Big Fat Story
Palin’s multi-round bout with the CBS host.
It's official: Sarah Palin's spat with Late Show host David Letterman has now reached full-scale feud status. The dispute began after Letterman made a pair of jokes about Palin's daughter being "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez on a trip to New York and hit on by Eliot Spitzer. Seeming to willfully ignore that the jokes were clearly about her oldest daughter, Bristol, 18, Sarah and Todd Palin responded with interviews and an official statement claiming that David Letterman was making "sexually perverted comments...aimed at a 14-year old girl" and even encouraging sexual violence against minors in general. Letterman responded with a lengthy segment acknowledging that the jokes may have been in bad taste, but also mischaracterized: "Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No." Not good enough for the Palins, who issued a statement that they would be concerned about having their 14-year old daughter Willow anywhere near Letterman, seeming to imply that the longtime CBS host was a letch. Palin appeared on Today Friday morning to drive her point home: "It's no wonder girls have such low self-esteem in America when a comedian can make a remark like this."
Photo: Vince Bucci / Getty Images
The real culprit behind Palin’s CBS disaster.
The turning point in Sarah Palin's descent from fresh-faced newcomer to political liability was her interviews with Katie Couric, in which the governor spouted gibberish on the economy, wouldn't name a newspaper she reads, and gave an extremely creative take on her foreign-policy credentials vis a vis Russia. So who's to blame for Palin's implosion? Couric, of course! Palin lashed out in a documentary released earlier this year, telling the Couric that "you're not the center of everybody's universe" and suggesting that the interview—which she said had never seen—edited out all the questions where she sounded at least somewhat coherent. "I never saw the interview after Katie edited it, they spliced it together, did whatever they did and then aired it, never saw how it came across," Palin told John Ziegler. "But my understanding is so many more topics that were brought up certainly weren't portrayed perhaps as accurately as they could have, should have been after that interview."
Photo: Evan Agostini / AP Photo
Governor played nice on SNL, but later criticized her portrayal.
Tina Fey won widespread critical acclaim for her guest appearances on Saturday Night Live parodying Governor Palin. The vice presidential candidate played along, making an appearance of her own on the show, but later in an interview with documentarian John Ziegler said that Fey's performance went too far. "The mama grizzly rises up in me hearing things like that," Palin said of a joke Fey made referencing her daughter Bristol's then-engagement to Levi Johnston. "Cool, fine, come attack me, but when you make a suggestion like that that attacks a kid, that kills me."
Photo: Dana Edelson, NBCU Photo Bank / AP Photo
The Wrath of Sarah Palin
Friday morning on Today, the governor kept up her attacks on David Letterman, who's just the latest victim of her relentless assaults on her critics. Watch some of her biggest blowouts.
President Obama set off a minor uproar after he compared his bowling skills to Special Olympians on The Tonight Show. Obama quickly apologized to the head of the organization for his impolitic remarks, but Sarah Palin, whose son, Trig, has Down Syndrome, issued a statement condemning the president the next day. “This was a degrading remark about our world’s most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world," Palin said. “These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination, and adversity than most of us ever will. By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them. I hope President Obama’s comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special-needs community.”
Photo: Paul Drinkwater, NBCU Photo Bank / AP Photo
Sarah Palin put the father of her daughter Bristol's child, Levi Johnston, front and center during the campaign. Announcing that he and Bristol were engaged, the McCain campaign prominently featured Johnston at the Republican National Convention. But after the election, the relationship between the Palins and Johnstons collapsed—the marriage was called off and Johnston began doing interviews complaining he could not see his child regularly and that Sarah Palin had been aware he was having sex with Bristol. “We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship,” a spokesman for Palin said in response to Johnston's claims. “It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well-being of the child.”
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast / AP Photo
Lately it's been easier to list who isn't angering Palin.
Is there anyone Sarah Palin isn't upset with at the moment? In an intense rant this last week at an event in Anchorage, Palin introduced radio host Michael Reagan by praising him for his willingness "to screw the political correctness that some would expect him to try to adhere to." Palin continued by bashing a range of vague targets with equal aplomb, attacking "self-proclaimed intellectuals, and the smug lobbyists who dominate Washington, and the liberal media" all in one breath. She continued by bashing "fearful lawmakers" out to bail out the private sector in order to "control it." At least she still keeps the "pro-American" parts of the country close to her heart.
Photo: Phil Sandlin / AP Photo
opedanderson
"David Letterman is the latest victim of Sarah Palin's relentless assault on her critics....."
David is a victim? What did she ever do to him before he told some dumb jokes about her daughter?
Bulldoglover100
He does COMIC and she is only one of millions over the years. The difference? SHE LIED once again and attempted to say he was talking about her 14 year old daughter when he clearly was not. She knew it but had to have a way to bash someone she does not like. The woman opens her pie hole and lies fall out so OF COURSE the comedians are going to use her! As he said "KNOCKED UP AGAIN in his joke so unless she is telling the world her 14 year old has also had a baby out of wed lock she needs to once again shut up.
darrelb
You and Letterman are the ones who are lying. He said she went to a Yankees game and in the 7th inning Alex Rodriguez knocked up her daughter. Who was at the Yankees game? Her 14 year old daughter. Maybe this dirty old man should do his research and he wouldn't have to try explain his "jokes" afterward. Letterman has become nothing more than a hateful partisan hack.
I suppose you were a big fan of the "hate-fuck" article too. Liberal men are pigs when it comes to respect for women. It's about time liberal womem start to address this. I'll hold my breath.
P. S. He did not say knocked up "again". You better review the "joke" on You Tube.
Hawnzz
Darrelb,
The problem isn't as much the joke, (which was tasteless and rude) but it was obviously about Bristol. But Letterman didn't CHECK which child was at the game. And that WAS a big OOPS.
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n--Y--CharlestonDoverxlntcat
Palin's cognitive deficits and lack of regard for the well being of her children caused her to Grab defeat from the jaws of victory. Letterman's reference to any of Palin's children was tasteless and over the line. Their mother drug them into the arena. They were not there by choice. The eighteen year old, however, is out profiteering on mom' s behalf instead of getting her life in order and taking care of the child. Palin exploited the 14 year old. She chose to drag her own daughter into the mud. Public sympathy would have been with her had she not gleefully seized the opportunity to carry out on of her hillbilly vendettas. They are her trademark in Alaska.
SunnyTree
All the woman does is whine about what everyone is doing to her. She is empty-headed. She should be a beauty queen or a high school cheerleader. I'm telling you this as a woman, myself.
She's a drama queen and has no stubstance. What an embarrassment that this woman was ever let out of Alaska and it's the nutty Conservatives that will support another stupid candidate into the White House. This is G.B. with a pretty face and a dress.
What is it about Conseratives that they don't like intelligence? That they value stupid candidates above all else?
menckenlite
David Letterman shows he no longer does humor. He does character assassination. He is shameful and shameless. He has morphed into a clueless politician all caught up in himself. It is no wonder he lost the Tonight show to Jay Leno who would never express the disgusting comments this pig does.
Bulldoglover100
He does COMIC and she is only one of millions over the years. The difference? SHE LIED once again and attempted to say he was talking about her 14 year old daughter when he clearly was not. She knew it but had to have a way to bash someone she does not like. The woman opens her pie hole and lies fall out so OF COURSE the comedians are going to use her! As he said "KNOCKED UP AGAIN in his joke so unless she is telling the world her 14 year old has also had a baby out of wed lock she needs to once again shut up.
Ritarita
Palin's response is over the top.
What politician responds to a comedian?
She's acting like Letterman is provoking
Americans to yell 'Kill her kill her'.
As she incited people to do
At her campaign rallies.
She can dish it out
But that's all.
darrelb
You are full of shit.
Hawnzz
No she isn't... it's Sarah in all her true colors. But Sarah is no wall flower and has a right to be torqued. I would of been too. Kids should be off limits.
ittybittykitty
Ouch! darrelb, let's stay civil, O.K.?
connie47
No, darrelb, she is not full of s**t. She did rev up her base to the point of calling, "Kill him" about Obama. She did it on purpose and she did it repeatedly.
poofster
how would you respond if it was your kid?
again. double standard. it's ok with you to attack conservatives but liberals? off limits.
and i love this idea you have that the left doesn't attack palin 24/7. get a life.
MariosRight
I remember when republican party chief Rush Limbo attacked 12 yr old Chelsey Clinton during the Clinton presidency. He was the originator of attacks on children of political families. Where was the outrage of the right wingers then?
zzzzz5
Thank you. menckenlite.... Leave Sarah Palin alone!
She has every right to defend her daughters...she is a lioness & heroine to women with a
"brain"
A former fan of DL, I now think he should look at his own character defects[out of wedlock
Henry...the woman he apparently "knocked up"] & I assure you he is the last to be telling jokes...he has a very nasty temper & protects his privacy to the max...he is a public figure...politics is one thing ...politicians's families should remain private, DAVE
roger37
Hold it right there. Somebody wake zzzzz up. Sarah Palin has been on the national stage since August or September----that's 8 or 9 months. SHE HAS HAD TIME TO BRING HERSELF UP TO SPEED POLITICALLY AND HISTORICALLY. But she has not done it.
Listen, really listen to her put sentences together. She strings together platitudes, slogans, and Republican talking points. She does not think. She regurgitates.
When you interview people for business careers, you look for bullshitters like this---people who babble but never say anything. And you DO NOT hire them, because they do not have the work ethic to get to the details of a project. These people deal in superficialities.
As I said, Sarah has had the opportunity to get herself up to speed, since the nasty little cancer survivor decided to make her possibly one step from the Presidency. And she has not done it. Her campaign staff, early on, said they could never get her sat down long enough to prepare her for a debate---or even a Katie Couric interview.
This chick (yes, I'm being dismissive) is dangerous. I hope DB stops giving her ink.
cregis
I'm a woman with a brain. I'll match my iq and education with her anytime. Probably don't look as good in a bathing suit, though. She is not my hero. She is manufacturing outrage for publicity period.
Llplo99
"she is a lioness & heroine to women with a"brain""
I beg to differ. Most intelligent women were insulted that McCain thought we would accept Palin just because she is a woman. I will never vote for that woman and not only because of her clear lack of intelligence except to playing up to her base. She is a racist who incited dangerous comments during her rallies. If she wasn't a racist, why didn't she say something to stop that kind of rhetoric?
oliverckerr
This is so much about nothing. Letterman should invite Tina Fey, announce he is having Sarah Palin - she will deny deny deny - the whole country will tune in to see the fireworks, Tina Fey can stick exactly to the script, repeating word for word, remarks made by S. Palin at various times and that will be the end of it - an anti-Semite from Wasilla will bite the political dust.
exploora
Thank God she is not the vice-president. That was sure a close call.
JackJack
Palin would have been far better than the wacko Biden, the gagmeister!
Bulldoglover100
Really? The woman opens her pie hole and lies fall out...better? For who? If you think it's better? Thats just sad.
Hawnzz
Biden isn't that bad, he just has a big mouth.
roger37
Biden being stupid is just a Rethug talking point--a way to belittle somebody by calling names. In fact Biden is more knowledgeable about foreign policy than anyone in the Senate.
SunnyTree
Palin is empty-headed. She regurgitates-doesn't think. She should be a beauty queen, not a presidential candidate!
All she does is spew fear and hate!
poofster
oh wait, and biden has been a smooth, smart, great vice eh?
Should i list the stupid crap biden has done? it would be REALLY long. Even the Messiah has been going off on how annoyed he was. HAHA.
roger37
No, it wouldn't be long. It would be a few gaffes that the media is hypersensitive to.
Granite
The Palin's need their own reality show--The Wasilla Hillbillies
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JackJack
go Banjo! MO is an ugly duckling without her photoshop crew!
oliverckerr
When are you going to start complaining about Sarah Palin's flat chest?
Bulldoglover100
Banjo1 the PAID Blogger for the GOP. LOL Your falling down on the job there son...your just not quite up to being funny are you? Parents must have bred for stupid.....
Hawnzz
Like I've said before... No man ain't eva' gonna throw a beautiful woman outta bed because she's got junk in the trunk. (ghetto booty/big bum) He's gonna buy her flowers and a ring!
ittybittykitty
O.K. Banjo, For one thing, when you insult someone you should at least know how to spell their name. It is Michelle. Also, is this all about looks? Michelle is smart, she is not all about looking good like your gal Palin, who like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz seems to be lacking a brain.
poofster
HAHAHA.
did you see her outfit in Paris? big bird makes a debut.
poofster
ittybittymind: you're one to talk about insulting people...
Ritarita
I wonder what
The voters
Would have done if Obama had
A pregnant teen-aged daughter during
The election?
Or if one of his 'family' had been
Busted for drug dealing?
Or if he had a son who did a court
Mandated military stint because
Of vandalism charges?
Or if he held what amounted to Black power rallies
Where his supporters yelled 'Kill him kill him'
In reference to John McCain?
I could go on and on and on
But you get the idea.
MariosRight
Right wing wacko replies about Michelle Obama sound like third grade stuff. Is that the best they have. Severe lack of intelligent discourse showing there. That's why they will continue to lose in the political arena for years to come.
quick2no
I wonder what your gigantic ass looks like...butt ugly for sure.
poofster
as opposed to the razzle dazzle of the hollywood debutants who preach sacrifice and fiscal responsibility but fly to n.y. for dinner and a show or stay a week in paris to do some shopping while the messiah flies home without them (can you say carbon footprint? oh right, not for thee but all for me) and all the other purely publicity stunts they pulled? your sides is still on the lie anout palin's wardrobe.
oh wait, how much did those sneakers of Michelle's "Killer Arms" cost? 540?
Sacrifice.
roger37
How is the Palin expenditure of over 150K for clothes a lie? It was confirmed by the Rethug National Campaign Committee! You don't think that the shopping/looting was an indication of her character?
But why do you semiliterate winger trolls deal in such superficialities? Does Sarah the bimbo have a law degree? From Harvard? Financed by personal student loans and her mother's savings? No.
It really begs reality to compare Michelle Obama and Sarah Palin in the same paragraph.
Llplo99
At least Michelle buys her own clothes and can afford to spend that kind of money. And btw, past presidents have spent just as much time and money or more on vacations, like say to fly to a ranch in Crawford, Texas.
rbotik
One more Couric interview with Palin and CBS will owe Neilson numbers
HowellShaw
David Letterman has always been a second rate comedian in the lowest tier of entertainment. That he now resorts to character assination and tries to pass it off as humor is only more evidence of lack of talent and class. It is time for CBS to "kick this loser to the curb".
lch100
I think TV personalities should lay off the jokes on political "kids", but the Palins have waved their daughter's pregnancy out in the public so much that they invite jabs. Why not just let her live her life in private? She makes herself seem ridiculous by being the National "out-of-wedlock-baby-making" spokesperson. Palin is making her do that for Palin's own career. It's clear. There's no other reason for it. Plenty of unmarried women have babies at her age and younger, all over the world. Both Letterman and Palin should move on.
JackJack
Ratings for Letterman at the expense of a woman and her daughter.
Letterman is now in the HALL OF SHAME of National Organization of Women.
Unfortunately, Letterman removed the protective bar of media NOT going after the children of public figures; Michelle Obama is a "slutty tryanny and Sasha got knocked up by a Paris waiter..."
Come on.. is that funny?
I wouldn't mind seeing the volume turned on the Obama reality show.. "Movin On Up..." Oh, wait, they are a reality show.
Bulldoglover100
LOL PLEASE run Palin against Obama...LOL The lies will just fall from her pie hole! She lost the election and will lose the next one in Alaska now too. I;m LOVING IT
kirkles
Good lord! Another Palin article? Are you all lacking in topics to write on? Don't get me wrong, I can't stand Palin. I've never seen anyone so systematically destroy their own political career, but you obsession with degrading her is quickly wearing. I seems more and more that this site is less interested in honest, political comentary and more interested in attacking personalities. Palin is a waning political star. Get over her.
ittybittykitty
I am getting kind of tired of it too, but it's fascinating in a morbid sort of way to see what will happen next in the Palin soap opera. It seems like she will do anything to stay in the spotlight and her supporters ignore it all and support her anyway. Kind of like a train wreck. You don't want to watch, but you can't help it.....
BasPos
Letterman went too far, and he did not apologize. The problem is that Governor Palin is also a sex object to her conservative supporters. She cannot have one without the other. Her candidacy for VP was a sexist move that failed. Further, she did herself no favors by lathering up the rabid idiots upon whom the Republican Party depends to have even an insignificant minority.
Hawnzz
He did apologize.
poofster
actually he didn't. it was a half ass excuse like "do i regret jokes i've made" "yeah there's been thousands."
there was no apology. an apology is "i was wrong and it was incredibly despicable and i apologize to palin's daughter". did you hear that? NO.
he's sorry he's in deep sh!t. nothing else.
MariosRight
Limbo never apologized about his remarks about 12 yr old Chelsea Clinton, who never had a child out of wedlock.
roger37
Right. Can you imagine the popularity of Sarah if she weighed 300 lbs. and had zits all over her face?
EtienneEtoile
As PT Barnum (circus promoter for the younger folks) supposedly said, "any publicity is good publicity", I say, Palin is going into severe debt per "cap and trade" guidelines. Not considering emissions, just considering the wasted electrons. As far as Dave is concerned, his carbon footprint is off the scale!
roxsteady
Sarah Palin is white trash. As for Michelle's ass, most men like a little pop back there. And Miclelle Obama is not WHORING her children in for the media the way Palin is. She' still as dumb as a stump and after Letterman apologized, sort of, she's still whoring herself before the cameras. I can't stand this ignorant woman who pronounces bailout in her stump speeches as bellout. How could someone so ignorant, backwood and stupid ever think she could have been VP. Go back home hillbilly and keep an eye on your other daughters who are likely approaching puberty. It's just a matter of time with this trash. Get back to us when you graduate from Harvard or Princeton!
dahniuru
I didn't graduate from Harvard, but was offered a faculty position when I completed my PhD elsewhere; can I get back to you? In my association with many very smart students (moat at least as smart as President Obama), I learned that intelligence has little to do with integrity and ethicality. I also knew Bill Ayres and his group personally...Very smart people. So smart they thought they shoud be able to force others to do things their way through threats of death. Some stupid people also scare me, but not nearly so much as smart people with little concern with others.
Mary50
Palin doesn't whore her children. I really don't get why everyone thinks there is some big conspiracy going on whenever she hangs out with her children in public.
poofster
will that pop smack you into the next state?
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n--Y--turnipsuvpenscott
Roxsteady, you should not call anyone else trash. Your screed is the worst kind of vulgar
trash and reveals you as a vile individual.
roxsteady
Well Said BasPos! There are few woman in that party to begin with but, you'll notice that the longer established women, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe are shoved into the background. Meanwhile idiots like Palin with her ignorance and shrill regional dialect alsong with Bachmann (same description) are right upfront. It's how the Republicans like their women....stupid and insignificant.
ittybittykitty
I know there have to be some smart women in the Republican Party. Where are they? Why aren't they in the news?
poofster
your party has the butt ugly ones. it's funny, you can't deal with the smart beautiful ones. what's up with that? i guess it's bc you don't have them.
ittybittykitty
What is your deal about looks Poofster? Maybe it's a refection on your insecurities about your own appearance?
MariosRight
I would like to see Palin debate Madeline Albright and see how well her good looks serve her then. The only thing Palin could win is the "pageant walk".
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n--Y--turnipsuvMariosRight
The counter girl at the corner convience store was performing Palin's gubernatorial duties while she was campaigning for VP. Excellent job? Give me a break.
roger37
She saddled Alaska with a ton of debt, and Alaska already gets more money from the feds than the income they produce via income tax. The whole state is on welfare.
Is Wasilla, which subsequently became the Meth Capital of Alaska, she built a sports complex to serve a population of about 11,000. It cost them $28 Mil, if I remember correctly.
There are more people in the Memphis ADI (total metro area) than there are in the whole state of Alaska, and Sarah managed to screw it up.
Llplo99
Its not just her accent. Listen to her speak...she can't speak coherently. She barely speak in complete sentences. She is very inarticulate and sounds like a high school student who flunked English. The only time she makes some kind of sense is when she talks about Alaska. To be any where close to running this country, she needs to understand economics and global issues.
Maybil64
The David Letterman joke was just that- a joke, and it was funny! It was obviously not meant to humiliate a 14 year old girl, it was meant to be degrading to her mother and Alex Rodriguez. Any mother who nationally promotes the wonders of abstinence only education, while at the same time has an underage, unwed and pregnant daughter, deserves some rebuttal. She was lucky this was only a joke instead of an in-depth investigation of her parental skills. The Wasilla princess should be grateful that people still find her relevant enough to be the butt of a joke on late night television.
oliverckerr
Palin has nothing to say and talks about nothing. She can see Russia but can't see past her nose.
Letterman made it clear his "jokes" were tasteless.
Dave!!! Book Tina Fey! Swear up and down Palin is coming on. The show will have the best ratings of any late night show for years! Tina can merely repeat word for word Palin.
We, the people will fall off our couches as we uncontrollably laugh Ms Wasilla into the dust of political history.
poofster
letterman DID NOT apologize or try to make good.
oh bc he apparently said they were tasteless then it's OK?? you would want the mic if it was on the right.
freakin hypocrite.
if palin ignored it you would probably have your word on that now wouldn't you.
i love the "tolerant" left.
Hawnzz
I did appologize. I heard the statement. Youtube it...
Hawnzz
He did... sorry.
poofster
actually he didn't. it was a half ass excuse like "do i regret jokes i've made" "yeah there's been thousands."
there was no apology. an apology is "i was wrong and it was incredibly despicable and i apologize to palin's daughter". did you hear that? NO.
he regrets he's in deep sh!t.
he's not sorry.
poofster
how many states are there? 57?
Thank you.
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