Letterman "Jokes" About Palin's Daughter (Voted into NOW Hall of Shame - Hell Freezes Over)

National Organization for Women (NOW) ^ | June 11, 2009 | National Organization for Women (NOW)

[joinedafterattack]

Letterman voted into NOW Hall of Shame: After two nights of "jokes" at the expense of Palin and her family, Letterman tried to explain himself and offer something of an apology. On his June 10 show, Letterman said he was referring to Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol -- not the 14-year-old daughter who actually accompanied Palin on her New York trip. Letterman said "I recognize that these are ugly" jokes. NOW agrees. Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age.

The sexualization of girls and women in the media is reaching new lows these days -- it is exploitative and has a negative effect on how all women and girls are perceived and how they view themselves. Letterman also joked about what he called Palin's "slutty flight attendant look" -- yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician's appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman's stature, who appears on what used to be known as "the Tiffany Network" (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.

[Juan Medén]

Thank you, ma’am. I appreciate it. I just shot them off a note.

[Mr Rogers]

You KNOW Global Warming is finished when Hell freezes over!

[Tzimisce]

Wonders never cease I guess.

[glock rocks]

“You obviously have a wonderful economy with words, Gloria. I look forward to your next syllable with great eagerness.”

Ahhh, Hobson.

[hsalaw]

A bj to BJC in the side office from the intern didn’t bother them !

NOW's failure to take a stand against that and in support of women's rights in Iraq and Afghanistan has made them irrelevant.

[matthew fuller]

Alex Rodriguez should sue the SOB for $5, 000, 000. Should be worth at least 2 million.

[Let's Roll]

DITTO on the thank you.

Are pigs flying?

[KansasCanadian]

246,000 Google returns for “David Letterman rape” Mission accomplished, you old perv

[ChetNavVet]

I am no longer a fan of dave, as far as I’m concerned, he had his chance, te final straw for me was when Dave got rescued a family member, and yet in th end disses cops ad all authority and what not.

Dave, keep your family well hidden, and realize that you are not anything like real folk, if what happened to you not so long ago ever happens again, it will be your fault if anything really bad happens because you are an out of touch, super lib douchbag. The only compensene I’d give you is that I hope it happens to you instead of your family.

Dave, you suck, I know. And for gods sakes spend a few dollars to fix that gap in your toofus, your not an everydayman just because you have a bad toofus.
Dave be real or go away.

[netmilsmom]

I’m not going to rethink the thanks for the little bit they did.
It’s like when one of my kids picks up her socks. I’m not going to groan, “About time.” and let it go. Big hearty Thank YOU and maybe the behavior will repeat.

[wpa_mikeb]

The NOW gang chastising Letterman is too late.

After all of these years, the ONLY “source” for the Rush Limbaugh/Chelsea Clinton dog thing is Molly Ivins. Nobody else has ever reported it, they just report on Molly Ivins reporting it.

But yet, even our side just laps it up. Hey, if the drive by media says it’s true, it must be true, right?

[Freedom_Fighter_2001]

Done.

I now have to take an acid shower, though.

[MaryFromMichigan]

For this moment, however, it would certainly help if all FReepers would submit the brief form to CBS that NOW has up--and to put in the subject line your desire to see Letterman fired. In the body of your message, you can always remind CBS of its dwindling audience.

Done and bumped!

[ScottinVA]

I’m stunned!! Good work, nags!!

[SeminoleSoldier]

I’m surprised. Good for them though.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I’d say spend a few bucks on a good face overhaul with a good plastic surgeon.

[NoRedTape]

Conan has ALWAYS been funnier than Letterman, anyway.

Bye Dave. Another clueless Lib bites the dust.

[ducks1944]

Where is all the Congressman and NAACP that was up arms about Imus (they was College girls remember most 18 years old for sure). So letterman thinks it OK to make jokes about rape or sex with 18yr. old but not a 14yr. old. We all no if this joke was about Obama girls Letterman would out of job already.
Also if Letterman made joke about Mrs. Obama like he has about Mrs. Palin he would also be out of job. HYPOCRITES!!! All of them from Congress to NAACP to Media!

[Faith Presses On]

While I’m not a big supporter of Sarah Palin for President, I think she is absolutely right that Letterman’s story doesn’t add up. Besides the jokes themselves, it's just appalling that he is also getting away with saying that his show was talking about Bristol, not Willow, and the media is saying he just "made a mistake." Both suggestions are implausible. - No story his staff came across about the Palins’ trip would mention “her daughter” being at the game without also identifying her by name and giving her age, as in this one from Politico: "She’s traveling with her husband, Todd, and her 14-year old daughter, Willow, as well as her sister and nephew," and, "She’s expected to join former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at a Yankee game," ("With Palin at Seneca Falls"). -But even if that *somehow* happened, Letterman's writers and fact-checkers would all have to have decided it was okay not to go to any other stories and just assume it was Bristol. That would also never happen. Even to refer to someone by name or not is a decision that would never be left out or overlooked, most especially by more than one person. In the course of deciding that, they supposedly never recognized that the daughter wasn’t identified in the “jokes” or that there may be some uncertainty over which daughter they’re “joking” about? Very implausible. - Letterman's two "jokes" about an unnamed Palin daughter also came on two DIFFERENT days. “Late night TV host David Letterman ‘joked’ that during their recent trip to New York, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter ‘was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez’ during a Yankees baseball game. The next night Letterman said that the hardest part of Palin's trip was "keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter." - Letterman joked about Willow on Monday and Tuesday, with supposedly he and his whole staff believing all the time that he was talking about Bristol (but again, consciously not calling her Bristol either time, which is odd, since he has in other monologues). But the story was already out there in blogs and people were writing CBS after Monday’s show. Somehow the truth of the matter didn’t reach them before Tuesday’s show? - And if Letterman and his team had REALLY made an honest mistake, wouldn’t it just make sense for him to just sincerely apologize for it? Since it was really Willow there, not Bristol, and his team supposedly made the mistake, wouldn’t he just feel bad about that and take responsibility for giving the appearance to many that he was talking about a 14-year-old? But he’s refused to go so far as offer any apology.

[henkster]

Really important to keep an eye on the bigger picture. Look at what NOW did, and more importantly, did NOT do:

What they did:

1. Condemned Letterman.
2. Posted link to CBS to provide feedback.

What they did NOT do:

1. Call on Letterman to resign.
2. Ask boycott of advertisers.
3. Demand censure by CBS.
4. Demand unambiguous public apology by Letterman to Palin family.
5. Demand “sensitivity training” for Letterman.
6. Suggest viewer boycott of Letterman show.

Based on the above, I suggest that this was too big for NOW to simply ignore, but they only offered a token response, not true outrage. They made their comment, and now it’s time for them to “move on” and get back to their main purpose, which is bashing conservatives. In fact, they couldn’t wait and added the gratuitous slap on Rush at the end.