Fuck David Letterman and all misogynistic leftists who support him on this

The BBQ Pit
281

You know what, the joke would have been the same even if no daughter had been with Sarah Palin at the game. All it would take is the right implication in the set up, and the audience would assume Bristol was there.

“Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game today. In related news, her daughter got knocked up by A-Rod.”

See? The audience is left to fill in the blanks - that Sarah was accompanied by her daughter, Bristol, who was demonstrating once again how effective abstinence is. Oh, and A-Rod is a hound.

The fact that there was an actual daughter present at the game is gravy for the joke. The fact that the daughter that was present was Willow rather than Bristol is a minor inconvenience. But hey, this isn’t about facts, it’s about humor. The set up lets the audience assume the details that make the joke work.

Guess what? Most people were not following Sarah Palin’s itenerary, were not aware that she went to a game, and wouldn’t have cared except that it made for the set up for a joke.

Now you can argue over whether it was a mean-spirited joke or not, and whether it was funny or not. But the simple fact is that most people would fill in the blank “daughter at game getting knocked up” with “Bristol, the out of wedlock teen mother now promoting abstinence that didn’t work for her”.

Sarah Palin’s outrage about Letterman’s implication of rape is stupid. At no point did Letterman imply that A-Rod kidnapped Willow, drug her in back, and forced himself on her. At best, the implication is that man convinced an underage teenage girl to have sex with him, and that’s assuming you are aware the daughter was actually Willow and that the joke writer/teller was also aware of that fact and was, thus, meaning for the joke to be about Willow. Frankly, that is a stretch. And while statutory rape is not appropriate or condoned, it is a slightly different situation than forced abduction and rape.

I’m willing to believe that Sarah is genuinely outraged at the idea that someone would be implying statutory rape of her 14 year old daughter. But to continue going on about it when Letterman himself states he was unaware that the daughter in question was Willow, and furthermore, that the joke relies on Bristol’s reputation in order to be funny, is too much. You can accept his apology or not, but the implication that Letterman is a molester? And of course, her actual phrasing was such that it almost more easily is interpreted to mean that Willow is the one that can’t be trusted around Letterman - now who is implying something about Willow? And then Sarah’s vague comments to Matt Lauer seemly trying to suggest maybe that Willow would want to hit him or something, but then not actually saying that, and leaving the audience to wonder what “Willow would want to react to him in a way that maybe would catch him off guard” was supposed to mean. Given Letterman’s typical demeanor and social awkwardness, that could easily mean give him a kiss or climb in his lap as kick him in the balls.

This is manufacturing outrage for political publicity. Sarah’s justification to not go on Letterman’s show - she doesn’t want to give him the publicity? If she didn’t want to give him the publicity, why did she say anything at all? Drawing attention to the matter gives it far more publicity than dropping it. Besides, Letterman is host of a show that has as primary function to publicize celebrities and their projects. And he is the one who would get publicity out of her going there?

However, I do want to add my agreement to the condemnation over the use of the words “whore” and “slut” with regards to Bristol. Her sexual behavior is only an issue in context of her and her mother’s advocacy of Abstinence Only education, and that is through hypocrisy. But that is not what the words “whore” and “slut” make judgement about.

As for the kids’ names, Bristol is somewhat nonstandard, but is not horrible. Tripp is certainly a bit goofy, but I recall a Star Trek character with that name. And there’s nothing wrong with Willow. Heck, I bet there are a bunch of Willows in elementary school these days. I just wouldn’t have pegged Palin as a Buffy fan. :wink:

282

I’m just curious; what happened to the discipline and message from the Right? At one time, this is the kind of clusterfuck only Dems could come up with. Let’s see how this went down:

  1. Right wingers have nothing of interest to discuss beside “Obama’s not a real American.”
  2. Late-night comedian makes a joke, perhaps somewhat off-color, about VP nominee’s daughter - who said nominee had no problem discussing and making central in her campaign. (The kid Trig, for instance, was never seen nor discussed.)
  3. Nominee sees this as a chance to get cameras on her, as nobody outside of the right winger gives a toss what she’s doing. When’s the last time Palin made news for, you know, doing her job? As a policymaker, national figure, etc.?
  4. Nominee makes a situation when simply saying a) nothing or b) wow, that’s in bad taste - but what about how Obama’s policies are making life harder for ordinary Americans, etc. would have given her the news cycle and some high ground - and Letterman look stupid.
  5. Nominee makes a vague innuendo about Letterman, refuses to elaborate, and makes herself look about 2 inches tall.

Jokes about politician’s kids are generally in bad taste, Letterman’s included. But he makes jokes for a living, many of which aren’t funny - it’s what he does. He’s a comedian. It’s far less bothersome than a supposed leader of a political party calling a child “ugly,” regardless of which side of the aisle you’re on. For some reason right wingers can be unspeakably cruel and petty, but can’t take it when it comes back to them. But that’s neither here nor there, because I don’t think Palin has made jokes about other pol’s kids/families. But the outrage brigade has, so I’d like them all to STFU - the morning idiots on my local radio station for starters.

Yeesh. Between Palin and Cheney, are they even remotely trying to broaden their appeal? Pubbies need to ask Arnie to put on a charm offensive to cover up the stink of these humorless, unfunny, and boring jokers. Hell, Bobby Jindal is the second coming compared to these clowns.

283

Does anybody know how Bristol dodges the question (which you know people ask) when speaking about teen abstinence which goes something like:

“So you have your baby now and it was due to not being abstinent. Do you regret what you did?”
“If you could go back and change the past, would you change it so you never got pregnant. So your child would never have been born?”

284

While I may disagree with Palin’s politics, going after her family is simply not acceptable. I applaud Palin for sticking up for her daughter and doing so publically. I think the underaged members of the Palin family deserve some immunity from public scorn. The family can’t even go to a fucking baseball game as private citizens without the kids being attacked on late-night television. No one would ever dare make such allegations (even in jest) about Malia or Sasha. The former is not that much younger than Willow.

  • Honesty
285

Very well said.

286

Except for the part that nobody ever mentioned the underage kids until the Palins themselves brought them up. Pesky how those details work, eh?

287

Or gypsies or thieves.

288

And Diogenes agreed with it.

Jeez, don’t you people read at all?

Regards,
Shodan

Cite.

289

Sarah Palin brings her 14-year-old daughter to a Yankees game.

That night, David Letterman says (paraphrasing), “Sarah Palin brought her daughter to a Yankees game and A-Rod knocked her up.”

What do you honestly not understand about this? I understand that Letterman, in a rather half-assed way, tried to explain that the joke was aimed at Palin’s other, 18-year-old child, but Bristol was not at the game!

Even Letterman admits that the joke was in bad taste and that he “probably” regrets saying it. NOW has placed Letterman in their “Hall of Shame” (whatever the hell that is). The irrational, drooling Palin-haters have quickly become the minority in this little story; most reasonable people can totally understand a mother coming to the defense of her child, but the liberal moonbats will defend to the death even the ugliest attack on a child, as long as she is the daughter of a political Enemy.

I predict another, far more heartfelt apology from Letterman within a few days.

By the way, IIRC Letterman tapes his Friday show on Monday or Tuesday. (Sharp-eyed viewers can tell that his Friday night jokes tend to be non-topical, except in a very general way). That means tonight’s monologue was taped before this whole thing blew up in his face; might be interesting to see if it includes any jokes about Palin.

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[Pepe Le Peu] Ahhhh, mon Cher…[/PLP]

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Do you consider Barack Obama, who says he’s trying to quit smoking, a “hypocrite” for advising children to not take up cigarettes? I certainly wouldn’t.

292

And has been explained many times (including my previous post), the joke makes no sense unless he was talking about Bristol–and if the game was the same day as the monologue (which is actually filmed much earlier in the day), there might not have even been a way for them to know who did and didn’t go.

It was a mistake, a flub, bad fact-checking and bad taste. But it wasn’t what she claimed it was–a deliberate attack involving sexual innuendo of a minor–and I’d be willing to bet that 99.9% of the people who saw the joke, in the studio audience and at home, had no idea Willow was the only daughter present until Palin blew up about it (I’d even be willing to bet nobody remember she had a daughter named Willow; Bristol’s the only one that has any name recognition…until now).

A smart politician would’ve STFU, let the facts emerge on their own, and let whatever controversy happen without self-righteously stirring the pot or persistently dragging their two underage daughters’ names through such irrelevant, ugly subject matter.

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Absolutely! Except for the Cheney part.

294

I love watching you not understand this. Almost any other poster, I’d think you were being deliberately disingenous out of political bias, but you seem to come by your stupidity honestly. I think that’s really tremendous. Keep up the good work.

295

It would’ve been the easiest thing in the world for Letterman to simply name her as the target of the “joke,” yes? I don’t know. Somehow I get the feeling that this entire incident is about far more than the 4-year difference between Sarah Palin’s daughters. I think that it finally demonstrates just how far the Palin Derangement Syndrome has advanced across the moonbat community in this country. This irrational hatred for Sarah Palin and her family must come from somewhere, I guess. Obama’s wife and kids are certainly off-limits, as they certainly should be. Why not the same respect for the Palins?

296

Where’s A-Rod in all this? Anybody shocked, sickened, and throwing conniptions about him being called a baby-fucker? Admittedly, he porked Madonna, so his good sense is under some suspicion, but still…

And how does he put up with a nickname like “A-Rod”? I mean, I know I have a mind quick to the sniggering innuendo, but I also know I’m not the only one. Not on these Boards, that’s for sure and for certain…

297

Even Letterman admits that there was confusion about the “joke.” He explained during his rambling non-apology that the joke was aimed at Bristol and not Willow. He seems to understand that many reasonable people honestly misinterpreted his nasty comments about Palin’s daughter. He admits it was in “bad taste.”

So I guess I’m not alone in “misunderstanding” the “joke,” huh?

For the record, I “get” that Letterman was honestly attempting to make a rude comment about Sarah Palin’s other daughter, Bristol. I get that. But the bottom line is this: ** Palin took her 14-year-old daughter to a Yankees game, and Letterman said that, during the game, A-Rod knocked the girl up**. You really can’t get around this fact. Nice try, though. Thanks for playing.

298

At this point, I’m actually embarassed for Sarah Palin. This is the best she can do to milk media time as a governor, former VP candidate and potential federal office candidate? Try to go tit-for-tat with a comedian?

She’s reminding me of Dan Quayle and his crusade against Murphy Brown.

299

A-Rod is too busy losing every single game this season (so far) to the Red Sox.

And he’s likely smart enough to not get involved.

But just to speculate, how devastating to Letterman would it be for A-Rod to issue a statement saying something along the lines of ‘I was very offended and disappointed that David Letterman, a man I have long admired and been a fan of, would so casually imply that I would even consider having sexual relations with young girls, be they 14 or 18’? Ouch!

300

Do you mean to ask why Obamas are afforded more respect, or whether or not they deserve it?

Sarah Palin made herself a national joke, and Obama made himself President. Shall we start there?