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Letterman Defends Palin Jokes

Governor had slammed "sexually perverted comments."

The Late Show is guilty of little more than a fleeting case of bad taste in its flap with Sarah Palin, host David Letterman said Wednesday night. Palin twice criticized Letterman this week over a top 10 list in which he joked about Palin's daughter being "knocked up by Alex Rodriguez" and hit on by Eliot Spitzer. Seeming to willfully ignore that the jokes were clearly in reference to her oldest daughter Bristol, 18, Palin blasted Letterman in a statement over the "sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl" and even accused him of encouraging sexual violence against minors. "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl," Letterman said in a lengthy segment addressing the criticism yesterday. "Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was O.K. for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No."