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Of all the posts on FR that I have read on the subject, I have yet to read one that said, "I have watched Letterman almost every night for years but I will not watch him again due to his Palin joke."

CBS knows that social conservatives are mad at Letterman, but they also know that social conservatives do not watch Letterman. Therefore, they will not lose ad revenue over the Letterman-Palin rift. Instead, Letterman's ratings may creep up.

Imus on the other hand had a more difficult problem with his MSNBC show. First, he made his living by interviewing politicians and media types, both of who for a time saw Imus as radioactive and would not go on his show.

Second, Imus had a limited number but higher caliber of advertisers than Letterman who were sensitive to the Imus comments.

Third, Imus' ratings were low and MSNBC had nothing to lose by getting rid of Imus and replacing him with Scarborough.

OTOH, Letterman did not alienate potential guests, he has a larger pool of advertisers to pull from, he is holding his own in the ratings and CBS does not have a Plan B.