I’d have Lady Starburst go on Dave, lay the “just folks” on real thick, maybe make some moose chili, and then explain how parents get defensive when their children are attacked, possibly explaining how she sympathized with the Clintons about Chelsea. It’s a no-brainer in terms of enhancing her overall appeal.
Instead, we have the next chapter in the Global War Against Late Night Television:
Indeed, the Letterman-Palin feud has prompted a question: can Ball State University’s most famous alum become the right’s version of Rush Limbaugh – their new public enemy number one?
Brent Bozell, president of the conservative Media Research Center, says the Letterman flap “underscores everything that conservatives are saying. If Rush Limbaugh had made a joke about Barack Obama’s daughter, he wouldn’t finish the sentence before they were calling for him to be fired. It is beyond a double standard. It is a rank hypocrisy and everyone sees it.”
Not all Republicans think this is a good idea:
However, as the Limbaugh-Letterman comparisons proliferate across the web and cable news shows, some Republican strategists question the wisdom of trying to make a political target out of the 62-year-old comedian.
“If the right goes after Letterman they make him look big and themselves small,” says Mark McKinnon, a campaign advisor to George W. Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). “It’s win-win for Letterman.”
mcc
Enemy of the Week
Garrigus Carraig
Ahaha. Who, exactly, would be calling for Limbaugh to be fired? Is there anyone who wants this guy to shut up right now?
JoshA
Bozell’s comment is especially buffoonish since Limbaugh did make “she’s a dog” jokes about Chelsea Clinton.
Dave L
“If Rush Limbaugh had made a joke about Barack Obama’s daughter…”
Now, Bozell has to know about Limbaugh’s Chelsea Clinton “jokes” – he just HAS to. This is part of the psychology I just can’t figure out. He’s lying, he knows he’s lying, he knows that WE know he’s lying. I guess this is just working the refs stuff, or something. But it’s hard to see what it accomplishes, other than getting his audience of mouth-breathers to hyper-ventilate on cue.
It’s pretty hard to see Dave Letterman as much of a target in a renewed cultural war.
Ash
This whole thing is so fucking stupid. Palin’s daughter, who is 18 and an ADULT, is a public figure now. She’s done television interviews, photoshoots for magazines whilst parading her baby around, and she’s a “celebrity” spokesperson for some bullshit abstinence thing.
Can someone inform Sarah Failin’ about that little thing called Flynt v. Falwell?
Also, where were these idiots when Limbaugh called 13 year old Chelsea Clinton a dog?
Brachiator
Note that Palin, who is dutifully making the rounds in her “Not My Daughter!! Tour,” can’t even get her faux outrage straight without a dose of teh stoopid:
Governor Obama?
I have no idea what the Republicans think they are accomplishing with their “slash and burn” tactics. It’s as though they feel a desperate need to marginalize themselves by deliberately pitching their message to the lunatic fringe of the GOP base. And they are forcing every Republican with half a brain to repudiate these repellent tactics.
Michael
I’m still awaiting his on-air heart explosion, complete with bits sloshing off the microphone and dripping off the walls.
There would be a few minutes of awkward silence as the production team tried to figure out what to do.
There would be hordes of upset winger pundits tromping about madly in the dark, wondering about how to resynchronize the message.
But better yet, there would be that daily audience of 2 to 3 million angry white guys (and some women) who would have to find some other way to fill that empty time slot. Some would do it with work, others with sports, others with music.
It’ll be like the final scene in Logan’s Run, when they all wander into the outside world.
williamc
Please make Dave public Enemy #1; I like Conan, but I LOVE Dave. I don’t watch either (or any TV at all), but I would watch if he went to war with the Wasilla Hillbillies.
Bring.It.On.
Planet Rox
Perhaps L. Brent Bozell III needs a research center for his research center.
MikeJ
This is true, and obviously the kid Letterman was thinking of when he made a joke about A-Rod getting a Palin kid preggers. However it was the younger daughter who went to the baseball game. This causes the right wingers to say Letterman is in favor of child rape.
They would have been so much better off with a quick “tsk-tsk”, then they go overboard with the stupid.
Duvall
“Other side of the ticket”?
She knows she lost, right? Maybe McCain should have let her give a concession speech.
John Cole
You know, I watch this amateur hour, and I wonder not only how I ever voted Republican, but how anyone did.
What Dave said was stupid and inappropriate. He apologized. Sarah could have made a small statement and moved on. Instead, these wingnuts are going to drive this into the ground and make everyone hate them and want Dave Letterman to say more offensive things.
Just clueless.
arguingwithsignposts
@MikeJ:
Is anyone even certain it was Letterman who *wrote* the joke? It’s possible he had no idea which one was at the Yankees game. Besides, she went to a Yankees game. That’s enough to show Palin has no class, right there.
JGabriel
Whereas on the left, we want Limbaugh to look “big”. (Fat joke not intended – but not unwelcome either.*)
The bigger Limbaugh looks, the more he becomes identified as the de facto leader of the GOP.
(*I usually hate the “not-un” formation, as per Orwell, but also as per Orwell, one should break any of his rules “sooner than say anything barbarous”, and the “not-un” formation was needed to balance the clauses. All of this, of course, only being mentioned to once again recommend Orwell’s Politics and the English Language. Go read it, if you’re not already familiar with it.)
.
Ash
Wait, seriously, that’s their whole argument over this thing? WTF? I didn’t even remember the names of her other kids, except that they’re weird things like Geometry and Birch or something.
JGabriel
Dave L:
Actually, that’s kind of a stretch. More likely, Bozell intends to remind his audience of the reaction from the left with regard to Limbaugh’s joke, in order to justify their own outrage.
.
JGabriel
Ash:
Yes. Letterman debunked it in his apologia the other night.
.
Dave L
“WTF? I didn’t even remember the names of her other kids.”
– Bauxite, Oswego and Calc.
r€nato
@John Cole:
c’mon John. You know they thrive on playing the victim.
DougJ
Define “thrive”.
KCinDC
Brachiator, that Palin bit makes no sense unless she thinks Letterman is somehow part of the Obama administration or the Democratic Party. They’re really stretching for an equivalence with Limbaugh. Since when is Letterman a political figure?
Alan
Just to expand upon what Dave L said and refresh everyone’s memory:
“Everyone knows the Clintons have a cat,” said Limbaugh. “Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is also a White House dog?” And he held up a picture of Chelsea, who was 13 at the time. I don’t recall a single complaint from the right wing about it.
Then again, the last Republican nominee for the office of President, St. John McCain, once said that the reason Chelsea Clinton was so ugly was that her father was actually Janet Reno, so I guess the GOP is just overflowing with class and dignity.
RSA
I agree; there’s a strong element of second-order outrage: more than at Letterman’s crude joke, but at the hypocrisy of “the left” in not calling for Letterman’s head. It’ll reach third-order when bloggers on the right claims that left-wing bloggers are deliberately trying to draw attention from the hypocrisy.
r€nato
@Alan: I’m trying to find out if Rush ever apologized for that tasteless, awful joke. And I mean, really apologized, not some lame half-assed ‘i am apologizing because the fascist liberal PC gestapo made me do it’ apology.
It was especially nasty because the Clintons went way, way out of their way to keep Chelsea out of the limelight.
Mouse Tolliver
@Ash:
And — as Margaret Carlson reminds us — Bristol Palin partnered with Candies to promote abstinence.
Candies is a clothing line that teaches tweens and teens how to dress like hookers. (Typical Candies outfit: A black bikini top, white mini-skirt & high heels.) Britney Spears is a spokesmodel. The company makes lingerie (black lace thongs, etc.) for teenage girls.
Seriously. Candies. The name alone screams WHORE!
Bristol Palin is promoting abstinence and fuck-me-pumps. She deserves to be mocked.
Zuzu's Petals
Methinks we may be laying out some troll bait here.
Three, two, one …
Jim
I’m still trying to figure out who “the other side of the ticket” is. Does she think Letterman is running for something?
Having no respect for Palin to begin with, I’m still astounded she’s dumb enough to take on Letterman. What campaign was she watching six months ago?
Da Bomb
@Ash: No I think their names are like Mulch, Laminate, and Stucco…
Irony Abounds
@John Cole: Bingo. Dave was wrong – the jokes were crude and tasteless, but Ms. Palin and the Drudge/Wingnut echo chamber is way overreacting, making a minor felony out to be a capital offense. Also, comparing Letterman to Limbaugh is just silly. Whether you think he’s funny or not, Letterman has never claimed to be anything but a comedian. Limbaugh, on the other hand, even though a joke, is deemed, by the right at least, as a brilliant political commentator and actually influences the policies of the right. Just more stupid wingnut false equivalency.
Oh, one other thing, now that I think about it. Has the RNC apologized for the Pussy Galore references to Pelosi? Just wondering.
The Other Steve
Do people remember when the Whitehouse accused Letterman of faking a video of a kid falling asleep while standing behind GW Bush at a campaign rally?
That went well.
So too did John McCain canceling his appearance to fly back to Washington and then appearing on CBS news show.
This just opens you up for ridicule.
The Other Steve
That’s what they do. It’s the Michelle Malkin party now.
El Cid
Please don’t throw David Letterman in that briar patch.
LD50
I wish she had. You just know it’d be such weapons-grade crazy we’d still be talking about it now.
JGabriel
OT, but kind of important(via HuffPo):
Everyone expected this to be fairly close. So if Ahmadinejad declared a win with say 51%-55% he might get away with it. But declaring a 70% win sounds like he and/or the Iranian Guard or ranking clerics are just asking for riots.
.
Ash
@Mouse Tolliver: LMAO. What are you talking about? Candie’s has always been a bastion of creativity, creating clothing and accessories for chaste young girls.
Duh.
jake 4 that 1
Um. Wouldn’t making Letterman the right’s version of Limpbags make him the hero of the right?
Whatever. Wake me up when searching Letterman DNC pulls results like this.
dmsilev
@r€nato: If memory serves, Rush kinda sorta apologized. It was somewhere in between “I’m sorry if you were offended” and “Mistakes were made”, but it was an admission that something wrong was said.
As such, it’s definitely a rarity.
-dms
Jay B.
Letterman (correctly) apologized for being classless and stated explicitly he wouldn’t make a joke about the sexual promiscuity of a 14-year old.
To which the Palins responded: “We’ll keep Willow away from Letterman.”
Limbaugh, the single most recognizable figure in the conservative movement (as stated by conservatives), gets Republican officials to grovel at his feet when they have the temerity to criticize him. By the same token, Letterman got McCain to grovel at his feet when Johnny ditched the Late Show for some idiotic and pointless grandstanding on the budget crisis. To say that Letterman is some kind of recognizable Democrat is just idiotic. Plus, it’ll come as a shock to the vast number of people who watch Letterman — many of whom might be Republicans!
The fucking mentality of these people is insane. And the core becomes core-er.
Brachiator
@KCinDC:
Anyone in the media who makes any joke about Republicans (aka, self-appointed Soldiers of the Army of God) and who refuses to kiss Limbaugh’s ring is obviously an unregistered agent of the Democratic Party.
And fittingly, given Palin’s use of newspeak and doublethink, this week marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of Orwell’s 1984.
Colette
Between this and his non-gibbering display of common sense on Rachel Maddow’s show a couple of nights ago, I expect Mark McKinnon to reveal himself as a Democratic mole any second now.
Zuzu's Petals
Edit: oops, never mind.
Comrade Stuck
These RINO’s don’t realize the shear joy of dining on a fresh enemy (domestic species) who wandered into a culture war free fire zone. It is what real republicans crave around the clock, and the slippery Obama has denied them time and again.
Of course, Letterman is a grisly old carcass and won’t provide enough sustenance to feed a hungry party of faux family values, but will keep the killer outrage senses a little sharper for bigger prey, or for more feeding upon themselves.
GregB
Dave Letterman is the new Murphy Brown.
-G
Jay B.
@Colette:
You mean re-reveal. The fucking pig used to be a Democrat during the Ann Richards era in Texas and then jumped ship, twisted the knife in Ann, and worked for GW, helping to foist that fucking horrorshow on the nation.
Ash
Republican New York Assemblyman calls for Letterman to be fired.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526055,00.html
Oy.
JGabriel
Zuzu’s Petals:
Response deleted by author, in deference to Zuzu’s backtracking.
.
williamc
@21 you mean “democRAT” party don’t you…
clown shoes indeed….
Zuzu's Petals
@Ash:
Letterman looks at camera…shrugs. Audience goes wild.
Ash
@JGabriel: Those are the numbers they were saying when about 20% of the vote was in.
Either way, I think it’s fair to say that’s there’s very little chance this election was 100% legitimate.
Zuzu's Petals
@JGabriel:
Now I’m editing out THIS response. Eh.
LD50
Birthday, Crystal Meth, Dubya, Incest, International Harvester, Jitney and Whitney.
John Cole
Just the sound of Palin’s voice drives me insane. She makes Bush look smart by comparison.
JGabriel
@Ash:
Ah, thanks Ash. I agree, the election is unlikely to be completely legitimate, but I still hope there’s a chance that it’ll be close enough to force a runoff, or for Mousavi to win anyway,
.
Comrade Kevin
@Mouse Tolliver: I saw Carlson on Olbermann’s show last night talking about it, and it was pretty good, but that column is even better.
PS, have you talked to Mary Ann Singleton recently?
JGabriel
John Cole:
So true, Palin’s grammar makes my head explode – it makes Bush look like Strunk & White in comparison, and redefines the word “fractured”.
.
Zuzu's Petals
@John Cole:
Y’know it occurs to me that in all the talk about who is the spokesperson for the GOP, no one, not even the GOP, mentions Dubya.
I mean, is that typical once the guy is out of office?
Comrade Stuck
@John Cole:
Yes, in the clip where she says in cutsie (paraquote) ” then they will control the peeeeople” I wanted to sling a dumbell through the fucking teevee.
kth
If Rush Limbaugh had made a joke about Barack Obama’s daughter
That would be a perfect analogy, Brent, if a plurality of polled Democrats named David Letterman as the person who best speaks for their party.
Late-night comedians aren’t journalists, and politicians aren’t entitled to joke-for-joke equal treatment from them, also (cf Palin’s constant use of “the other side” as encompassing Barack Obama and Tina Fey).
Ash
@JGabriel: Well we’re both right. They said Ahmedinjad had 69% with about 20% of the vote counted, but it seems they now have 70% of the vote counted and he’s still at about 68%.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/06/irans_ahmadinejad_moves_into_big_lead_in_election.php?ref=fpa
Except I don’t think 10 million is 70% of all the votes…
Who knows, it’s a giant clusterfuck.
Zuzu's Petals
@JGabriel:
Re the whole making GWB look smart thing…we’re talking about a guy who couldn’t even name the president of Pakistan.
Doug Wieboldt
This is all just a bunch of “feel sorry for myself” on the part of Palin. I wish that Dave would apologize, and then actually start to attack.
He could attack on her lack of intellect, knowledge of current affairs, and anything resembling an understanding of laws and politics in this country of ours. Moose burgers come to mind, her lack of frugality on matters such as clothing (when someone else is paying for it, even Republicans), her willingness to fly anywhere on the Alaskan taxpayers nickle, her willingness to feed off the government teat while pretending that Alaska isn’t the number one recipient of Uncle Sam’s largess.
Apparently, she also is quite ready to use whatever power is given to her to “get even” with people she doesn’t like. Some of the verdict on that may never be decided, since she also likes to change the rules of the game, and decided that ridding Alaska of anyone looking into her “affairs” as Governor, such as various Inspectors General, citizens really don’t have any control on this women. Government employees who cross her, even when they are just their jobs, are fired.
And, then we can probably mention her use of her pregnant un-married daughter for political purposes, and then trying to back pedal when the daughter becomes an issue. Brilliant. Not only does she get her point across to the wingnuts about sexual responsibility, then she gets to cry “victim!” when attacked for her duplicity.
Give me a break.
FOX (and Palin) want Dave to apologize to women, which they will then turn around to say that Dave apologized to Palin and Co. Nice bit of subterfuge, since Palin is so opposed to womens rights on all the things that matter, it is the height of hypocrisy for her to be asking for this.
Give me another break.
I think I’ll stop here, and hope that someone else can opine on the issue.
Sorry to be so verbose, but this really gets my goat. She is a complete to disgrace to any political party, or any political process.
JGabriel
Nah, 10 Million is about 22% of the expected turnout of 46 million.
Also, that’s an older report you’re linking. The latest reports confirm your original statement, as does the 10 million figure, that only 20% of the vote is counted so far.
.
Tsulagi
Points he made in his apology.
When Letterman told the joke, the audience and everyone else including most nuttians knew he was referring to the 18-year-old daughter, the one who may not have been Abstinence School valedictorian. Even the Loony Riehl posting at RedState wrote…
But opportunity knocked! The clown cars with sirens blazing and lights flashing soon arrived for wingers to mount up. They had their meme: Letterman’s promoting child rape of one of our own! Will the victimization never stop?
Looking at Today show quotes, pretty clear Palin (Sarah, not Willow) jumped in and is now riding shotgun in the clown car posse. Can’t convince her Letterman wasn’t thinking Willow when the joke was told. Can’t fool her, nor could Gov. Obama.
She’s gonna suck on that victimhood teat for all the milk she can get. Claiming victimization is wingnut crack. Or Oxycontin to some.
Zuzu's Petals
@Doug Wieboldt:
If you really want the inside scoop on Palin excesses, you can’t go wrong with Mudflats.
I linked to the whole Palin category, because it’s so hard to choose the best post … their take on the recent Exxon deal is priceless.
R. Schmidt Orren
There’s something revealing in how the right is trying to draw an equivalence between Palin, governor of a sparsely populated state and Obama the President of the United States, ’cause somehow having a comedian makes nasty jokes about a governor and failed VP candidate is exactly like slamming a sitting president.
And I see they’re insisting that making a nasty joke about someone’s adult daughter, who has been seeking media appearances and speaking out on very adult and controversial social issues for months, is no different from making nasty jokes about someone else’s grade-school age daughters.
And I see too why they are trying to make Letterman into (somehow) a lefty version of Limbaugh. They need to, to bolster the other false equivalences as true.
I have no doubt they are working themselves into a righteous rage so they can convince themselves they are justified in doing what they longed to do all along — viciously attack Obama’s kids. They’re really working so hard to stretch it so they when they go full metal asshole on those kids they’ll pull their usual weasely ‘but you did it first!’
Doug Wieboldt
@Zuzu’s Petals
Thanks for the link! I’ll go back and dive in. The first post alone was worth the trip.
Oh No! Now I’ll never get to sleep, and I have to be at work at 5:00am. Oh well!!!!
Zuzu's Petals
@Doug Wieboldt:
Yeah, inside baseball and all that.
Sorry about the up-all-night part, though!
R. Schmidt Orren
@Tsulagi:
These guys also keep insisting Limbaugh is only an entertainer. They really want to have it both ways. Weasels.
Notorious P.A.T.
If Rush Limbaugh made a joke about a sitting president’s daughter, he’d be fired? Ahahahahaha! Good one.
Edit:
@JoshA:
Exactly.
Brachiator
@Doug Wieboldt:
He did apologize. This is what he said:
But instead of just moving on, the GOP Taliban is taking Dave’s words as an insult to Republicanism.
And as I mentioned elsewhere, since one or more of Letterman’s comedy staff actually wrote the joke, and Letterman was only the performer, for anyone to come down on David as though he were the sole author of the quip is insane.
But since they are insane, and since CBS obviously ain’t gonna fire Letterman, I predict that some GOP goon will attempt to get the FCC to fine CBS a huge amount, and then try to turn this into a fresh attack on the liberal media and on Obama.
Steve
Will Ball State alum’s take this bitch slap lying down?
Or perhaps flopping down – they are the Cardinals, after all
Written Off
This is all publicity BS. Letterman knew it would rile up the base and he wants to try to beat Conan’s ratings. Palin, on the other hand, has consistently used her children and her fauxrage to gain publicity, under that pretense, of course she got all worked up about it.
Mouse Tolliver
@Comrade Kevin:
Sadly, no. I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did.
e.c.
of course palin is going to milk her faux outrage for all it’s worth. what else does she have going for her? she’s never gonna set the gop on fire with her stunning intellect so she has to keep playing the bullshi*t “culture war” card whenever she can just to get her face in the news.
but taking on david letterman!?!?! dave may be playing contrite for now (but i loved the slight outrage within his apology) but if palin thinks that she is somehow going to intimidate dave into cowering before her, she’s got another thing coming.
Michael
Triggerlock, Cornhole, Coffeecup, Staplegun and Hootenanny.
Irony Abounds
I have to disagree that Letterman purposely created this controversy. Frankly, his ratings have suffered a bit ever since he started slamming Bush. Conservatives have rather thin skin, and they’ll boycott anyone and everyone they think is anti-conservative (see, Chicks, Dixie). Jokes about Clinton and Gore don’t really faze liberals, but if you mess with a conservative, you’ll face a boycott. If you eliminate an entire segment of the audience in Dave’s category of television, you are bound to be hurt. Also, political jokes about only one side of the aisle tend to be seen as unfunny. In Dennis Miller’s case, they turned a guy who was actually pretty funny into a hack.
Michael
I pity poor Todd. I imagine that being in her company when she’s on a rip roaring tear would make a guy seek the sweet release of murder-suicide.
Can you hear the squeals?
Mouse Tolliver
@Comrade Stuck:
Her voice had the inflection of a student trying to b.s. her way through an oral exam. Like she was trying to paraphrase something she memorized the night before but didn’t quite understand.
Brachiator
@Mouse Tolliver:
Standard Operating Palin
oh really
David Letterman is the moral equivalent Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Genghis Khan, and Ming the Merciless combined. He’s worse than any serial killer, mass murderer, or war criminal.
Oh, I almost forgot, Republicans are the biggest victims in the history of the world and Palin and her girls aren’t the only victims of Letterman’s “hate speech” — every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth is diminished and threatened by what he said.
Firing him is not enough. He needs to be executed, preferably after being tortured (real torture, not that sissy enhanced interrogation stuff). His execution should be slow and extremely painful, after which his body should be shredded and fed to the pigs.
Finally, his name must be expunged from the history books, all public records, and the TV Guide.
(Panting) There! Is that enough for the Right? No? Somehow I knew it wouldn’t be.
Martin
Dear America,
Would you mind focusing your attention on the tasteless joke from the gentleman from Indiana rather than string of murders from the fringe of our party? It’d really help us in the polls and we promise to cut your taxes in return.
Love,
The GOP
Little Dreamer
Oh Jesus! I put on my television to watch NEWS and Sarah Palin is featured on Hardball on MSNBC interviewing over this situation. OMG!
Sarah, you want this to go away? Go away, don’t go on tv.
ETA: If I were Willow, I’d be disowning my mom about now.
debbie
@Brachiator:
Actually, Dave did comment during his monologue before he did his sit-down apology.
One of his jokes was that he was so depressed by the reaction to his jokes that he went and blew $150,000 at Barneys.
Zuzu's Petals
@Mouse Tolliver:
Oh right, the same speech where she accused Washington of doing things “in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101.”
A quick refresher on Palin’s idea of “Economics 101” here.
Zuzu's Petals
OMG, talk about Palin Economics 101, check out this Hannity fluff piece where she manages to suggest that China is going to end up “owning our car industry.” (Starting @4:40)
thereisnorule6
they are using this as a diversion away from the attention they should be getting about the rise in extremism on their side. Dave Letterman shot Palins daughter.
tc125231
@Martin: Amen, pastor.
TenguPhule
Wrong time of the Month, Condom Broke and Forgot to take the Pill.
El Cid
It really saddens me that this lady is still news. And then after that sadness I can laugh again.
kay
I guess this is one way to stop running in circles.
Come to a screeching halt and throw a big, boring hissy fit.
I’m pleased they finally found a way out of that extremism discussion. I was starting to think they were never going to get out, and it was going to circle back around.
JL
How Palin can compare parading a pregnant daughter on stage with her boyfriend to the Obama’s children is beyond me. To suggest that Obama’s children were treated differently was odd. What was the media suppose to report about two little girls.
While Sarah was winking her way across the country during the campaign, I thought that the media did an admirable job by not talking about the Brittany’s pregnancy in negative terms. The media only attacked after Brittany and mom started appearing after the election to preach abstinence.
Zuzu's Petals
@debbie:
And last night he said he thinks everything’s fine now…she called him up and offered to take him hunting.
Left Coast Tom
@Martin:
Fixed.
DC
lower 48 populism, declining in Alaska,
at the Peter Principle stage politically…
what’s left?
simply maximize publicity -> more book money
Mike in NC
This is all really bizarre since Letterman is widely perceived to be a rich conservative Midwestern Republican who’s had people like McCain on his show dozens and dozens of times in the past decade. WTF?
Zuzu's Petals
@John Cole:
You’ll get a laugh out of this then, from the comments over at The Mudflats:
Little Dreamer
@Mike in NC:
Oh? The purity committee will get right on that. ;)
Anne Laurie
Bozell is one of the world’s foremost masters of Doublethink. He can’t be condemned for “lying” because he has genuinely *forgotten* there was a controversy over Limbaugh’s Chelsea Clinton jokes. (Betcha he can still repeat all the jokes, though.) Heck, Bozell probably can’t quite remember the name of the guy who was in the Oval Office after Clinton and before Obama, but he’s pretty sure it must’ve been a democrat. The third and most traitor-to-his-class Roosevelt scion, possibly?
Wes
I wonder where the wingnuts of perpetual outrage were when Leno made the same joke about a then 17 Bristol Palin, at the hands of John Edwards?
Oh wait, there were bigger outrages to mine back then… what with Obama being the scary Muslim Britney Spears who called Sarah Palin a pig or something.
HRA
Win! Zuzu’s Petals brother-in-law! LOL
“Just the sound of Palin’s voice drives me insane. She makes Bush look smart by comparison.”
You are not alone, John. I have to walk away or shut off the TV. It’s worse than fingernails on the blackboard.
IndieTarheel
Neroon, Zathras, Kosh, and Z’ha’dum.
Allan
I spent some time this afternoon strolling amidst the prose stylings of Greta von Scientologist’s blog GretaWire, where great hay was being made from the fauxtrageous child-raping David Letterman unleashed on Trigg Palin or whatever.
She had an O’Reilly worthy screed attacking NOW because, when she called, not one of those hippie lesbians dropped her macrame to race over and participate in an on-air castration festival. Apparently NOW doesn’t understand that Greta von Scientologist is the fucking queen of the media universe, and if you don’t dispatch a hairy acupressure massage therapist/dog groomer to open a can of whoop-ass on Letterman, you’re a hypocrite and only support LIEberal wommens.
Among her finer moments was when she said that “NOW is ‘now’ irrelevant.” Get it? I just used the word “now” which is totally funny because the group is called NOW and L Ron Hubbard’s handlers tell me I’m the bestest writer since the master cleared the planet.
Oh, and her commenters make the home-schooled offspring of a septic tank serviceman and his golden retriever look like a Nobel laureate convocation.
And when persons like me, of non-Evangelifuckstanian heritage, joined into the comments, they freaked.
ACORN is sending their paid bloggers to disrupt our blog!
It was simply unimaginable to them that there are actually human Americans who don’t think like them and enjoy mocking them for free.
I need a shower…
Redshift
Gotta disagree on a few points, Irony Abounds:
If it actually happened, that might hurt, but I’ve never seen any evidence that conservative boycotts amount to much more than blowhards like O’Reilly puffing themselves up. (To be fair, liberal boycotts rarely have much effect either, because a tactic that depends on getting huge numbers of people to go along is nearly always doomed to fail, but at least we don’t have “leaders” who will make endless delusional claims that the boycott is crippling the target.)
Actually, it mostly revealed the limits of a performer who thought it was all about him, when in fact his success depended heavily on the talents of his writers, who (from what I’ve heard) weren’t interested in doing conservative party-line “humor.” But I would agree that putting your own politics ahead of skewering the powerful does tend to make a comedians unfunny, which is why all the shows based on the idea that things like the Daily Show and late night hosts are “liberal,” and try to create “conservative” versions of them keep crashing and burning.
YellowJournalism
The same thing happened a week or two ago when Playboy had that nasty article about conservative women up on its site. Elizabeth Hasselbeck of the View complained that when she called NOW about the article, there wasn’t an immediate response. She basically said that until they actually addressed the article, she believed that NOW only supported liberal women. Once NOW released a statement condemning Playboy and the article, suddenly they were okay in Hasselbeck’s book. For the time being…
I find it funny that these conservative talking heads expect NOW to jump when it’s a cause they (the conservatives) want support on but criticize the feminist organization for being radical and overreacting when NOW leaders speak out about other issues that are closer to the left side of the spectrum or threaten conservative positions on subjects like abortion, etc.
And why should NOW speak out on this issue when it’s been tainted by Palin’s “he supports rape” and “keep Letterman away from 14-year-old girls” commentary? That would be linking themselves to some major stupid. (Not that NOW has never done that…but still…)
Tim in SF
“win-win for Letterman”
Actually, that would be a win for Letterman. A win-win is when both sides win.
I swear, the entire right wing shares a common lack of ability to properly use colloquialisms.
Little Dreamer
If Sarah Palin is angry about what Letterman said about one of her daughters, just wait until she hears what Bill Maher said about Bristol Palin tonight. Oh damn, I get the feeling this isn’t over by a long shot!
Zuzu's Petals
@Little Dreamer:
Maher was pretty gross, typically.
However, I think all of ’em – Conan, Ferguson, Fallon, etc. – should just mock her mercilessly. Over and over. Let her respond to THAT!
Zuzu's Petals
By the way, I notice Palin had nothing to say when Leno and O’Brien both made jokes about her (then) 17-year-old daughter being “abused by older men” :
Not to mention promiscious sex at a sporting event:
OMG, I just realized Bristol wasn’t at that hockey game either! He was joking about a gang rape of Willow Palin…or, gasp!… Piper!
And no, I’m not defending any of these jokes. Just pointing out the selective outrage.
Person of Choler
Zuzu (108) Perhaps the Palins are finally fed up with the sort of nasty crap that you quote here.
A metrosexual with his mobile phone in a special pocket of his man-purse could probably ignore this stuff indefinitely, but someone like Mr. Palin, probably not.
IndieTarheel
@Michael:
His or hers?
Allan
@Person of Choler: Someone would have to read these jokes to Mr. Palin, then explain them to him, in order for him to realize that he should be offended by them.
As long as that doesn’t happen, everything will be just fine.
Person of Choler
Allan (111), I rather doubt that Mr. Palin does not understand what it pleases you to call “jokes”. If they haven’t passed over your head, they would certainly be caught by a sentient being, in which category Mr. Palin resides.
Doug Wieboldt
@Person of Choler
LOL Todd is married to Sarah. In Alaska he sits in on her meetings. Daddy can’t do that in Washington D.C…
Wile E. Quixote
@Person of Choler
Yeah, or perhaps the family is just a bunch of self-righteous conservative asswipes who found out that their “Alaska family values” schtick didn’t play out all that well in the lower 48 (and from what I hear doesn’t play out all that well in Alaska either).
I wear the mobile phone in a clip on my belt. The special pocket in my man purse is for my Ruger SP101. Now if I could only find some mother of pearl grips for it for it I’d be in heaven.
Besides, it’s not a “man-purse” it’s a “satchel”, and Indiana Jones had one too!
alex milstein
I thought Letterman’s joke was about Eliot Spitzer.
It couldn’t be that Palin’s twisting things to keep herself in the media spotlight, could it?
Person of Choler
Wile E.:
Despite your closely reasoned and delicately phrased argument, I’ll stick with the theory that the Palins are simply tired of being trashed by potty-mouthed yakkers and are reacting to the insults.
Alan
“Potty-mouthed yakkers” ????
Sarah? Is that you?
Person of Choler
Alan, can you quote for me any vulgar speech from Sarah Palin?
Look up “vulgar” in a dictionary before you answer.