Just watched Letterman's Mea Culpa. Disgusting.

[NRaleighLiberal]

Allowing Palin and every other right wing hack to twist this into such crap. Why do we let them always get the upper hand in these things? They can crap all over Chelsea Clinton, Amy Carter, Michael J Fox, any left wing target - and our side tells a joke and it is time to crawl?

Disgusted.

[villager]

1. "our side" always caves to the psychopaths and the bullies --

-and then we wonder how/why everything is all fucked up...

[applegrove]

7. Good people have a hard time finding the muscles to fight psychopaths and bullies.

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. Yes. We continue to be naive, even after repeatedly getting the shit kicked out of us.

[WI_DEM]

54. David Letterman is an entertainer he's not on our side or there side.

[Chulanowa]

2. Because our side has morals

It's a pretty big difference between us and them

[cboy4]

23. No, because we havee a disturbing number of aploogists who feel

the need to suck up no matter what the reason.

It's sad.

[NRaleighLiberal]

27. I completely agree. Nice is one thing...spineless is another.

[spanone]

3. i thought he handled it great. he apologized for the perception of the joke.

[mitchum]

13. Exactly...

he still put the burden of poutrage on Palin and her idiot defenders. Masterfully done.

[glinda]

14. Yes. He apologized for "telling a bad joke". But he covered a lot of ground.

[flvegan]

4. I've never really understood the "I apologize for your perception" thing.

It's like saying, "I'm sorry that you're an idiot."

[mitchum]

16. That is exactly what one is saying...

because that is usually the case.
It is no less sincere than any forced apology.

[GoesTo11]

5. Did he look like he meant it or like he was forced to do this?

I suspect network heads applied a little pressure where it hurts - the wallet.

[Princess Turandot]

9. He owns the show himself along with the Late Late Show..

They have no pressure to put on him.

[lpbk2713]

6. So apologize to them ... then kick their asses in the elections.

WTF is wrong with that?


:shrug:

[obliviously]

8. Now thats the spirit! N/T

[knowbody0]

10. imo, he's taking the high road

giving her enough room to cancel out any gains she's made. good on him.

[babylonsister]

11. I agree. He put it to rest. nt

[glinda]

12. He did the right thing. Now she can go off being the ass that she is.

[babylonsister]

17. He shut her up, or tried to. We shall see. But she's fair game if she

says a word.

[glinda]

46. Oh, she will.

[Kaleva]

19. agree. David did the right thing.

[mullard12ax7]

15. We're a country that lets war criminals walk free and jokes are off limits

A country run by corporate and government propaganda produced by sellouts, sociopaths and criminals isn't about to let a joke go by without severe reprimand. Palin is the queen of the fascists and protocol has been broken, us proles need to learn how to keep our mouths shut and stay in line.

Sad but true.

[magellan]

20. Yep, the Repubs can do what they like

The rest of us are expected to apologize and STFU.

Welcome to DU.

[paulsby]

49. there is no country in the world where some jokes are not off limits

and our country recognizes much broader free speech than european country, or canada, etc.

we, for example, do not criminalize hate speech.

ask bardot about speech rights in france, for example.

sure, this is much ado about nothing, but at least we have the freedom to say what we want free from GOVERNMENT interference.

[doc03]

18. What about Imus? How many times has Andy

Rooney been in trouble for something he has said? This PC bullshit goes way back, remember Jimmy The Greek, his career was ruined too because of one sentence? You can't raise hell and have Imus fired for a stupid remark then expect the right to not jump on Letterman. The whole PC thing has just been carried to far by both sides.

[kskiska]

21. According to the WP, everyone told similar jokes with no complaints

(snip)

Facing enormous criticism for his Palin-daughter joke, Letterman on his show last night apologized to the Palin family, saying it could not "be defended."

Yet similar jokes never drew much objection from Palin's camp until Letterman's gag last week about Palin's daughter getting "knocked up" by baseball player Alex Rodriguez during a visit to a New York Yankees game -- a line Palin suggested was really a reference to her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who attended the game.

On Sept. 2, during the presidential campaign, Leno, for example, told this joke on "The Tonight Show": "Governor Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it."

On Oct. 10, O'Brien, then host of "Late Night," quipped: "Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box."

While the pregnant-daughter theme was most common on late-night shows during the fall campaign, it has never fully disappeared. And Letterman told far fewer of these jokes than some of his late-night brethren.

Through mid-March, Leno had made 15 jokes about the Palin daughter's pregnancy, Stewart had told four on "The Daily Show," and Letterman checked in with eight, according to an analysis of late-night humor by the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with George Mason University.

The comedian most likely to bash Bristol Palin? O'Brien, with 20 jokes at her expense.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/15/AR2009061503131.html?hpid=topnews

[doc03]

24. Letterman gave John McCain a hard time

and Jay Leno was a Republican kiss ass. It's payback.

[marshall]

60. They all probably made it very clear in the joke WHO they were poking fun at

Letterman would have still drawn criticism, but nowhere near as much, had he inserted "18 year old daughter" or "Bristol" into his joke. Then it would be very clear and not vague. Granted it's possible he or his writers don't even know that Palin has more than one daughter, but research on those things should be part of their jobs.

But it's over now, everyone can take a deep breath and move on to the next big thing.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. If the C4Pers and SarahPAC folks

continue their demonstration against Dave, they're going to look mighty silly. I hope they do.

[smalll]

25. The man gaffed. So he apologized for the gaffe. Deal with it.

Or perhaps more exactly to say, his joke-writers gaffed. Sure, he was TRYING to joke about the 18-year-old. Problem is, it was the 14-year-old who was making the trip down to NY with her mom (even if there IS no absolute proof that Willow also went to Yankee Stadium.) When your joke (or comment) makes a mistake like that, it's a gaffe.

We all gaffe in life. Some of us more than others (viz, Michelle Bachman, due to insanity, or Joe Biden, due to a love of talking -- Joe is kind of the monkeys-on-typewriters guy -- you pound away enough, and you'll commit more gaffes than average.) But when you're a public figure, your gaffes matter, if only for a moment.

[NRaleighLiberal]

26. Then why to Republican gaffes tend to go unapologized for? It is the double

standard and apparent weakness (behaviorally) of the left that bother me....I am just sick and tired of right wing assholes winning these fights!

[kath]

29. Right Wing Noise Machine Wins Again.

[baldguy]

44. And the First Amendment dies a little more.

[paulsby]

50. nope

i'm the strongest defender of the 1st i know. and i constantly get in argument here with people who call for oreilly et al to be PROSECUTED for their speech (which is absurd, especially on a website for supposed liberals).

but there is absolutely NOT first amendment issue in the letterman flap whatsoever.

no govt. body is censoring letterman. that's what the first amendment references.

there is absolutely nothing inconsistent with the 1st amendment, in people CRITICIZING and/or support letterman.

our first amendment gives stronger speech protections than europe, or canada, or about any other country.

feel free to discuss comparative law, and i will explain to you how and why.

the 1st amendment is doing just fine.

[baldguy]

51. The First Amendment is an ideal we should all observe & try to emulate.

It's part of our culture. And when in that culture it becomes more difficult to expose lies & hypocrisy and easier to silence honest critics, it makes it easier for the govt to do so also. The First Amendment dies.

[paulsby]

53. rubbish

it is an entirely different thing.

if katie couric starts, during her news broadcast, ranting that "the holocaust is a lie, and jews are evil!" we shouldn't criticize her and call for her firing because it damages the 1st?

get real.

the right to protest other's speech is an essential element OF free speech.

i am against it when it comes to shouting people down (like when a commentator on campus, or at an event isn't allowed to speak due to audience disruption), or physical assault.

but criticism OF speech is an essential element of the 1st amendment.

the 1st amendment does not mean people can say whatever they want w/o criticism. it means quite the opposite.

whether or not somebody is an "honest critic" is of course subjective and prone to ideology.

some on the right would say oreilly et al are "honest critics" and say it with a straight face. it doesn't take away our right to criticize him.

and people have every right to criticize letterman et al and engage THEIR speech

that STRENGTHENS the first amendment, frankly. it's a broader participation. merely accepting uncritically what talking heads on tv says is not what the 1st amendment means.

the 1st amendment protects dissent.

[MadMaddie]

30. This is the Repugs getting back at Letterman because of the

McCain fiasco!!

David told a really bad joke at the expense of the Palin's kids. He admitted it and he apologized. Why is that Repuglicans can say racist and homophobic shit and they get to simply explain it away, or say they are sorry someone was offended and we are supposed to accept it and move on?

Tit for tat.....Palin is an opportunist and she is vindictive. We all know this!

When Palins crowds were shouting racist, taunting and sometimes death threats to Obama she did nothing but egg them on. She never once apologized because she was basking in the euphoria of her racist supporters.

I am going to say this and many women will be upset but every single one of you know a woman like Palin.....she will stab you in the damn back while smiling in your face.

She will use her children as weapons if that is what she has to do to get ahead....she paraded her eldest daughter in front of the nation while she was pregnant.....she implied that the father of the child would marry her daughter when in fact that wasn't going to happen.....what she neglected to say was that the teens were getting it on under her roof. Where the hell was she while this was going on? No media asked this......

If this were Obama's child do you think that he would have been able to stay in the race as President or VP? Don't fool yourselves Palin would have taken this and destroyed Obama for having an unwed black teen.

She doesn't deserve a damn break.

[NRaleighLiberal]

31. I completely agree. We can be nice, but we can't be fools.

And that is how the right wing plays the left. Repeatedly. And successfully. Why can't we learn?

[Lorax7844]

34. damn right MadMaddie

ditto to every word

[EndersDame]

32. Do you think Carlin is rolling in his grave?

It should be expected for comedians to tell offensive jokes about national figures who talk about such humorous things as abstinence only and promise rings.I really don't want to live in a society where one cant make jokes on the off chance that it might offend some one.

[benEzra]

57. Go after the political figures, yes. Keep the kids out of it.

It was disgusting when the Right went after Chelsea Clinton. The fact that one may disagree with Sarah Palin does not make her daughters (or her sons, either) fair game. And I want comedians to stay away from the Obama children also.

This isn't about whose team has more points on the scoreboard; it's about basic human decency. Don't make sexual jokes about kids, regardless of whose household they happen to live in.

[EndersDame]

58. Bristol is an 18 year old who went on National Publicity tours

promoting a humorous and at the same time dangerous topic. I think that any adult who decides to go on National Publicity tours (there by making yourself a public figure) is fair game . I think that when people made jokes about Chelsea hell even the Bush girls was horrible since they didnt try to become national figures they just happened to be kids of presidents

[katanalori]

33. In his defense....

Letterman may realize that he is dealing with a seriously disturbed woman, mentally ill in my opinion. Palin, a drama queen, has these "feuds" constantly: Katie Couric, Levi, McCain, the RNC, the media, her handlers, Trooper Wooten, Walt Monegan - just to name a few. I correspond with people in AK, and several have said they are afraid of her (and her AIP buddies). One said she is the most dangerous person they have ever met.
She wreaks havoc and leaves a trail of bad blood wherever she goes.

[NRaleighLiberal]

35. Sure, she is seriously disturbed. But its time for her to be ignored!

He told the joke, the right went ballistic. Best thing to do would be to just shut up and forget it. I don't think tonight's apology was needed, or a wise thing to do. Palin needs to just GO AWAY.

[colinmom71]

36. You know, I haven't really cared about this truly non-issue....

Of Letterman's joke. Let's face it - he's not the only TV comedian to make a gaffe or two or three concerning Palin's daughter Bristol over the last year. It seemed clear to me that he was referencing Bristol and likely did not know that Palin had actually brought along her younger daughter Willow for her New York trip. He heard Palin in town with daughter and assumed Bristol. Then unfortunately penned the joke under that assumption.

But my take on the joke was actually quite different from what the reaction has since been. If anything, Letterman portrayed that baseball player as a sexual predator! And considering his supposed reputation, I saw it as more a slam against that A Rod more than as a chance to lampoon Bristol Palin.

I do not follow baseball, but I have heard about A Rod (?) in tabloids/gossip web sites about his inability to, umm, "keep it in his pants". I think his name is Alex Rodriguez maybe? Seriously, I only follow figure skating and gymnastics (sometimes), so a lot of popular sports figures outside those two sports are seldom known to me. But I never got the impression that the joke was ever about sexualizing and victimizing an illegally underage teen female...

[bridgit]

37. Yeah, Letterman got caught really flat-footed here which is what surprised me...

With Conan taking over Leno's slot, I think he may have been trying to get all edgy and 'hip it up' but it just hung there like a fart in church. He's got other, you know, other smart people on his staff if I were David I'd have been all,

"Well, you may have heard. But tonight I'd just like to say to Gov. Palin, her family, and her and her husband's children in particular in fact to anyone I may have so offended; that I'm sorry for the joke I delivered the other night, we all know which one it was. Sorry as well for any hurt feelings. And, and - that the ah writer that wrote that clearly so-called joke has been dealt with by my production company: World Wide ah, ah Pants World Wide Pants so the atonement has already begun is my point in fact I think we have a clip ah put up that clip so the Gov, well, you know, better understands the process ah! - there you see? A Fair & Balanced penalty just like FOXnews how can that be wrong?

So if you think telling lousy jokes is tough or that hearing them is offensive you should see what happens when you write them but always remember...

I'm sorry."

[blogslut]

38. Here's my hope

After tonight, Mr. Letterman and all comedians vow to never speak of her again. It is a vain hope, I know, but it is what she deserves. No attention to her from those that make life bearable through humor. Let the media do with her what they will. May the comedians punish her by ignoring her for as long as it takes to relegate her to nothingness.

[Z_I_Peevey]

45. I'll second that!

The greatest punishment to one of "them" is to be ignored. Don't feed the monster.

[DailyGrind51]

39. "The Left's" concern for others sometimes appears as weakness.

[western mass]

40. Lost all respect for Letterman...

and all desire to ever watch him again.

I'll constantly be reminded of the time he became a weak, RW enabler.

[jbnow]

41. David Schuster apologized and got suspended over Chelsea Clinton

comment, remember? Hillary contacted MSNBC and demanded action and one of her letters indicated action taken wasn't enough.

And Schuster didn't actually say it with any sexual context, it just is a word that sounds like it's sexual. (remember "pimped her out?)
Letterman did make a joke about her daughter having sex. Palin has been a wretched idiot about it but it was a stupid joke. He didn't listen to who Palin called "he who must be obeyed" in her snotty comments about this. She never brings up Obama saying her kids should be left alone and that his mom was also a pregnant teenager.

Anyway the joke was in bad taste and worst of all put palin on our TV sets all the time. Apology is good. Leave kids out of jokes, let alone sexual jokes.

palin is far worse than Letterman here. She has been sickening. She has so many things she should be apologizing for but all she does is cast blame

[inna]

63. David Schuster?? the guy who sits for Keith O??

i had no idea it was him who said that thing about Chelsea. not necessarily a sexual connotation, but just a f*cked up and inappropriate thing to say.

if i were Hillary or Chelsea or (especially) Bill, i would've been pissed.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

42. His jokes were fine.

But she made a BFD out of it, so he apologized.

Her outrage is pretty stupid since she dragged her kids into the spotlight.

[baldguy]

43. Letterman is a gentleman who won't compromise his principles.

His business is to entertain people, and unfortunately offending people is unavoidable. When it happens he offers an apology. Sometimes he offers time on his own show for the offended party to confront him & tell him how they feel - which gives him the opportunity to again offer an apology. This is with the objective of smoothing over the problem, making it go away and mostly TO APOLOGIZE and part as friends.

Sarah Plain also won't compromise her principles. But then, she has no principles to compromise. Her business is to gain wealth & fame at any cost. Toward those ends, her children become stage props, she'll attack anyone the RW propaganda corps tells her to, hypocrisy flows in her veins, and when she has the advantage she'll go in for the kill every time. Her objective is to kill & win.

[derby378]

47. So, I guess this means Tina Fey WON'T make a surprise appearance?

:shrug:

[Apollo11]

48. I applaud Letterman's apology

He should have said the same last week already, and put this whole story to bed.

Letterman has accepted responsibility for the offense that he gave (intended or not).

He admitted that the "knocked up" joke that did not specify which daughter he meant "cannot be defended".

Amazingly - some here are still wasting energy trying to defend it.

Letterman has apologised. Gov. Palin has accepted his apology. The story is over.

Those of you who are disgusted by Dave's apology need to take a walk, get some air, calm down and move on.

[conscious evolution]

52. The terrorists win again

What the fuck has happened to our country?

[noamnety]

55. We've successfully used the same tactics against right wingers.

"KRXQ pulls live shows after remarks on transgender teens

It's only temporary, but it looks like they got the message. I'm sure the sponsors backing out had much more to do with what's going on than feeling sorry about what they said."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x136346

I'm sure some people here would consider that infringement on free speech ;) but the reality is people should be pressuring advertisers to stop supporting ANY media person that uses their microphone to promote sexism, racism, or homophobia regardless of party affiliation. DUers tend only to see it as a free speech/censorship issue when the person at fault is on the left. When it's someone on the right, they applaud the effectiveness of boycotts.

[JitterbugPerfume]

56. Dave showed class

and that is something they know nothing about

[mrbarber]

59. And once again:

This joke was about Bristol Palin, and 18 year old adult who is hyporcritical enough to go on speaking tours advocating absitence only.

Bristol Palin is as much fair game as Liz Cheney.

[inna]

61. but it WAS a lousy joke.

i have absolutely no problem with him apologizing for it. :shrug:

[mrbarber]

62. If every late night host had to apologize for bad jokes..

Jimmy Fallon would need to have a 5 hour show every night.

And no, this has nothing to do with the topic at hand and more to do with the fact that I HATE JIMMY FALLON.