David Letterman has fully apologized to Sarah Palin and her daughters. For the past several days, the country has been consumed with the ‘knocked up by A-Rod’ bad Letterman joke. Did Sarah Palin fail to notice the snipes and tasteless jokes last fall? Why is she so outraged now? The jokes really weren’t any less crude and Letterman was hardly the most frequent offender.
At any rate, here it is–the long awaited Letterman apology:
“I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception,” he said. “And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. . . . So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke.”
I suppose for the next few days the cable news shows and others who have been getting so much press off of this bad joke can now analyze the apology. One has to question why, after all the jokes of questionable taste, did Sarah Palin chose now to protest?
According to the Washington Post:
Through mid-March, Leno had made 15 jokes about the Palin daughter’s pregnancy, Stewart had told four on “The Daily Show,” and Letterman checked in with eight, according to an analysis of late-night humor by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with George Mason University.
Perhaps there is more to this than just a mother bear defending her cubs. What do contributors think.
Full Story: Washington Post, June 16. 2009
Perhaps she had had enough. Simple as that. She is allowed to be human, and to react as any mother would. If anything she should be commended for having held her composure this long!
That’s one explanation, and perhaps you are correct. Its definitely a balancing act how much to include your family in politics. It seems that they are often fair game unless they are sequestered.
I think that some of the news shows, namely Fox News, to be specific, has continued to fan the flames. They also were the ones moaning and bitching about too much coverage on the killer of Tiller and nothing on the soldier. Well duh…they are a news show. Why didn’t they set the example and show less on Tiller’s killer and more on the poor soldiers who were shot.
Such hypocrisy. It’s one thing to blast the mainstream media (whatever that is) when they are leading the way. However, they showed 90% Tiller’s killer news and 10% soldiers themselves.
Is Fox a news show??
I watched Hannity, and did not think Colmes did much to balance his show, but seeing how the Hannity show is going without Colmes, is a shame. Talk about twisting facts, leaving out facts and just spewing out of his mouth.
On the Palin thing, I think Letterman was out of bounds, but I also think Palin is using this to get free publicity. What Letterman said was also no worse than what any of the other late night hosts said in the past.
Anonymous, substitute the word program. I have a bad habit of using the words interchangeably.
I agree. Actually I thought Colmes was on vacation. Hannity really has a bully pulpit doesn’t he. He makes me sick so I never watch. The smug sneering is just a little too much for me.
I think Palin might also be using this issue for some publicity. While I think Letterman was dead wrong with his non-joke, others have been worse. If you link to the original story related to the thread, there is a breakdown of times various comedians joked about the Palin kids.
Perhaps it was naive of Ms. Palin to trot her children out for all the world to see. On the other hand, someone should have warned her.
Yeah, let me guess: Hannity is so much worse than Olbermann and the lesbo chick on MSNBC, right?
I think Letterman’s joke was in bad taste and I think part of Palin’s outrage is timed to keep her name in the spotlight – can’t afford to let Newt get too far ahead.
I think the whole gossip/entertainment angle on Sarah Palin is sexist. Dan Quayle was never the butt of this many jokes and he was just as good looking. Sarah squabbles are covered endlessly because she is photogenic. If a man were as limited intellectually and politically, there is no way he would be covered as if he were a Presidential candidate, but none of this is her fault.
She feels exposed because she is always attacked. She feels helpless, so she goes on the attack whenever she can so she feels like she has some control. I think the partisan angle of her retorts come from the fact that this is just part of the language she uses, especially when she wants to be hurtful. As for Letterman, who cares? He is a comedian.
Letterman doesn’t care about Palin or her family. Someone in marketing told him his ratings are going to tank because of a perception that he’s an old pedophile.
Joe Doe, no more Lesbo Chick here.
I have no idea. I don’t watch those shows. I have watched Hannity. I despise him.
Mando, welcome back. Why should he care about Palin and her family? He screwed up, he finally manned up. He doesn’t have to care.
Witness, I think time is being kind to Dan Quayle. He was the butt of many jokes. He wasn’t quite as aggressive Palin, however. All sorts of people have been the butt of jokes. John Edwards leaps to mind. Senator Larry Craig is not too far behind…
@MH
Thanks and I’m not saying he should or shouldn’t care. I’m just saying you can bet his sincere sounding apology was based on ratings forecasts.
Oh probably. That’s show business. I am not sure how sincere she was either in accepting it. Everyone made nice.
While I am not a big Palin fan, she makes a good point:
Letterman has a low bar because he is not a public official, but yes it was rude to make fun of Bristol’s pregnancy. Palin’s continuous exploitation of her daughter’s situation as a P.R. opportunity though is pretty nauseating.
So what have we learned? Letterman is about as outrageous and ridiculous as late night comedians are. And Palin is about as outrageous and ridiculous as a gossip page starlets are. But we knew that. I’m surprised so many people paid attention to this. Now Letterman has apologized a second time. Is this in writing or did he say this on his show like the first one?
What about the lady at the Correspondents Dinner? Did she apologize for saying Rush Limbaugh is like Osama bin Laden and his liver should fail? Not that it matters. I just mention it because it is the same idiotic distraction and how much are we thinking of it now? Zero.
It seems that one of the Black Velvets has uncovered a swine flu conspiracy. One of the local middle school nurses allegedly didn’t believe a parent or the doctor. Another rumor suggests that the swine flu came to the elementary school through the janitors and the high school is hiding its cases of swine flu.
If you want to read gossip, run, don’t walk to the dark side. There is more gossip there than at any local hair stylist shop.
The only credible person in the discussion is your very own Emma. She is at great risk for sounding sane.
@John Doe
What a terrible expression: “lesbo chick”. Maddow on MSNBC is a highly intelligent Stanford grad and a Rhodes scholar with a PhD in political science from University of Oxford. Being a lesbian has nothing to do with her job at MSNBC.
Olbermann is plain obnoxious; not even funny even though he tries to be.
Hannity is plain NASTY. FYI: he dropped out of New York University and, later, Adelphi University.
Black Velvet Reporter:
Maybe this is the conspiracy you saw. You know, those nasty little viruses all meeting behind closed doors to plot their next attack or political move:
From Dr. Walts
Today, the Prince William Health District (PWHD) informed us of several other confirmed cases in schools from around the county. Currently, we have 11 total confirmed cases; two at Stonewall Jackson High School, five at West Gate Elementary School, and one each at Sinclair Elementary School, Stonewall Middle School, Mullen Elementary School, and Tyler Elementary School. Each is at home recovering.
Thanks, um, I think.@Black Velvet Reporter
It’s true that other show hosts got away with similar jokes. Apparently Leno said at one point when announcing that Palin’s daughter was pregnant, something like “Oh no, John Edwards is really in trouble this time”.
I second Punchak. It’s very juvenile and small to refer to someone else’s sexuality in a hateful way.
Rick, don’t tell me things like that. (inappropriate laughing) 😉
Sarah Palin could have handled some things better also, realistically speaking.
I’m listening to Stern right now, a protester in NYC commented to Richard Christy that Letterman has been “raping young girls with his mouth”.
Sarah Palin handled this the way she wanted. As a right-winger, she resents the bias that people like David Letterman have, saw him say something relatively indefensible, and went after him.
Rick, that is rather interesting imagery.
As for Sarah Palin, Rick, I cannot disagree with you. And she had him dead to rights. Now my next comment is not to excuse the comedians but…I think she could have handled her daughter’s situation more sensibly, and not made her cannon fodder for the jokesters. For example, what would have been wrong with leaving Mr. Stupid, Levi Johnson at home, rather than dragging him out in public. One look at him told it all. How about a yes, my daughter is handling it and is at home finishing school since she will have added responsibilities in her life, thank you for asking.
I am not saying Palin should have hid her in the attic but human nature being what it is, there were smarter ways to have handled running for VP as a governor from Alaska with a pregnant teenage daughter. Thank goodness the daughter didn’t marry the village idiot, is all I can say.
For all Palin had a base following, I know of many Republicans who didn’t vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin. She sure knew how to give the one liners and say the things conservatives like to hear…those conservatives who like to divide rather than unite.
One thing that kind of makes me laugh about people not voting for McCain because of Palin is that nobody talks about that Obama gift that keeps on giving, Joe Biden.
Obama put him in charge of watching over the stimulus money. When asked to explain the ‘saved’ jobs report he responded ‘that is over my pay grade’. Classic… I could list all of dopey statements but you would need an entire thread dedicated to them there are so many. Every time he speaks I wait for it because you know it coming… 🙂
I still say one of the better Biden remarks was his dumb comments about riding public transportation in the early days of the great Swine Flu epidemic panic. He managed to anger the airline, bus, and train industry all at once. This coming from someone who used to take the Amtrak train daily to commute from Delaware. Shows how little common sense he has – Obama needs to keep him on a much tighter leash. Then again his stupid remarks are always good for entertainment.
I agree GR, that was a great line… but there are so many from Biden. He was the first in a very long line of bad picks or nominations by Obama. I really don’t care for many decisions Obama has been making but I pray that he doesn’t get so much as a splinter with Biden and Pelosi being the next two in line. Can you even imagine? Yikes!
So let’s see, we have narrowed the contest down to who we would rather be stuck with, a guy who said what everyone else was thinking about public transportation and the swine flu or….tah dahhhhhh….a woman who says ‘you bettcha’ and other non intellectual sound bites 20 times in one speech.
Biden may have foot in mouth but he has experience. Palin is questionable on all fronts. You bettcha.
Oh and the reason Joe Biden wasn’t in the thread is because the thread isn’t about VP candidates. It was about Letterman apologizing to Palin for being crude about her daughters. The country was consumed with this issue, it seemed. Palin has every right to call Letterman or anyone else on crude remarks about her children. Had someone made a crude remark about Biden’s kids, I would have been all over it.
I don’t agree with criticizing Palin over letting her daughter be seen in public and with Levi J during the campaign … from what we know, the Palin’s weren’t exerting influence on her to be a couple with the kid, they only asked her to come up with a plan forward. Her preferred plan at that point was to be a couple with Levi J. I just don’t think it’s fair to accuse Palin of any exploitation here. The most natural and safest course of action here would be to shield her daughter from the media. I can’t imagine that anyone on consideration thinks that parading Levi around was going to score political points with anyone.
hello – I agree, there’s a reason Biden has a well earned reputation for saying dumb things over the years. I have to say though – if it came between him and Pelosi – I’d take him any day. Pelosi is just plain dishonest. As to experience – he served on the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees. That qualifies as some experience I guess. Then again people were quick to argue that experience doesn’t matter in the case of Obama – as he was only a US Senator for a short time. Apparently experience doesn’t prevent someone from saying dumb things, as Biden has a well documented history in that.
As to the Palin thing – I wonder where the idea of parading Levi around came from – it could have even come from the McCain campaign. In any event, it was a dumb idea, the idea of them being some kind of poster couple for young people having unexpected pregnancies was beyond stupid. That said though, there’s no excuse for the jokes about her daughter – that were in incredible poor taste and it boggles the mind how that got past however many sets of eyes are needed to review jokes that make it to airtime. You would have thought someone would have spoken up and said maybe that joke wasn’t such a good idea. At least Letterman did apologize though, so that’s a good thing.
Moon, GR had a great response to your “Biden may have foot in mouth but he has experience”…
About Palin v.s. Letterman, sure Palin probably wishes now she never took her family anywhere with her during the campaign but that doesn’t give someone the right to make the sort of rude, sexist comments Letterman did. Obama brought his wife and two girls to some events, does that give someone like Letterman to joke about someone raping one of his girls or how Michelle looks like a dude? No… it doesn’t.
By the way, the only reason I think Letterman is even apologizing is because of all of the flack he has gotten over it.
sorry Moon, I take back part of my comment, anyone can joke about how Michelle looks like a dude all they want…
I didn’t criticize Palin for bringing her daughter out with Levi. I said I thought it would have been more sensible (and protective of her daughter) to have chosen a different course of action. I never criticized her for that.
I have also been critical of comedians and commentators like Rush Slimball who target politicians children. I have not been partisan in my criticism. Yet, I am the only person to have mentioned the rude, mean-spirited remarks made by both Slimball and SNL about 14 year old Chelsea Clinton.
The criticism, if any, is at the American public who is fixated. I mean how many days can people go on and on over it. Letterman (and other in the past) was a tasteless, inappropriate idiot. He apologized. Who cares why he apologized? He did.
I have to say this…Right now Iran could very well errupt into a Revolution. People are more concerned over something Letterman said than they are the demise of a country recently deemed an axis of evil.
7 comments vs 31. I rest my case.
The only problem with Iran is that actually, the candidate that people think is more moderate – is just as determined about nuclear weapons as the current president. The only redeeming thing is at least this candidate so far hasn’t come out and said the Holocaust never happened. But he has a record of being a big supporter of Iran’s nuclear program. He may prove to be a little less scary than the current president, if the election is overturned, but it isn’t going to cause any great shift in Iran’s foreign policy, probably. It is a good thing people are protesting the obviously rigged election, but unfortunately no matter what happens, Iran is still probably going to be a threat of some sort to peace in that region.
He appears to be more approachable which might make all the difference in the world. The nuclear weapons might just be an election ploy. Hard to say. If that election is overturned, however, it might alter the course of our middle east foreign policy, for better or worse.