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David Letterman's Double Standard
CBS
The shocking thing about the late-night comic’s “joke” about Willow Palin isn’t just that he told it, but that he would never have considered doing the same about the daughter of a Democrat.
When I first read about David Letterman’s comments about Sarah Palin and her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, I twittered that his remarks were “disgusting and sexist.” That is still how I feel, and I thought his rebuttal was borderline insulting. After claiming to never have made a joke about raping a 14 year old, which he essentially had, he then invited Sarah to come on his show, which of course she will not. Why would Sarah Palin go on David Letterman as a response to his jokes about her and her daughter? The invitation seems contrived and like the rest of this controversy—wrapped in political motivation on his part.
Sexist attitudes toward women are nothing new and sadly still commonplace, including on late-night television.
“I am certain that David Letterman would never make a joke about Malia being raped by Eliot Spitzer or refer to the first lady as looking “slutty.”
However, there seems to be such an aggressive double standard for Republican women as opposed to Democrat women. Would David Letterman ever make such a joke about President Obama’s daughters (or for that matter Al Gore’s, or substitute another high-profile Democratic politician)? President Obama’s daughter Malia is not much younger than Willow, and I am certain that David Letterman would never make a joke about Malia being raped by Eliot Spitzer or refer to the first lady as looking “slutty.” Why is it funny to make fun of a 14-year-old girl, no matter who her mother is, let alone that of one of the most prominent female politicians in the country?
During the election, one of the things I never got over being shocked by was the sexism the media held toward my mother and Sarah. I recently read an interview in GQ magazine with Jay Leno where he credited some of his success to never letting the public know where his politics lay. I have always respected that about Jay Leno. I have absolutely no idea how he feels about Sarah Palin or President Obama personally, and at the end of the day I don’t care. He was always respectful toward me and my family even in the jokes (and he has in the past directed some at me personally during his monologue).
Neither I, nor the rest of the country, go to our late-night comics to hear about their personal politics. That is what Sean Hannity and Rachel Maddow are for. If that was the desired career of these comics, they should have gone into a different field of work. I think the Sarah Palin-David Letterman controversy is just another example of media bias. There seems to be little effort to shield the political leanings of many journalists and comedians anymore. At the end of the day, David Letterman’s show is David Letterman’s show, but as Jay Leno recently pointed out, by being overtly political either way, you alienate half of the country. As someone who has always been a fan of David Letterman, I have become more and more disappointed and yes, dare I say disgusted about his attitude toward Sarah Palin and her daughters. Is it too much to ask to leave a 14-year-old girl out of a late-night joke? Apparently in today’s media, yes it is, especially when it is the daughter of a Republican politician.
Meghan McCain is originally from Phoenix. She graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She previously wrote for Newsweek magazine and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
What's Joe's Problem?
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Do Sex Tapes Matter?
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
Hillary and Sarah's Common Theme
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
Joe's No Traitor
Meghan McCain is a columnist for The Daily Beast. Originally from Phoenix, she graduated from Columbia University in 2007. She is a New York Times bestselling children's author, previously wrote for Newsweek magazine, and created the Web site mccainblogette.com.
BULL Megan and any if ANY double standards apply? They apply to PALIN. Giving goverment money away to to the people in Alaska and then calling Obama a socialist or how about absrinance then her own daughter being knocked up at 17 and unmarried? The little stint with her witch doctor? That one's on video. Palin shoved her kids into the lime light and when Dave made fun of the 18 year old? Palin wants to cry foul and as for Dave? Did YOU miss the Chelsea Clinton jokes? APPARENTLY.
get your facts straight before you make the GOP look worse by lying like Palin.
Meghan,
I am a DEM, but I couldn't agree with you more. As women we should put loyalty to other women before any political affiliation. If someone spoke about my daughter like that, whether 14 or 18, I'd kiss a** and take names too.
Letterman is Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert lite. He's essentially irrelevant and unwilling to admit that he has passed his prime and needs to walk away with some dignity left.
Whenever I have previously expressed any support for Governor Palin, it has been misconstrued as political support for her. I can assure you I would work very hard to make sure she is never anywhere near the White House - but disagreeing with her politics or world view - is absolutely no excuse for hitting below the belt.
I also find the "jokes" about Bristol to be inane. As mothers it's our duty to support our children as unconditionally as we can. If a teen girl gets pregnant she doesn't usually do that alone. Yet we still live in a culture where women are scapegoated relentlessly.
Anyone who has parented a teen knows that it's almost impossible to know whether what you are trying to teach them can withstand the normally quite impulsive behavior of the average teenager.
Bristol made mistakes but she is trying to do her best under the circumstances. That she is in college and bringing up her baby, should be supported, not derided. I say that as a supporter of birth control and legal, safe abortion.
I don't like Palin, but just as she was right to take on our President when he made a nasty joke about the Special Olympics, she is right this time too. Either way I think she's damned if she does, and damned if she doesn't. If she allowed Letterman to do this to her children without protecting them, she'd be attacked for that too.
Letterman regularly parades his own son on his show, and has no qualms about exploiting his child for ratings and publicity. He also got his girlfriend pregnant. Does that make her a slut? If it does, then Letterman is a slut too. Would he make jokes about his son being sexually assaulted? Don't think we'll hear him making jokes about any of that, and until he can do that and laugh at himself, his wife and his son, he really has no right to chastise anyone else for lacking a sense of humor.
You'd think that if anyone would be angry, it'd be Spitzer and Rodriguez...they're the ones apparently joke-raping 18...er...14 year old girls.
Sarah Palin's really just angry that he said she resembled a slutty flight attendant, but she knows that joke was actually funny.
That and Palin's a obviously a big subscriber to the (false) notion that any publicity is good publicity and she wants her face time. She ought to give up, pull out her binoculars and keep an eye on Russia.
Get off your high horse. Palin playing the victim card is tired and stale. Especially after she criticized Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primary for playing the victim card. Nobody with a brain thought Letterman was referring to her 14 year old. It was clear as day that the Alex Rodriguez joke was aimed at the 18 year old daughter who did get "knocked up" by some self-proclaimed "redneck".
As for the "slut" comment, you're misconstruing his jokes. He said Palin looks like a slutty flight attendant...a comment that is pretty much right on the money.
And the difference between the Palin children and every other politician's children, especially the Obama girls, is that Palin chooses to whore her children out for political reasons. It's not a coincidence that she has one of her children in tow at every event she goes to. When Obama is with his children he doesn't give interviews. However, the politicking never stops with Palin. Also, she allowed her 18 year old daughter to appear on the cover of People and In Touch weekly, and the daughter is now making a living off of her "celebrity" by hypocritically preaching abstinence after she herself let Levi get at it and has already admitted it's "unrealistic" to expect kids to practice abstinence.
Personally I hope Letterman goes after her even harder now. It's only good for America if Palin is seen as constantly being involved in petty fights with people (e.g. the "liberal gotcha media", the Johnstons, Letterman, etc) because it shows that this woman is in no way fit to serve in political office. She may be able to send tingles up the legs of Rush and every other Republican male, but this woman is a joke whose lone political asset is her ability to spew talking points. Once she's given un-screened questions she gets that Palin deer-in-the-headlights look and makes herself look foolish.
Republicans PLEASE continue to support this woman, because her unfavorabilitiy ratings are through the roof. With Palin leading the way for 2012 this country will certainly get where it needs to be going under the leadership of Obama. And if she doesn't work out you've still got the Pillsbury Triumvirate to fall back on...RNC=Rush, Newt, Cheney. Good luck with that.
Very refreshing Point of view, smdunne.
Sexism and misogyny is not confined to either political party. You have sexist pigs Democrats and sexist pig Republicans
As for Letterman: the older he gets, the more he resembles an elderly pedophile.
I stopped watching David Letterman some time ago, because he has gotten so rude and mean spirited. He is not a great comedian now, and seems to be a man fighting his own demons, and takes it out on people he doesn't agree with or dislikes. I too am not a fan of Sarah Palin, but she or her family did not deserve the mean spirited way David Letterman talked about them. Who is David Letterman to criticize any unmarried female for getting pregnant?.. .Hello?
I think you meant to say "kick a** ..."
I agree with all that you say and you said it well - thank-you. I stopped watching letterman a long time ago, as his humor is too personal, too juvenile and too mean. Yet, this is not a partisan issue. Letterman is disrespectful to women in general. And let's not forget how little the reaction was when Rush Limbaugh made his on the air remark about 14 year old Chelsey Clinton being a "dog" as well as John McCain's joke about Chelsey as well. I heard almost no outrage about either of these remarks.
Also, like you, I do not have much respect for Sarah Palin as a politica figure. However, I do respect her right to be outraged by this remark, to come to the defense of her daughter and to bring attention to the very, very poor taste of Letterman's remark. However, Sarah, this is not about a double standard, so please stop whinning about that, as you are constantly doing. It just discredits your well justified anger about this remark.
Victim, victim, victim.
Palin has expressed a lot of stupid, logically vacant opinions, including the advocacy of abstinence-only sex education. Without stabbing out own eyes out, how can we ignore the obvious fact that this strategy didn't work too well in her own family?
Nobody should be attacked just because of their gender, but to make Sarah Palin the poster child for howibbwe sexism is just idiotic. She's a dimwit with a huge sense of entitlement and resentment, and as a result she does a lot of really stupid things. And people like you think this should be overlooked because of her genitalia.
Sorry, no dice.
Whoops. I doubt you meant to say, "...I'd KISS a** and take names too."
smdunne-
For future reference-
When you insert your comment
In reponse to another poster's comment-
It should be IN RESPONSE to
Another poster's comment.
Yours is addressed to Meghan McCain-
Not Bulldoglover
And is merely an attempt
To cut in line.
Thanks, I did indeed mean kick, not kiss....:). If Jocelyn Elders had not been thrown under the bus by Clinton for suggesting to teens that they masturbate rather than procreate, and if Clinton's own repulsive behavior towards women had not led to an entire generation of kids thinking that oral sex, is not sex, we might be dealing with teens who can be more realistic, and peer pressure to have intercourse might lessen.
I was a virgin until I was 20, so believe me abstinence is completely attainable - when I spoke to my daughter about intercourse I told her that I thought that it was an adult decision and that it came with adult risks and responsibilities. I asked her to please wait until she was at least 18. I also told her that she could be give and receive sexual pleasure with a partner without intercourse. I also stressed the use of condoms because of the risk of STD's, not as birth control. I can't be sure because she doesn't discuss those things with me as a college undergrad, but all indications suggest that she hasn't yet had intercourse.
I also suggested to her that the best birth control method I could think of once she is with a partner that she trusts, loves and is committed to, but certainly does not have to marry - is an updating of the good old Roman Catholic rhythm method. Just use a pregnancy kit that tells her when she is ovulating to avoid the times in her cycle when she is fertile.
As for Bristol saying that abstinence isn't realistic, who are the grown-ups here? I am not going to let a teen who had unprotected sex, which could have exposed her to a whole host of STD's dictate this agenda to me.
Reasonable people can agree to disagree and as women we must find ways to create a coalition around these issues. Can the Right compromise around the use of condoms to prevent disease? I think so if we work towards that. Can the left compromise around abstinence as a perfectly reasonable demand from our children before they are adults? I think so if we work towards that.
Get real: You compare a pregnancy after being together for 25 years with a teenager who was supposed to practice abstinence even after being allowed to spend the nights with her boyfriend?? nothing makes sense with these people!
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
I think Palin used her family as a selling point and it backfired on her. I would not personally bring my 18 daughter on stage pregnant with her dumb jock boyfriend who is a moron. You are just asking for trouble. Especially on her views of certain hot topics in America. Then to top it off he goes on television and tells everyone they were not using protection while having sex. Talks about adding gas to the fire.
I agree Bulldoglover100.Palin has twisted David Letterman's joke to fire a broadside across the stern of anyone who dare make critical remarks. This is a pre emptive strike. There was nothing about the joke that even hinted that it was about Willow. It was obvious,except to the oblivious, that the joke was about the oldest daughter. The Palins "twist" is self serving and as disgusting as they are.
Bulldoglover100 all I can say is Amen and Amen again. Sarah Palin put her kids out there, but doesn't want anyone to have anything demeaning to say about how they've lived and the mistakes they have made. As a mother I understand the desire to defend your children and I don't think what Dave said was funny. However, rather than parade them around on the campaign trail she should have left them and their father in Alaska. The dad should have been attending to the kids education. The would have been admirable.
Another liberal double standard. If I'm not mistaken children are always on the campaign trail. The Kerrys, the Gores, the Clintons, and yes the Obamas all had their children at the conventions ("Where are you daddy?"). But Sarah Palin should have left her children home. This outrageous hatred of Sarah Palin can only be described as deranged.
Um, pardon me, but "government money" is revenue from taxpayers. The Alaska Permanent Fund is revenue from the resources and the resources in Alaska are owned by the people of Alaska. It is not "government" anything, really. It belongs to the people and they share in the revenue from the sale of the resources. It doesn't originate from their paychecks. It originates from the soil of their state. Also, she just announced progress on the gasline and it is succeeding because of her policy to STAY OUT OF THE BOARD ROOMS of the private companies involved, unlike Obama. I'm a Catholic and I pray to St. Michael to protect me from all wickedness, including the wiles of the devil. Will you mock me, too? Palin introduced her family to the American people as all candidates do. Um, the writer at this blog is the daughter of a presidential candidate. Dave specified the daughter at the Yankees game. She is 14. Palin cried foul as did the liberal National Organization for Women who've put Letterman in their "Media Hall of Shame". I've been in politics as a conservative for sixteen years and have never heard a Chelsea Clinton joke. Honest.
gocatholic
You just proved that its welfare!!! "It doesn't originate from their paychecks" THAT's welfare and socialist!!! You do nothing and you get a check how is that not socialist!!! Meth and lots of drug use is a huge problem in Alaska I feel getting a check for nothing promotes lazyness, government reliance and bad choices.Most people have to work to get say tax rebates which is the right way to encourage hard work and less dependence on government. Palin is a fraud and a media (blank) period. Go away Palin and stop saying Willow this Willow that. Protect your kids and keep their names out of it, that is what any reasonable parent would do not to use your children to try to say in the limelight. Also give more time and energy towards your family because they need it. Too many often put their own silly interests over their children which Mrs Palin is doing. Oh Alaska usually gets the most "pork money" of any state each year so wrong again.Stop believing the crap and start to think for yourself.
An omission on your part go catholic, actually a few--- NOW also invited Conservatives to join in the furor regarding their own sexist remarks. As a card carrying member of NOW, I await these confessions, several of which have been noted here by posters.
You are dreaming and have the facts dead wrong about the Alaska gas project. She has contracted with a Canadian Co. to do a survey of the feasibility of this project for a large sum of money, just the feasibility. She has two other companies challenging her. How fast you forget the facts she left out regarding her famous bridge project.
If the state who has control of the resources because the state gets money from the federal government to MINE (the "people" don't go out and cut trees, and lay pipeline do they? And if any do, they get paid for it as in a job separately and it is then called a paycheck) those resources and then gives you money from a POT that goes to everyone-- it is called socialism, and nothing but-- something Palin deplores (for everybody else) It has zero to do with taxpayer revenue or paychecks or whatever other fantasy source you have tried to accuse other people of saying. Nice attempt to call it that. You twist the truth bigtime.
And just so it is perfectly clear, every man, woman and child in Alaska receives the same amount of money out of that fund, and last year there was an additional fund and the total amount for every one of them (those that worked jobs had jobs plus the funds, which is fine) came to almost $4,000.00
And I hope you have gotten it straight that although Alaska has the resources, the "people" do zero to MINE them. You surely realize that costs money to do that, don't you? And do you really think the "people" put up that money? Ok
Well, gocatholic, allow me to introduce you to two very unfunny jokes about Chelsea Clinton. John McCain said that Chelsea Clinton was fathered by Janet Reno, implying that Hilary Clinton had a lesbian relationship with Reno that led to the birth of Chelsea and Rush Limbaugh said that it was a well known fact that the Clinton had a cat - as he held up a photo of Socks. He then said that they also had a dog as he held up a photo of 12 year old Chelsea. Where was the outrage for either of those candidates and why did Palin agree to run with McCain when he was not capable of keeping politicians children as off-limits? Also, Palin stated in her interview with Matt Lauer that Obama said that his children were off-limits and she questioned why the media allowed him that and yet they attacked her children. Not so, Sarah! Obama said that all children of politicians were off-limits and he was referring to *Palin's children.* He cared more for her kids than she did. She's the one who forces them into the public eye every chance she gets for her own political agenda.
You must keep your head in the sand if you've never heard a mean-spirited Chealsea joke. Chelsea was the butt of some very ugly jokes, an especially cruel one by John McCain, and her parents never paraded her around in public like Palin does her kids.
Letterman apologized. I'm sure if he could access a time machine, he'd go back and undo the so called 'joke'. He can't go back, and he did what he could. Get over it.
Perhaps some of that wealth from exploiting Alaska oil could be used to get Alaska off the 'dole'. Alaska receives HUGE amounts of federal money each year. Maybe the state could pay it's own way, and leave my money for nationalized health care.
cbeenthere has all but admitted that the only reason NOW released a statement at all was because it wanted to make a statement about OTHER things. Way to go, NOW, for using Letterman's comments for political expediency!!!
A two-parter:
"...the late-night comic's "joke" about Willow Palin..."
You've learned how to setup the agenda well from your father.
and...
"I've been in politics as a conservative for sixteen years and have never heard a Chelsea Clinton joke. Honest."
Here's two Google has at the top of their list, Mr. Honest:
1. "John McCain made this odious joke about Chelsea Clinton back in '98.
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
-- Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998."
2. "Al Gore and the Clintons are flying on Air Force One...
Bill looks at Al, and chuckles and says, "You know I could throw a $10,000 dollar bill out the window right now and make one person very happy." Al shrugs his stiff shoulders and says, "Well I could throw ten $1,000 bills out the window and make 10 people very happy." Hillary tosses her perfectly sprayed hair and says, "Of course, then, I could throw one hundred $100 bills out the window and make one hundred pepole very happy."
Chelsea rolls her eyes, looks at all of them and says, "I could throw all of you out the window and make the WHOLE COUNTRY HAPPY!""
As per your comment about Obama and the corporate board rooms...
The new President inherited this problem from such conservative thoughts of "staying out of the board rooms" which brought on this country's financial meltdown.
Previous Bush began this government entry into the corporate board room before he left office, when he had Paulson simply shut down Lehman, a rival of Paulson's own Goldman-Sachs. Then they made sure that G-S got all their multi-billions from AIG through the Bush TARP payout. And G-S also got a gov't. TARP loan on their own when they became a bank.
This posted 10/08:
dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1081624/Goldman-Sachs-ready-hand- 7BILLION-salary-bonus-package--6bn-bail-out.html#fuck_mccain_obama
"The struggling Wall Street bank has set aside £7billion for salaries and 2008 year-end bonuses, it emerged yesterday.
Each of the firm's 443 partners is on course to pocket an average Christmas bonus of more than £3million.
The size of the pay pool comfortably dwarfs the £6.1billion lifeline which the U.S. government is throwing to Goldman as part of its £430billion bail-out.
As Washington pours money into the bank, the cash will immediately be channelled to Goldman's already well-heeled employees."
And then this:
reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE52H0B520090318
American International Group funneled over $90 billion of taxpayer bailout funds to various U.S. and European banks, but the biggest beneficiary was politically connected Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Suspicions of potential conflicts of interest and favoritism have been fueled by $12.9 billion AIG paid to Goldman Sachs -- where then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had previously worked as chief executive -- in the months after the insurer was rescued by the government last September.
Goldman, for its part, has insisted it did not need the bailout money because it was "always fully collateralized and hedged."
So, as you see, said US Treasury-connected G-S pulled down $12.9b from AIG and then asked for another $14b from the Treasury TARP funds, all of which it gave to its 443 partners and then some. That's how conservatives STAY OUT OF THE BOARD ROOMS, as you say.
I'm sure she did miss the Chelsea Clinton jokes considering her age...so yeah.
Meghan,
I think that the only thing that killed in your response to the issue was that you made it about politics by saying that he would never say that about Malia or Sasha Obama. Considering how far he has stooped with this joke, it wouldn't surprise me if he abandoned his "no touch" policy with this chosen politicians. The real crime David Letterman wasn't that he didn't make the same joke about Democrat politicians and their families, it's that he made the joke at all. Calling Palin a "slutty flight attendant?" I don't know where that isn't a sexist comment. Saying that her daughter (whether he meant Bristol or Williow) had sex with A-Rod during the Seventh-Inning Stretch? Clearly a gross violation.
Letterman has admitted that he crossed the line, but never admitted that what he did was wrong and not funny! I'm disgusted by his comments and I expect some kind of retaliation from CBS in regards to his behavior.
OK, then suppose you say where it *is* a sexist comment, eh?
Recognizing that there are gender-linked roles in life (e.g., "slut," "rapist") is not sexism, unless you propose to make "sexism" a completely meaningless term.
I'm very sorry if I'm the first to tell you this, but not all women are pure angels.
C'mon, there was an unspoken agreement in the media during the Clinton administration that Chelsea was hands-off. The same will prevail during the Obama administration concerning Michele's gigantic ass.
I guess you don't remember your friend Rush (druggie) Limbaugh calling Chelsea the White House dog.
Yes, and part of that agreement was that the Clinton's didn't use Chelsea as a campaign prop. Palin made the decision to use her personal family dynamics as part of her campaign message. So I'm not feeling pity for her when it backfires and her family comes under scrutiny.
Having said that, I think Letterman is a tactless slob, and I think it's neanderthal mentality when the only way we can score a point against an enemy is to fuck their women.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
John McCain made this odious joke about Chelsea Clinton back in '98.
Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
-- Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998.
Seems this puts a bit of damper on Megan McCain's argument, and yours as well - no?
@mothnflame
Palin isn't some Rethuglican's "woman." She is an actual, active, proud-of-it Rethuglican politician, someone who wants to spend government money in Rethuglican ways.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
darrelb-
No one has to say a word
About the comment above.
But they're all thinking the same thing.
I have been an avid reader of the daily beast for months. Of all the great postings i have read, believe it of not, it is this "joke" from MM, that made me acutually register and give my two cents. I have always actually enjoyed what MM has had to say. I was under the impression that perhaps she was a fresh voice for the GOP---this articles just proved me wrong. This is ABSOLUTE CRAP...typical republican BS to make something out of nothing...i am disgusted by what MM wrote here....just ridiculous. My only question here is..is it really false outrage...or is she drinking the Kool-Aid?
I think her luck
Ran out.
It seems you get the pain and humiliation that goes with Chelsea, but not with Palins daughter. Shame on you. This whole fiasco is free speech, but bad taste and David Letterman should never have gone there. He blew it, he knew it, and it was intentional. Comics should make people laugh universally, not at the expense of one another or their children. It was bad about Chelsea, but nothing like this. David Letterman should be ashamed. I wonder if he would ever tolerate that type of discussion about his own, out of wedlock child?
I can't and won't defend Letterman here. However, Republicans must stop playing the victim, and media bias card.
If Palin was truly concerned about her 14 year old daughters reaction to this poor joke, she would not have drug the story out even longer, keeping the joke and her child in the spotlight.
Limbaugh: "White house dog," accompanied by a picture of Chelsea Clinton's face. That's pure poo-flinging at the daughter, with no connection to anything Bill Clinton ever said or did, or any issue that had come up in the context of the Clinton campaign or presidency. Completely gratuitous.
You're right, it was nothing at all like this. No picture of the Palin daughter, and the only reason the joke worked at all is that everyone was aware of Sarah Palin's advocacy of abstinence-only sex ed., which didn't actually work out so well in her immediate family.
It might not have been the best or most tasteful joke, but contained nothing at all like the gratuitous cruelty of Limbaugh's stunt.
You are so right. This whole episode is a bunch of nonsense. Palin brings this upon herself as it is her way of staying in the headlines. Too bad she cannot get that satisfaction in some other more appropriate way. This has nothing to do with David Letterman. It has everything to do with Ms. Palin and the way she uses her family.
"The shocking thing about the late-night comic's "joke" about Willow Palin isn't just that he told it, but that he would never have considered doing the same about the daughter of a Democrat".
You mean like when your dad said
John McCain, at a Republican Senate fund-raiser in June 1998,
"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno."
Classy.
Your father is not a comedian. David Letterman is. It was a joke. It was aimed at an adult (Palin's oldest daughter whom, by the way, she has trotted out on many an occasion in front of the cameras... which makes her OPEN SEASON).
Chelsea Clinton is a beautiful, intelligent, inspiring young married woman. Bristol Palin is an 18 year old unwed mother. I'd say your father was grossly out of line. And Letterman was SPOT ON!!!!
Word.
Bristol Palin had a baby. She didn't murder anyone.
Who puts their unwed cap and gown wearing teenage daughter holding her baby on the cover of People Magazine? If you cant take the heat ....everyone knows the rest ...
Are you Puritan?
Pricklypear
Would the Pope approve. I think not.
So it's OK for Limbaugh to spend years calling working women "Feminazis" and Palin isn't offended by that, even though as a working woman, and one who has reached a rather high level, but she is offended when he made a joke about her 18 year old daughter whom she dragged around on the campaign trail and paraded around, even though she was unmarried and pregnant, along with her family, as a terrific example of a family.
Did Bristol Palin have any choice in that at all? I wonder? Would she rather have stayed home and not been on exhibit with her family at that time in her life?
Sarah Palin's outrage is only when it is politically expedient for her to be outraged - it gets her in front of the cameras once again.
She is a trainwreck and an embarrassment to all working women.
Wonder what Limbaugh says about her in [private?
Great comments Megan....Letterman is beyond disgusting and another example of media bias against women and especially children, whether they are 14 or 18...I wonder if the Obama's would consider letterman's comments humerous especially since their daughter is nearing the age of 14 or any other family who have values and respect for their teen children.
Bulldog: Right on! I'm sorry to have to remind Megan, that her father made a senseles joke about Chelsea Clinton and the Clintons unlike the Palins never exploited their daughter. Also since when does "knocked-up" mean rape? The latter, an expression I rarely use, but when one goes around preaching "abstinence" even though she never practced it herself (the reason she eloped)I consider them just that: Knocked-uo!
You trollop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ditto... and you're hiding behind a false sense of credo when in reality, degrading another presidential daughter runs counter to the belief that underlies the effort to protect the children of the national office. You violated that belief... the association you put into words is ungracious, immature, and stupid. Stupid because it demonstrates exactly that which you criticize. You've probably lost respect among the DC elite, and around the country.
Megan McCain- you never mentioned if it bothered you when your dad made a disgusting joke about rape and then went on to make horrible jokes about a 12 year old Chelsea Clinton being ugly- Guess you forget the jokes that are made about Democrats huh?
The jokes were never about 14 year old Willow but about Bristol Palin-
Bristol is on an abstinence tour and has put herself in the public eye. Come on sister you sound as crazy as the rest of your party!
Meghan "Butch" McCain seems to know that David Letterman was talking of Willow Palin. She only found out that it was Willow at Yankee Stadium and not Bristol by reading a story. The majority of people, do not follow Sarah Palin and her family, but know the joke was in reference to Bristol Palin, the unwed mother. A joke in poor taste either way you look at it, but not offensive when you realize it came from a comedian.
Letterman and most people did not know it was Willow at Yankee Stadium and not Bristol. The staff should have done a better job of research, but the joke was just that a joke written by staff and delivered by David Letterman.
Sarah Palin complains about nearly everything President Obama does and complains of socialism. Some defend her giving citizens of Alaska money from oil leases / oil royalties as the oil belongs to Alaska, but the territory was purchased by the people of the United States and the oil belongs to all the people and not just Alaskans so he comments about socialism are off base. Maybe someone should ask her what she would have done with each and every situation that has been addressed by President Obama. Maybe you do not like what he has proposed, but he at least took action.
Finally Meghan McCain your father said that once he was elected President he would find Osama Bin Laden. He did not get elected President and I guess has not proposed a way to catch Bin Laden. Why does he get a full medical disability when today's soldier have to fight to get even partial disabilities when they loose a limb or get burned over large parts of their bodies.
Meghan McCain you are only relevant because of your father. Get a life of your own.
Just watched you on Bill Mahr and was gonna say you should stick to writing, but you can't write either.
Daniel ............ Toronto
Megan, saw you on Bill Maher and wanted to make one comment. You need to clean your own house first before you start to rag on a professional entertainer (who was CLEARLY talking @ Bristol) . Miss Alaska dragged her kids @ like trick ponies, using them shamelessly and placing them in the public eye. Bristol chose to put herself out there even more, making her fair game for the funny people. In SHARP contrast, the Clintons NEVER dragged Chelsea into the public eye when they were in the White House. But that didn't stop YOUR FATHER from making a disgusting joke @ her when she was THIRTEEN! His (non) joke was that the reason Chelsea was SO UGLY was that her father was Janet Reno. What a riot! And you can tell your friend, Miss Alaska, that this is the kind of cruel and heartless comment that truly damages the self-esteem of young women. Not to mention ragging on a grown woman who has devoted her entire working life to public service just b/c she isn't beauty pageant material. Shame, shame!!!
Wow. I am ashamed to call myself a democrat right now.I can honestly say that the hate and venom on this blog is scary.Last time I checked, I was a democrat because the party was in line with my social values - equality for all, feminism, fairness, etc.However, I see supposed "democrats" here calling a Presidential candidate "slutty" and attacking her children.
Who cares if she is a Republican - she deserves an ounce of respect that would be offered to any stranger on the street. The comments made by Lettermen attacked women at a perverse level that I had hoped would leave our society with the election of Obama.
Please explain to me how Obama supporters that once screamed because a news agency referred to Michelle Obama are now supporting worse attacks on women? If you want to be true democrats - you should be supporting Palin on this particular issue - not defending blatant chauvenism.
I don't care if you like her politics - that does not mean you get to attack her with pointless, worthless attacks that reinforce the patriarchy.
It does amaze me how Joe Biden's daughter can be videoed snorting cocaine yet the media drops the ball (again) because she the product of Democratic loins. Seems Ms. McLame is beginning a right-turn (as predicted) just in time for her daddy's re-election campaign. So sorry, Ms. McLame, it sin't gonna work. You've sunk your daddy. He's proud of you though. Have another bon-bon sweetheart.
All this article does is show how clueless you are. The Joke was tasteless no doubt but Letterman was OBVIOUSLY refering to Bristol Palin you idiot, not her little sister! Did'nt you go to Columbia, oh I guess you got in because of the family hook-up. People like you give real bloggers a bad name.
I think your relationship with Palin at this point has a bearing on your POV. Unfortunately all politicians and their families are fodder not just for Late Night talk shows but for political pundits as well. One for comedy one for more nefarious reasons. Lettermen may well have been out of line but I don't think it was his intent to verbally injure or insult a 14 year old girl. I think he displayed ignorance in not checking to see which daughter was in NY at the time. Just as I think Palin said things during the campaign that were just as thoughtless and irresponsible. Again 2 wrongs don't make a right but the mistakes or sins of the past must be acknowledged before we move forward. It must be acknowledged through leading and misleading speeches played on the fears and xenophobia and prejudices of the uninformed, and uneducated. I remember Senator McCain doing his best to correct and dispell some of these misconceptions that sprouted from the seeds planted during a few town hall meetings. You stuck me as honest and open in most of your views and I respect your stance on the Lettermen issue. Although I do not think he was advocating anything as insidious as satutory rape. I myself feel that a lot of these comedians overstep their bounds into the realm of bad taste. But then again so do politicians.
Perhaps Meghan should remember what her father said about Chelsea Clinton before attacking Letterman too harshly.
Or what Rush Limbaugh said about Chelsea Clinton. Or what men on the left and the right said about Hillary Clinton. Remember the 527 launched by the GOP called Citizens United Not Timid?
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/01/24/roger_stone/
Gosh posts are put up then taken down...Is Meggers only letting the ones she likes be seen? and thats journalism? or journalism in the eyes of the GOP????
Meghan,
I agree that Letterman's use of the term "slutty" and making any comments about the Palin children were off base, but I do think he was directing his "humor" at the 18 year old daughter & had bad staff work who did not know what Palin kid was at Yankee Stadium. The Palin's have no problems trotting out their 18 year old who now is their poster child for abstinence.
And please, your criticism rings a tad hollow given your father's "humor" directed at Chelsea Clinton when she was a kid living in the White House.
I'm sick of this dogfight.
Come up with an interesting topic
That hasn't been beaten to shreds.
Your late to this party
Meghan McCain-
Better luck next time.
yeah, i thought she'd be smarter than sp, who seems to climb only mudslides.
Palin went on Today and CNN to talk about the gasline. THEY brought up the Letterman thing and she even told Lauer "must we??" when he said he wanted to ask her about Letterman.
Ritarita, I couldn't agree with you more. Well put as always. Ms. McCain, get an original topic and stop beating a dead moose. And BTW, Letterman would never refer to Mrs. Obama as "slutty" because unlike Sarah Palin, she ISN'T. Among other assets, she is educated, dignified, and a loving and protective mother. And when she speaks, she uses actual sentences and does not sound like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Ohhh please inform me Kathy how is Sarah a slut? She has been married to the same man who is the father to all her children but yet you dumb libs call her a slut. You people are stupid.
My God, you're an idiot. Nice argument, Michelle ISN'T slutty, and a joke about Palin being so is ok because--she is? Holy crap. Calling Susan B. Anthony--any second thoughts?
Since the First Amendment imposes no requirement of intelligence or common sense, I suppose anyone is entitled to the opinion that Sarah Palin not only is not an actual slut but doesn't even look like one. And that Michelle Obama does look like one, or even that she is one. So fine, knock yourselves out.
Ritarita
Don't be so hasty-hear her out. Didn't she present herself initially as the new face of the Republican Party-one of inclusion, open mindedness, oh and maybe even a feminist? This is an expose she has written. She is a clone of her men after all.
Meghan McCain has nothing to say, always dangerous when someone with little to offer is given a forum to offer wit. Here is one sentence from above:
President Obama's daughter Malia is not much younger than Willow, and I am certain that David Letterman would never make a joke about Malia being raped by Eliot Spitzer or refer to the first lady as looking "slutty."
The president of United States is NOT a sex addict, as was / is Billy Clintstone. POTUS wife is a very church going middle class classy lady - decent is what people feel, not high heel slutty. First lady does NOT give off "slutty" vibes as does the republican (trailer trash) from Wasilla.
Under age person engaging in sex act can bring a charge of "statutory" rape. That is, "rape," a violent act, because the sex act occurred when the person engaging in the sex activity was under 18 years old. Statute.
Thousands of girls willingly engage in sexual activity before they are 18 years old. They are NOT forced. But there are statutes. Engaging in oral sex, in some neighborhoods is a been there / done that badge amongst suburban 15 year olds.
So the "rape" charge against David Letterman was a twist. And how old was Bristol when she was screwing Levi upstairs day and night while the candidate and first dude were downstairs, or a few feet away down the hall?
The only sexist remark i ever heard about Cindy McCain was from John who was quoted by a news reporter as calling her mother a c**t one day on the plane, a term of endearment in private, but sexist clap trap in public.
Meghan might consider when was the first time she "kissed" before she tosses around the "rape" talk.
Ritarita strikes again. Bowling 300!
Please. Are we still playing dumb and pretending he wasn't joking about her already-knocked-up 18 year old, Bristol? Grow up.
Nobody in their right mind thinks Letterman was referring to the 14 year-old daughter - nobody in their RIGHT MIND. Anybody who believes such is either crazy or lying.
I have no problem with addressing the topic but I have a problem with having to lie or promote falsities in order justify your position.
Don't forget, Palin is also the one whose original excuse as to why she couldn't comment on Tina Fey's portrayal of her on SNL was because she watched the comedy show with the volume all the way down. She was either lying or, more scarily, telling the truth.
And please stop this association tactic of equating Hannity with Maddow. There is no comparison. The difference between the two is not "what" they argue but it is "how" they argue. One uses principled, logic-based reasoning, the other relies on arguments full of fallacies and untruths.
Meghan, are you still mad at Dave for exposing your Daddy's BS? I'd finish this comment but I have to race back to DC, (and by "race back to DC" I mean "go on Couric").
Unfortunately for Rocky Bob and his completely unearned sense of certainty, the 14-year-old was the only Palin daughter at the game Letterman was talking about. Letterman and his staff were tracking Sarah Palin's activities closely enough to know she was at the Yankees game with her daughter, but not closely enough to make sure they were maligning the correct one? If that's the case, he has yet to say so.
Or perhaps it doesn't matter which daughter was there, since they're both the offspring of Palin and therefore barely even human. Which is it, Bob? Don't be shy, tough guy.
Who even remembers that there's another Palin daughter? -or two, even?
In jokeland, there's only Bristol.
Who even remembers that there's another Palin daughter? Only every media outlet in the western world.
Jim Treacher-- are you so completely dim that you can't understand why it's only a JOKE if it's about BRISTOL? Here, I'll lay it out for you: Bristol got knocked up. Her mom belongs to the part of "abstinence-only education." See? It's funny all by itself. Nobody f'n cares about the other Palin kids.
I still think it's really pathetic that people like you need to carry on as if you honestly believe the joke was about a 14 year old girl. Nobody ever thought that in the first place until Mama Palin tried to spin it on the news. Don't be such a lemming.
JimmyT.
Yes, (now we all know) the 14 year-old was at the game...but nobody in their right mind thought Dave was referring to the 14 year-old when he made the jokes. And nowhere in my comment did I address the behavior of any of the Palin daughters so why would you try and pull the sub human, pout rage card?
"tough guy" - Is it my writing that makes you think that I'm tough or is it that you know I'm an undefeated super-middle weight?
"Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box." --Conan O'Brien
Bristol wasn't at the hockey game. Willow and the even younger daughter were and you didn't have to be "tracking" them to know it - they were shamelessly paraded out onto the ice for all to see.
'knocked-up"? really? first, bristol has already given birth, so she's no longer "knocked-up" as you and dave so eloquently put it. second, i think you've missed the point of controversy altogether. you must be a guy. even if it was about bristol (who, btw, wasn't with them at the game, so it wouldn't make any sense), it was inappropriate. if ANYONE made ANY kind of joke about the obama girls - media darlings that they are - they would be crucified by the media. meghan is right. it's a sickening double standard.
i am so over the palin family being the target of cheap jokes. dems really need better writers. the election was sooo last year. shouldn't you have a fresh target by now? *yawn*
And now you're arguing the semantics of pregnancy vs. already-birthed? Nobody is making jokes about a democrat's pregnant daughter because they aren't the moralizing idiots spouting off about abstinence education and 'Christian values' and 'the Real America.'
You people are so dumb you don't realize your own party is a joke all by itself.
Wait a sec... *Dems* need better writers? Democrats? Really? I don't think we're the ones with the electoral problem, sickof. And besides, Democrats are funny. My money is always on the funny person to win a "smack-down" like this, which is why David Letterman is the smart bet. In that same vein, my money is always on Jon Stewart, too.
Take the red pill. He specified the daughter that went to the Yankees game with her. Which daughter was that? Google it. I'll save you the trouble. It was the fourteen-year-old......but either way, it doesn't matter which one it was. If you want to call all teen mother sluts then you need to rethink your anti-abstinence views because it is the sex, not the pregnancy, that is relevant in a "slut" remark.
Nobody called her a slut. Letterman cracked a joke about Sarah looking like a slutty flight attendant, which she does, but that's not the same as calling her daughter a dirty word. Cracking jokes about an 18 year old getting knocked up is only funny BECAUSE SHE ALREADY WAS PREGNANT, and her mom ran on a platform of abstinence-only education. Have you ever heard of irony? Are you just suffering from poor reading comprehension, or are you so rabid your eyes are crossed?
This entire conversation is proving once again that conservatives are literally incapable of understanding even moderately complex humor. Which is why there is no such thing as "right wing comedians." Oh wait, that's right-- you'll always have Larry the Cable Guy.
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David Letterman is a comedian. He's been making jokes, comments and asides for decades. Anybody who claims to be a Letterman fan knows he's made his money off of being snide and aloof. This comment, which is really more of an ARod joke anyway, would have been another dismissed and buried Letterman garble with exception of Gov. Palin going on a world tour to rally a lynch mob. Gov. Palin perpetuates this behavior, as do many members of the conservative consciousness by not knowing when to laugh, when to stew and when to dismiss the incident with integrity, letting the contrast of the reaction render the joke as vapid as it was. David Letterman doesn't care. Nobody else really would've noticed. What Democrats recognize as satire, Republican view as slander.
Wow! I can't believe that I actually agree with you. Jokes about kids are always in poor taste. David went way too far on that one. I do believe the reason comics are afraid to joke about Obama:
1. He's intelligent
2. He's a good father and husband
3. He's not a hypocrite
4. Comics are afraid of being labeled racist.
If you cons can work on the first three points then maybe just maybe the "liberal" media might back off of you a little bit. Can't help you on that last point though.
He's not a hypocrite? You might want to reconsider that -- talk to anyone in the gay community. Obama has repeatedly broken promises to them, including but not limited to his defense of DOMA today.
Obama has only been in office for four months. We are in a crisis, I would bet that he will come around and support gay rights. He is inclusive, unlike Republicans.
Ah Megan, I don't know that the joke was directed at the 14-year old. When I heard it I assumed it was the 18-year old he was talking about probably because she's the one in the headlines. Letterman says the joke was about the 18-year old and the actual text of the joke is inconclusive. I wouldn't push too hard on the statutory rape thing, it detracts from your other valid points.
One would probably assume he was talking about the 18 year old, except that the daughter with Palin in NY was the 14 year old. Why would he be making jokes about Palin having to watch her 18 year old in NY when the 18 year old wasn't there?
Well, it was a joke, obviously, and I don't think it would be a good development for comedy if comedy writers had to start their own research departments just so a conservative here or there doesn't get their garments all up in a bunch about every tiny insult thrown their way. This immediate, heading-for-the-fainting-couches, faux outrage from the GOP is so, so tired.
Maybe he made the joke because Letterman doesn't follow the slightest Palin move with the kind of rapt attention you do? Just a guess.
Funny how people accuse Palin of "shoving her kids in the spotlight" but the pictures of WILLOW at the Yankees game are largely ignored as they defend Letterman saying he was referring to Bristol. Yup. That is strange.
The caps are not necessary. The joke doesn't depend on ignorance or confusion about who was at what game. The joke only works because of what everyone learned about Bristol during the campaign. Let me break it down a little more for you -- the underlying concept is that the Bristol pattern might run in the family. And Letterman apologized for the joke, saying it was in poor taste.
If you still think it's "strange" to say that Letterman was referring to the Bristol events, read this comment again more slowly, and try not to move your lips.
Willow was apparently sitting next to Guiliani. Saw her, but she looks a lot like her sister. Sorry. So if anything it would further call into question which one of them it was.
I was under the impression that Letterman's joke (bad as it might have been) was aimed at Palin's older daughter and not willow (though obviously he need to get better fact checkers).
That being said I feel that the best way to shield her daughter(s) from this sort of nonsense is to simply accept his apology and move on. Nothing good can come from taking the path Sarah Palin now seems insistent on treading. She could have used this opportunity to have a general discussion about the were the line is; and how it is not cool to target children with ridicule in national media. Instead I fear she is only pouring fuel on the fire and that the negative ramifications for her children will increase in duration and intensity.
Further more she is supposed to be a politician and governor of a state, perhaps she should focus on the problems faced by the US and its citizens and not allow herself to get off-track by the tasteless humour of a comedian.
Uhhhh Meghan...throwing stones, glass houses, etc....your father, inappropriate Chelsea Clinton joke, uhhh all over the news....glass houses, etc.........
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
Oh yes, sweet irony! You beat me to it..."a joke too bad to print!"...http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html. Meghan, you were probably too young to remember but the google is a powerful tool. Use it next time you write something so hypocritical. Simply google "John McCain's joke about Chelsea Clinton". There are 80,000 entries! Have fun!
BRILLIANT!!!
And she doesn't want comedians talking about politics??? Does she know what comedy is? Oh yeah she's republican.
Hey Brainiac - I think perhaps you should look up the words "irony" and "Hypocritical". Show me a link where Meg makes these kinds of jokes or defends her father's use of them, and you might have a grasp on the meanings of those words. But last I checked John and Meghan are two different McCains.
Perhaps had you the wisdom to ask her to reply to THOSE statements, rather than trying to cite them as evidence, you might have had something to say. Next time try formulating an argument before typing all smart-like into that box in front of you.
Moron.
Sharks--nice work. If McCain wants to be considered a substantive editorialist, I do hope she responds to your post's points and her father's words. Children do not need to answer for their parents' ways, but if she pulls out the "daughter card," the onus does fall on her to either condemn her father's words or explain them away. I, for one, would look forward to either.
Rush's 1993 slur against the 13 year old daughter of the new President was signature Limbaugh:
On his TV show, early in the Clinton administration, Limbaugh put up a picture of Socks, the White House cat, and asked, "Did you know there's a White House dog?" Then he put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton, who was 13 years old at the time and as far as I know had never done any harm to anyone.
When viewers objected, he claimed, in typical Limbaugh fashion, that the gag was an accident and that without his permission some technician had put up the picture of Chelsea--which I found as disgusting as his original attempt at humor.
Um, the final example is nonsense, and was at the time. McCain was referring to a well known logical fallacy, that of the false question, for which "So when did you stop beating your wife" is the textbook example.
It wasn't an off the cuff joke making light of domestic violence. The outrage over the remark was almost entirely phony, involving people that knew better pretending not to in the heat of the election.
Yipes, I actually agree with this.
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Ms. McCain--you seem to be glossing over the fact that Letterman's joke makes perfect sense in light of other daughter Bristol. The difference between Obama's daughters, as you bring up, and Palin's daughter is night and day--the former have striven to become "abstinence-only" advocates after getting pregnant accidentally, as Bristol has. I'm not saying this either does or does not allow for jokes to be lobbed her way--all I think you should do is be honest in considering Letterman's intent. What's more reasonable? He made a joke at the expense of Bristol Palin, the teen known around the world for getting pregnant, or at the expense of the other daughter, whose name I suspect most of the world could not remember without prodding until this incident? Comedians work on a fast scale--they need the audience to know immediately who's the subject of a joke. In this case, it's reasonable to conclude Letterman did indeed intend Bristol to be the butt of the joke, and it's unreasonable to leap to the extreme reactionary position that attributes the worst possible intent to someone's words.
of course dave's joke was intended at bristol , but it doesn't stop megahn from maintaining that it was willow as the target because that helps her attack...it was palin, and meghan, that brought willow into it even after dave said he would never say that about a 14 year old girl...and double standard, how about your father's joke about chelsea clinton ms. curves, ask him about that....and when you're done lose the victimhood, it seems i remember someone telling hillary clinton to suck it up, it's not good for women to play the victim...that would be ms. palin
Bullshit. Good God you're an idiot.
Could not agree with you more the Daily Beast is a great website but Meghan McCain rantings are always the lowlight of the many great articles
btw, here's the lovely mcain sense of humor..."why is chelsea clinton so ugly?...because her father is janet reno"...dare you to print this daily beast
Double standard? What about hypocrisy!
Her father said that Chelsea Clinton was so ugly because her father was Janet Reno.
Family problems have long been a staple of late night talk shows. How many jokes have been made about the marital problems between Bill and Hillary? He mocked Al Gore's son when he was caught for speeding. I'm sure he made drinking jokes about the Bush girls.
The main issue here is that Dave and his writers screwed up. The target of their joke, Bristol Palin, wasn't at the game and the joke could be construed as referring to the 14 year old Palin daughter. Dave might not have meant it that way but I think he should apologize (and actual sincere apology) for the poorly worded joke.
The next issue is whether even joking about sex and Bristol Palin is OK. I think Dave can broach the subject because Bristol has put herself out there as a spokesperson against teen pregnancy and has been making public appearances, appearing on magazine covers. She's a public figure.
Of course, there's a difference between "can" and "should"; even Dave admitted that the joke was in poor taste. I'm not sure if copping a plea that he tells jokes in poor taste all the time is much of a defense. Perhaps Dave should take this moment to reconsider which lines he's willing to cross just to get a laugh and whether or not it's worth it.
Kevin
www.soulhonky.com
Of course it was in bad taste he himself said so. But it was only a joke GET OVER IT PEOPLE. Letterman you are the best and you have nothigh to apologize for, Sarah Palin is only doing what she does best GRANDSTANDING.
Thank you, Palin is using this for publicity. It was a joke and Republicans are using anything that sticks, and it has not worked.
Any commentary should be fact checked - just as most Daily Beast articles undergo scrutiny. Dave's biggest gaffe was putting Sarah Palin back in the news and giving Meghan Mccain something to shoot her mouth off about. I noticed Senator John Mccain, as presidential nominee, visited Dave. Don't worry, Dave's not running for anything, but he is still funnier and more relevant than anyone the GOP has to offer.
And I should also include republicans are quite good at grandstanding at what should be phoney balony issues.
Would that be the same Meghan McCain who went on "The View" and invited a critic to kiss her ass? Wherefore all this self-righteousness Ms. Used-to-be-a-Democrat-Until-Daddy-Ran-For-President? Republicans have a penchant for getting sidetracked by these pseudo-issues. I suppose raising a ruckus over trivial BS, or making a mountain out of a molehill, is a sure-fire way of getting a nation which is sick to death of the lot of you to pay attention. David Letterman is a comic who knows Sarah Palin can't take a joke. All of her Mama Drama needs to stop and she just needs to crawl back into her igloo. How much are we supposed to take? First, there was Troopergate. Then, an unsuspecting world learned that a young man had knocked up her under-age daughter right under her self-righteous nose. Let us also not forget that the hapless teen-agers had to pretend they were goin' to the chapel and goin' to get married. Letterman told a bad joke. Sarah Palin is one. Enough of this hypocrisy already from you hypocritical Republican women.
I normally like reading Meghan's stuff but this article was terribly shallow and hypocritical. If you have the opinion that his joke was bad and tasteless, that's fine, it was, but to blow it up to this an issue where you get to accuse democrats and comedians of sexism is pure stupidity. It was a bad joke but do you honestly think Letterman was thinking "I know what would be funny: rape of a 14yr old girl" at the time? That's ridiculous to the point of insanity. The only thing worse than the joke itself is what an issue people like you and Palin have made it. You would have been better served and had the moral high ground if you had simply not dignified it with a response at all because when it comes to sexism, Republicans don't have a leg to stand on. What about the republican who said just a couple weeks ago that he hopes Judge Sotomayor "isn't menstruating when making decisions". Why didn't you stand up for women then Meghan? Or you could take issue with pretty much anything Rush L. has ever said. Speaking of tasteless, If you don't want to fight him on whether or not women should be allowed out of the kitchen you could debate him on whether or not Micheal J Fox is "faking" his Parkinson's symptoms. Or how about standing up to Ann C. who said single mothers are the downfall of society. All your article proved is that you are the one with a double standard. Really disappointing, I'm sorry to say I thought you were smarter than this.
jkica13, I'm with you and your logic. Everybody knew that the joke David Letterman made about the 14 year old daughter was meant for Bristol. The republicans opened the door for jokes when, at the republican convention when they called President Obama a socialist(name calling). This was a joke too them.The woman in the republican party was and are still upset that Sarah Palin is a big joke!! and all the comedians cashed in, in the moment. Next time they choose a candidate make sure they pick one who is "up" for the job. Secondly, Sarah Palin used this moment to get back in the spotlight.
I can't wait for you looney libs messiah messes up and the conservatives clean up the mess. What is hypocritical is that you so called bleeding hearts cry about woman's rights and liberties only if its a liberal's rights yet let a conservative woman have her rights violated and all you hear is silence from the left. Its obvious you people don't care about any rights and how sick it is for you to think its ok to make jokes about ones children. Karma is a bitch you know libs and you are about to be bit in the ass.
glaring4-- nobody, including yourself, knows what the hell you're talking about. Fail.
I'm *so* glad someone has found Obama's concealed liberalism. Tell me more. He's OK'd almost all of Bush EPA's mountaintop removals, said there'll be no prosecutions for torture, kept on the Bush banking team, taxing families living in cars to bail out the bankers who foreclosed on their houses -- yeah, that's some liberal there.
Awww. So you're going to waiting awhile, you know that, right? Better stock up on canned goods.
Actually, Megan McCain was an Independent until her daddy ran for President. She's still not a Republican (after reading her articles on DB, it's clear she has no idea what her "beloved party" really stands for). but, hey - saying she is gets her published on the DB, and stints on talk shows, so more power to her.
thank you sharks breath
First it was not a joke about Willow, it was about Bristol. Bristol is 18 and voluntarily splattered herself on People magazine, illegitimate baby in arms.
Bristol Palin is a vocal proponent of the Republican youth movement voluntarily and is part of our zeitgeist and is fair game.
MicCalifornia, Please help me understand as a parent why it would be O.K. for someone to say vicious things about your 18yr.old child but not your 14 yr.old.. I'll say this when you reach a certain age i.e. Letterman an 18 yr. old should be considered a child.
It's not really all that shocking. Discourse has become that for the strong of stomach. PS: Don't worry about being called a RINO. Yet more labels for those who can't comprehend. Hang in there. Cheers from Canada
Thank you.
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