Actually, I am dismayed at all of the publicity Dave is getting from this. And he is milking it for all it is worth.
It's not possible to have a controversy without both sides getting publicity in the short term. What matters is how it effects his behavior both now and in the future.
For example, he did a segment on the Fire David Letterman protesters last night but it was not snarky and even I thought it was (mildly) amusing.
If he stays on that course then we've won. It's too early to tell but I believe we've scored a bit hit on his future attitudes towards Sarah and other conservatives, at least IMO.
Now we need a new target to take down so that we're not a one hit wonder like the Imus protests.