The World Beyond BetterMost > Women Today
Making sexist (and classist) jokes about conservative women
mariez:
Thanks, Katherine. Those are both very well-written blog entries. I think it was Cher who once went on Letterman's show and called him an a**hole, and I wouldn't disagree with that. But a pedophile or someone who condones pedophilia? Um, no.
--- Quote ---But, of course, she couldn't possibly quit while she was ahead.
--- End quote ---
Of course not. And so it goes ....
louisev:
I absolutely agree, Katherine. I watched Letterman's 7 minute explanation - I dont think it was ever meant as an apology, nor do I think he called it an apology. It was more of a clarifying reply and of course, an effort to keep digging at it. Letterman is not a newsman, he's not a journalist. He's a comedian. And as he said - repeatedly - tasteless jokes are his stock in trade. And he doesn't deny the tastelessness of any of his Palin jokes. But if Palin thinks that Dave Letterman keeps a list of which daughters she brought to the ballgame and which ages they all are to make certain there isn't some inadvertent implication that he was joking about her 14 year old and not her adult daughter (after all, the entire joke hinged on the fact that Bristol was already, in fact, an adult, and already "knocked up" and that was the entire point of the joke in the first place - so CLEARLY he was talking about Bristol whether or not in actual fact she was the one accompanying Palin to the ball game.) That is carrying the thing to levels of umbrage reserved only for those who are trying to make the entire thing about themselves.
And something tells me Letterman did it to flush her out. He was determined to keep the focus on so that Palin would come out, sixguns blazing and overreact, thus making his point better. It is hard to play straight man to Letterman, since he was joking to begin with. It does remind me a lot of Joe Scarborough's reaction to Jon Stewart's segments about the "Morning Joe" show getting Starbucks endorsements. Scarborough called Stewart "a very angry little man with a Napoleonic complex" thus opening the door to Stewart raising the ante and doing a sketch piece with a Napoleon outfit, a French accent suitable for Monty Python, and a very small white pony. Clearly, Joe Scarborough is not going to get Stewart to really take him seriously or get offended by being called "little". He knows how short he is, and he pokes fun at that all the time.
Letterman's laid his cards on the table with his tastelessness. He hasn't been any more tasteless with Sarah Palin than he has been with any other targets of his barbed satire. It's a no-win for Palin, though. And they said liberals were humorless!
delalluvia:
The story had the effect of turning the attention to Letterman at a critical time, during the second week of his new competition with Leno's replacement, Conan O'Brien.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090614/ap_en_ot/us_tv_letterman
louisev:
Letterman is all about the ratings.
And in fact, he should have hit on this schtick earlier, because as SNL showed, Sarah Palin is comedy gold.
ifyoucantfixit:
Well the truth is I do see everyones point here. However, It is an odd thing that the NOW, org. supposed the standard
bearer for women. Never uttered a single syllable when Janet Reno, Hillary Clinton, and former secretaries of state Condoleza Rice and Madalyn Albright were being summarily degraded with worse words and denegrations. Why now, why with Mrs Palin? It seems to me that the right wing of politic, has longer arms, than do the left side. Especially when it comes to controversy.
Remember the Bill Maher incident, and dismissal?
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