Comedy, Bullies, and American Politics

The American Thinker ^ | June 14, 2009 | Rosslyn Smith

[Scanian]

Saul Alinsky taught two generations of American leftists to use ridicule as a potent political weapon. When the left infiltrated America's entertainment outlets, the practice achieved industrial scale.

As I read about the ongoing controversy about David Letterman's vicious attack on Sarah Palin's 14 year old daughter, my first thought was that I wasn't surprised. I have always found Letterman to be a bit of a misogynist. In recent years he has also been increasingly unfunny.

James Lileks said it best.

But no, it must be funny, because David is funny and hip. Right? Or maybe not; maybe he's actually a brackish, hermetically-souled guy who's spend the last twenty years going from table to table with a giant wooden grinder, asking anyone if they want some fresh-ground scorn with that. Say when. Or maybe he's about as edgy as a soccer ball, and exists only to remind people they were Edgy once, and hence must be ever-blessed with the gift of Wryness and Irony. With those shields we can never grow old, you know. We'll always be as sharp and perceptive as we were when we were sitting on a cast-off sofa in college, working through a midweek buzz, happily fellated by the preconceptions the TV so charitably provided

This posture was fresh in '80; it even had energy. But it paralyzes the heart after a while. You end up an SOB who shows up at the end of the night to reassure that nothing matters. I think he may have invented the posture of Nerd Cool, an aspect so familiar to anyone who reads message boards - the skill at deflating enthusiasm, puncturing passion with a hatpin lobbed from a safe distance. The instinctive unease with the wet messy energy of actual people.

[DieHard the Hunter]

Very good!

[Stepan12]

I think the Right should move against Letterman because of his revoltin', dirty-old-man proclivities on display and to put a dent in the vicious ridicule factory of the Left.

[Bobalu]

[Slings and Arrows]

Self-ping.

[pepsionice]

His staff wrote the joke...not Dave. He hasn’t written any original material in years. He is mostly surviving off the fumes of a decent career in the early 1990s. If you watch the interviews that he does....they barely function anymore. Given a choice of Jon Stewart or Dave to do a interview of any type...I would always pick Stewart.

[iopscusa]

Terrific article on the cowards of the left, the coward Comics on TVee....AWA the cowards of the Right that will not defend themselves!

[ThreePuttinDude]

****

[elcid1970]

Yesterday on some radio version of Point-Counterpoint, the conservative male was rightly condemning Letterman’s vile remarks about Sarah Palin’s daughters.

The liberal female huffily replied that Palin’s remark that she wouldn’t want her fourteen year old daughter anywhere near Letterman was equivalent to calling him a child rapist. The liberal then said,

“Sarah Palin is calling David Letterman a child rapist, and THAT’S JUST NOT RIGHT!!!”

On the left, ideological loyalty trumps safety for children, it now appears.

[GBA]

Thanks for posting this. It was well worth the time to read it and I appreciate her many insights and observations, especially about the current version of the republican party:

A lot of my frustration with the Bush administration came not only with the rise in government spending but with the way that it allowed blatant falsehood to go un-rebutted after the 2004 election.

Far too much turning the other cheek, being nice and letting people like Rush Limbaugh fight their battles for them instead of doing it themselves. What else would anyone expect from moderates and rinos?

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

The reticence of party insiders to challenge the elitist liberal media culture has been a huge source of dissatisfaction with the Republican brand among the rank and file outside the major urban areas. Nowhere has it been more apparent than with the media scorn heaped on Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber and the me-too echo of certain party insiders anxious to keep their credentials on the Sunday news show circuit.

Main reason why I loathe McCain.

[Tribune7]

bump

[2ndDivisionVet]

Here are some of David Letterman’s sponsors:

Aveeno https://www.aveeno.com/contact-us.jsp;jsessionid=ICzq9MKfCJMvYNQPalV7EWJ+CJY

Canon http://www.usa.canon.com/templatedata/AboutCanon/ciwofloc.html

Citibank https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/portal/contactus.do

Downey (Owned by P&G) http://www.downy.com/en_US/contactus.jsp

Hellman’s https://secure.hellmanns.com/contact_us.aspx

Lexus (Owned by Toyota) http://www.lexus.com/contact/

Nissan Motors http://www.nissanusa.com/apps/contactus

Rogaine http://www.rogaine.com/men/contact-us

Ambien CR https://contactus.sanofi-aventis.us/default.aspx

bing.com (Owned by Microsoft) https://feedback.discoverbing.com/default.aspx?mkt=en-us&productkey=bingweb&brand=&&locale=en-US&P1=dsathome&P2=&P3=0&P4=&P5=5462F211BC1D4717B52B5B14CB670F99&P6=Needham,%20Massachusetts&P7=Original&P8=&P9=42.285999/-71.233001&P10=24902.0&P11=&P12=&searchtype=Web%20Search&optl1=1&backurl=http://www.bing.com:80/?FORM=FEEDTU&scrx=1

Chase https://www.chase.com/ccp/index.jsp?pg_name=ccpmapp/shared/assets/page/contactus

Ford http://www.fordvehicles.com/help/contact/

Hotels.com http://www.hotels.com/faqs.do?reqType=getQuestions&cmsFaqId=

Listerene (Johnson & Johnson) https://www.listerine.com/contact-us.jsp;jsessionid=o9dUC7PE892Iut-YH7ibH32Z1Wk

Mazda http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/emailMazda.action

Old Navy (Owned by The Gap) http://oldnavy.gap.com/customerService/info.do?cid=3332&mlink=5151,1004621,3&clink=1004621

Samsung http://www.samsung.com/us/info/contactus.html

T-Mobile http://www.t-mobile.com/Contact.aspx

Also if you haven’t yet filed a complaint at the FCC:

http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Channel and time: CBS at 11:30 p.m. Monday June 8th (rape joke), Tuesday 9th (prostitute joke)

CBS Feedback;
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form

[woofie]

I have an idea ...someone else can have it and run with it if they want

I want to see an intereview of Katie Couric (or Letterman or anyone of the ilk) and Albert Einstein. in which she makes him look like an idiot....

I think it would be instructive

[Billthedrill]

Next week will be interesting. I fully expect a flood of Letterman defenders on the left all parroting the same catchphrases as they always do. They pretty much have to. If he doesn't get away with this then boundaries have been drawn, and they don't like boundaries except for their opponents, even if they're the ones of common, basic human decency.

The one I expect to hear the most is the claim that Sarah is "putting her daughters forward" and hence they have no right to expect any protection. That Willow did nothing whatever to be pushed forward except get taken to a ballgame means nothing to people who are only looking for a rationalization, not a reason, a posture, not a position.

Ridicule destroys in politics unless it's countered - "There you go again" was one of the best of those. This isn't going to get nasty, it's been nasty for a very long time, and playing nice at this point is surrendering.

[Scanian]

glad you enjoyed the post