize that such things are sick and wrong and do not constitute appropriate public discourse. Don Imus got fired for less; in a just world, David Letterman would receive the same fate. Please contact the higher-ups at CBS and Letterman’s advertisers (Joseph Russo has posted the list) and tell them Letterman’s behavior is unacceptable and intolerable.
I don't mind political humor, but that was really beyond the pale. I gave CBS a piece of my mind!
I intend to as well, once I'm out of the office. Honestly, that sort of remark ought to be a firing offense, regardless of who says it or about whom. Nobody deserves that.
David Letterman needs to be fired and make a pubic apology to the Palins.
I agree completely.
I ended up thinking about this more than I expected to. Now, I'm well aware that my sense of humor leans toward the boundary-breaking kind of humor, and I'm also aware that I probably find things funny that some would find 'despicable'. I've learned to read my audience really, really well (in person anyway). I also tend to fall on the pro-First-Amendment side of a lot of related issues about expression in the public sphere.
One thing that struck me was the clear feminist argument that the joke is misogynistic and would never have been told about a son, or the daughter of a male political figure at a baseball game. Or, if it was, there would probably be more outcry. (I remember a lot of jokes about Chelsea Clinton back in the day, but it was too long ago to remember details to compare. They were more about her appearance.)
The fact that Palin's daughter who was with her is 14 is also pretty bad. It connects to her older daughter's pregnancy, but I think is beyond the pale. Bad enough for firing? Don Imus comes to mind, so there's a precedent there. And I'd say that statutory rape jokes are at least on par with "nappy-headed hoes" and other openly racist comments.
This is a point where hypocrisy is coming out which Palin-supporters are right to point out. No force on Earth could convince me to vote for Palin, but if I were Don Imus, I'd be pretty angry right now.
Letterman was well within his First Amendment rights, certainly–no one's arguing that he should be sent to jail–but there are things that the government must tolerate that society should not, and I think this is one of them. As I said, this shouldn't be about supporting Palin or not supporting Palin, it should be about how it's appropriate for men to speak about women, and how it's appropriate for adults to speak about children. If Limbaugh had made a crack like that about the president's oldest daughter, there wouldn't be a radio station in the country that would dare play him ever again. Hypocrisy? Yeah, I'd say so.
It is my understanding that Gov. Palin's son is in Iraq right now. Dealing with the difficulties of combat and now this. David Letterman owes a real apology to the entire Palin family. The son must be going nuts right now. If anyone would have said that about my sister or mother, I would be very upset.
I hadn't thought of the effect of all this on Track Palin . . . good grief.
Letterman has nos apologized twice, and the despicable Palin family and their supporters are still protesting. The joke was NEVER about Willow. That was clear, and was definitely a mistake on Letterman's part not to research who was at the game. He apologized once, and then again last night, profusely, and sincerely. But that doesn't stop the opportunist parasitic nature of the pathetic political animal that Palin is, who never let the truth get in the way of her grandstanding. When someone apologizes, only a loser piles on.
Oops, I meant to saw "now" apologized twice, not "nos."
And I meant to say "say" not "saw." Geez, I need to learn how to proof-read.
Actually, you need to learn to read. If you did, you'd know three things. One, that from the reports, the only way Letterman could be that mistaken is if he's an idiot. Two, that his first "apology" was nothing resembling an apology. And three, that though his actual apology is still limp, weak, and half-baked, Gov. Palin is not "still protesting"–she's accepted it.
Oh, and four, if "only a loser piles on," then the Left are losers all the time, because whenever they get someone cornered the way Letterman was/is (Don Imus, anyone?), they keep "piling on" until they get the kill. Nothing less will satisfy the bloodhounds of the Left.
When you can meet basic standards of evidence, feel free to make an actual argument. As long as you're relying on baseless assertions and ad hominem attacks, forget about it.