The joke was sick, and there is no hypocrisy higher than that coming from those who defend it because they hate Sarah Palin while decrying (rightfully) remarks such as those by Rush Limbaugh that make even mild fun of Chelsea Clinton or the Obama twins.
Weasel. He says that it was the now-18-year-old who did get knocked up, but failed entirely to mention that it was 14-year-old Willow who was visiting NYC with her parents.
That was a classic non-apology apology: "they're just jokes," and "we make mistakes," blah blah blah. Deny deny, excuse excuse.
I didn't think it was possible, but I detest Letterman even more now.
Here's a test: would anyone make such a "joke" about the Obama girls? You can't rationalize this.
I think it's wrong to pick on Trevor Jackson. When Barack goes to a baseball game in New York with his teenage daughter, I bet Letterman will make sex and rape jokes about her. That's all Trevor is saying.
Thanks for the help, Treacle! You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant. But thanks for the clarification, nonetheless.
You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant.
Nice try at defending what normal people find deeply offensive.
Again - is the brain working there trev. . . hellooo - the 14 yr old wasn't having a live in boyfriend. Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree. You just got bitch slapped.
He wasn't just lame; he was lame in a despicable way....His non apology was a more calculated insult than the original jokes. He throws in Todd's name as an afterthought to indicate that Todd is an afterthought. Letterman is not very good at humor, but he excells at disdain....He admits that it is wrong to make a joke about the sexuality of a fourteen year old, but apparently an eighteen year old is fair game. Only someone as backward and stupid as Palin would fail to see this obvious difference and who the obvious target of Letterman's joke was. Letterman has no positive duty to affirm that it was Bristol and not Willow who was at the game. People of good will should recognize that he was ridiculing the eighteen year old, not the fourteen year old. The fact that they don't just goes to show how mean spirited and stupid they are....It's a shame that good ole Dave has to put up with this kind of abuse. The only possible way she can make amends is to come on his show and give him monster ratings so they can straighten out this silly misunderstanding. And leave Todd home so he can show her what cutting edge humor really feels like deep down inside.
Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree. You just got bitch slapped..
You don't get it. Progressive thinking types like Trevor think that an 18 year old girl of a conservative pol who gets pregnant is perfectly fair game for public riducule. I mean she got pregnant by her live in boyfried so that's easy to stretch it to her being an open orifice to A-Rod.
Happy to help, Trevor. Again - everyone leave Trevor alone! She's just saying what's on her mind.
And I agree with you too, Trevor: Letterman was really making a joke about the Palins' parenting skills. So when he talked about a 14 year old getting fucked by ARod, he really was just having an ironic go at her older teenage sister.
I don't see why this isn't clear to everyone else here.
Why all this anti-Letterman hysterial? All he did was make a joke that ARod fucked the Palin daughter who went to the baseball game with her mom. It's a little "edgy" and "out there", but the audience laughed. They get it! I get it! Even Trevor gets it! We've come to a pretty poor pass when a 62 year old man can't joke on broadcast tv about a 14 year old girl getting fucked.
"Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree."
What my "type" is trying to do is explain how a joke--one that I'm not defending, not saying I agree with, not reveling in, not repeating, not rationalizing, but explaining--came to be, as a means of dispensing with the idea that the joke is some sort of political attack on behalf of Obama or that, were he subject to similar foibles as Palin and her family, would not produce similar results.
I'm not sure how understanding context and its implications in an honest way is "pars(ing) to the nth degree." And again, let's be clear, my efforts are not a defense or a rationalization of the joke.
Telling me I've just been "bitch slapped" (ironic, much?) doesn't necessarily make it so. But keep trying, eventually my hand might scratch my cheek.
You've nailed it once again, Trevor. It's not political! We shouldn't have to dig very far to find Letterman's jokes about the teenage Chelsea. And, happily, the oldest Obama girl is 11, so only 3 years before she's fair game too! Trevor - who do you think Letterman will say knocked her up?
What my "type" is trying to do is ... dispensing with the idea that the joke is some sort of political attack on behalf of Obama or that, were he subject to similar foibles as Palin and her family, would not produce similar results..
But keep trying, eventually my hand might scratch my cheek.
Okay Trevor - take a shot here:
Why are you using this occasion to shit on Palin rather than just agree with all of us that Letterman's joke - no matter who it would be about - is defenseless and beyond the pale.
The references to Obama and Chelsea are comments on the the hypocrisy already all over left wing blogs and media. They fired the first shot. You can't change that hypocrisy of others - but you can make a stand that there is no justification for it. When you choose to parse the joke, you're not defending Obama or Clinton, you're joining the hypocrites of the left who divide the world between good people and the ones they decide are bad, and then never give a break to the "bads" no matter what.
Fallacy, daredevil! Letterman never said "rape". And, as he said last night, he never makes jokes like that.
All he meant was that it was funny (and, as Trevor points out - it's a sign of poor parenting, which is also funny) that the 14 year old Palin daughter had CONSENSUAL sex with a 35 year old man. That's all.
While the joke was in poor taste, I can't imagine what the GOP or its blogosphere fans think they're accomplishing by making a stink about it. Letterman is not a political figure, he's a burned-out comedian desperate to fill time. He fucked up. End of story.
Conan O'Brien made a much funnier joke about Wisconsin the other day and I saw at least a couple conservative bloggers go off on that too. I don't get it. Conan O'Brien and David Letterman are not where the GOP's problems are. These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them.
treacle, spin it anyway you like but its rolling down hill fast on Dave. The 62 year old pervert vs the 14 year old angle is being exploited, with CBS ad boycotts and the whole nine yards. Maybe another attempt at a sincere apology might stem it. But yeah, this will wind up with a healthy donation to a rape center of Dave's choice, just watch.
Pogo, it is amazing how much older he is looking. I mean, we all age. But wow.
I said this before, but I'll repeat it. I don't understand how people could think the joke was about Willow, not Bristol. Sure, Willow was the one in NYC (and who knew that?), but Bristol is the one who is out there in front of the cameras all the time, so it is she that a 'joke'-writer is going to reference when writing about Palin's daughter. If you don't want to be fodder for late-night jokesters, don't seek out publicity.
As for Obama's daughters, they appear to be living fairly quiet lives. It's hard to make fun of someone if the audience has to think about who you are roasting, or worse, if you have to explain to them who you are roasting. Put another way, neither Obama girl has any really defining characteristic that you can riff off -- other than their parents. Bristol Palin, on the other hand, does.
Letterman is laughing all the way to the bank on this.
These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them..
John I think Sarah Palin would have easily ignored the stupid jokes made about her. She's a pol and has pretty thick skin. But it wasn't about her it was about her kid. Had someone made that kind of crack about my daughter I'd kick his fucking teeth in I don't care if she is 18 or 38.
Another point I would make is this is yet another flare up in the ongoing cultural war between the left and right of this country. We could all at one point agree 14 year old girls were off limits, but I guess that time has passed. That the left is now declaring that family's from the right are a regrettable casuality to this type of warfare, that is duly noted. Just don't come crying when one of your tribe get the odd drop of urine in their face.
You're right, MadisonMan! Bristol chose to be a public figure back in the summer of 2008, so Willow is fair game for LEtterman's "getting fucked by older guys" jokes.
Why are the Palins making such a big fuss about this anyway? Cool parents don't care that tv stars make jokes about their kids getting fucked by old guys.
I, too, am glad that the Obama girls (like Willow Palin) are living quiet lives - stopping traffic in London and all.
You know, I think the real culprit here is Bristol Palin. If she hadn't come out herself and made such a big deal out of getting pregnant last summer, then David Letterman wouldn't have to make jokes about her younger teenage sister getting fucked by an older man.
"When one of Obama's daughters gets knocked up by her live-in boyfriend, ask me again."
Not gonna happen - Michelle will ensure that it is aborted - and if it survives that, the Dr will snuff it for her.
On the other hand, what about Ashley Biden's coke habit - some great parenting there, Sheriff Joe! Or how about Samson Obama, the dirty uncle who could not attend the inauguration due to a charge of sex assault on a minor? How about George Obama, who lives in a shack on $1 / day - some Christian Obama is if he can't even help his brother out - but I guess he has helped out his illegal alien, welfare scamming aunt Zetuni?
That's not fair, HoldFast. They didn't get to go to a ballgame in New York with Sarah Palin. When they do, though, you can be sure there will be no favoritism! I bet Letterman will make jokes about how they get raped too after they go to a ballgame with Sarah Palin.
blame the victim treacle. If that Palin bitch had kept her slutty mouth shut her family would not have become a target. I wonder what Willow was wearing at the ball game?
Nice try Treacle. You fail to grasp who the joke is about.
If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now.
Bristol is the one who is out there in front of the cameras all the time, so it is she that a 'joke'-writer is going to reference when writing about Palin's daughter. If you don't want to be fodder for late-night jokesters, don't seek out publicity..
You're right Madison Man. Bristol is out there telling other girls her age not to make the same mistake she did which of course opens her up to being knocked up by A-Rod jokes.
I mean that's the same as Brittany showing her twat to the world and Lindsey Lohan upchucking on the sidewalk.
It doesn't matter what she was wearing at the ballgame, DareDevil. All that matters is that Willow was AT the ballgame and her sister got pregnant. And that's why it's o.k. to make fun of Willow. David Letterman understands this.
You're right, MadisonMan. Letterman never said "Bristol". Instead, he talked about the daughter who was with Sarah Palin at the game. So that was Willow. And it doesn't even matter because it's still funny for him to joke about them getting fucked by an older man - whichever one.
Hoosier, it does mean her Name is in people's minds, and with it the association with sex before marriage, so it's an easy joke to link to A-Rod, who apparently goes after anyone.
boy the liberals are back peddiling on this as fast as they can. I guess making rape jokes about politician's daughters may actually be off limits after all. The joke was really aimed at A-rod, thanks for clearing that up madisonman
MadisonMan has nailed it once again! See, Dick Cheney shot his friend a while back. So when they make fun about the guy who shot the guy at the Holocaust museum, we all understand what they will mean: the old white guy shooter is Dick Cheney! So in that sense, it doesn't matter who ARod was fucking. They're all the same - these Palin girls. They're fungible and not unique and separate people like Sasha and Malia. So we should proceed with that understanding in mind.
Hoosier, it does mean her Name is in people's minds, and with it the association with sex before marriage, so it's an easy joke to link to A-Rod, who apparently goes after anyone.
Yes that is obvious. I guess where we part company is that an 18 year old kid whose publicity seeking is encouraging her peers not to get knocked up is justifcation to be made the butt of an ugly joke.
I'm far from being a prude but I do have some standards. Evidently Letterman and a lot of his fans don't.
I don't watch Letterman. Never have and see no reason to start now.
That said, I choose to exercise my freedom of speech to say that in my opinion Letterman is an asshole, as is anyone who thinks his "jokes" about a 14 year old girl are funny.
An interesting thing about freedom of speech is that it works both ways. Letterman can say what he wants. I can say what I want about him, just as you can say what you want about me.
Bristol's boyfriend did not move into the Palins's home until after she became pregnant and they were "engaged".
It was Willow Palin--- who has never appeared on tv talking about anything to do with sex or abstinence ---who was at the ballgame with her mother and her young autistic cousin. Sarah Palin was in NY for a fundraiser for autism.
Letterman's joke was clearly aimed at the 14 year old. That is what made the joke so "edgy", so daring and that is why any decent person is upSET with Letterman today.
I don't think Letterman was talking about Willow (even though she was the one attending the ball game with Gov. Palin).
Just disappointed that's what counts for humor on Letterman's show. I'm actually more offended by Dave saying that the Governor has a "slutty flight attendant look." (Could you ever picture him saying the same about her look-alike, Tina Fey?) Is that really any different than calling someone a slut?
If I were the governor, I would be booking an appearance on Conan within the month....and let the ratings tell the story.
dear, simple Martha. Why can't you understand what people like me, Trevor Jackson and MadisonMan get? It doesn't matter that Willow (and not Bristol) was the one at the game, and it doesn't matter that Letterman's joke talked about the one at the game. Her mother is Sarah Palin and her sister got pregnant, so it's o.k. to make jokes about Willow getting it on with ARod.
I am no big fan of Sarah Palin (this will shock no one). I ask myself what I would do if it were my daughter who was the Butt of the joke. I think I'd want the spotlight to move away from my kid, so I'd be saying as little as possible. I think. What is gained by replying to people who want a reaction to a joke in very bad taste?
So the big cynic in me wonders why the Palins are approaching this in the way they are. I think by showing such umbrage they are playing to part of the Sarah Palin base, that is, the Us-Against-the-Establishment part of it. (Read Establishment to be East Coast liberals as typified by fornicator David Letterman). I can understand that approach -- is it smart politics? I'm not sure. Are they using the lampooning of their daughter to do this? Is that exploiting their daughter (again, I would add)?
Not that my opinion should mean anything to the Palins, but their parenting skills have always struck me as so far from what I've seen to be successful in others that I wonder about them. Of course, one never really knows what's happening in anyone's house, and this could all be a by-product of skewed reporting, or bad data-gathering on my part, but it does make me wonder.
But it wasn't about her it was about her kid. Had someone made that kind of crack about my daughter I'd kick his fucking teeth in I don't care if she is 18 or 38....
Sure. So would I. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is this public display and politicization, and comparisons between how many jokes have Republican targets vs. Democratic targets.
If Sarah or Todd Palin had called up Letterman privately and said, "Apologize or I'm going to kick your teeth in," I would have applauded her. It didn't need to become a political thing. The way they've handled it has, if anything, compounded the embarrassment for her daughters.
I think the jokesters are really furious with Sarah Palin because she brought to term a baby with Down's Syndrome. The jokesters are really furious because 17 year old Bristol Palin did not abort her illegitimate baby. How un-PC! The teenage premarital sex aspect of Bristol's story....that the "jokesters" would approve of. A-Rod impregnating a 14 year old during the 7th inning stretch---jokesters find that titillating.
@ John Stoddard: "These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them."
John. This behaviour is part of a very very ugly pattern from the Democrats and their shills in the media. It is not just this ONE joke, this ONE time. It is a malicious and deliberate pattern of trying to destroy the person(s) that they have deemed to be their enemies.
Palin is percieved as a threat. Rather than confront the issues, her policitcal views or anything else in a civilized adult manner, they make fun of her and her family, denigrate and try to destroy through character assasination and lies.
Sure. She and we can sit back, turn the other cheek and play nicey nice, but why should we? There is nothing to gain by that and everything to lose.
Instead. Palin and everyone else who values decency, decorum and fair play should be on this type of behaviour by ANYONE, even a washed up unfunny comedian, like put bulls on a thief in your house.
When people like Letterman and the suck ups in at MSNBC ABC NBC CNN etc denegrate young girls for no other reason than to try to protect their own political hacks and to attempt to destroy a middle American family....they attack us all.
That is why we are incensed. The pattern has to stop. The Palin family, Todd and Sarah, should take this insult to the mat and never back down. Personally I'd like to see the father, Todd, beat the crap out of Letterman.
In Letterman's almost defense, my guess is that he didn't think it through, and just assumed that it was the Palin daughter who had gotten pregnant last year. And, he kinda admitted that he intended the joke to be about Bristol, and not Willow.
Of course, the fact that a young woman made a mistake at 17 (probably assuming that her boyfriend was as serious about getting married as he sounded), doesn't even justify the joke if it had been about the older daughter.
But David should have fessed up, and apologized. It would have done his ratings good - as there are a lot of people right now who will probably never watch him again because of this. But he is in his own liberal dominated bubble, and doesn't see either the harm, nor why the big fuss, and so doesn't really apologize when he should.
One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.
If so, then the joke is not aimed at either of the older Palin daughters. The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
One can dispute the underlying factual allegations and still recognize: (1) the express embarrassment is that of Gov. Palin thus she is the main protagonist; (2) the daughter is not named and is identified only by her general class as it relates to Gov. Palin; (3) the passive voice is used to describe what the context allows is an active and consensual participation; and (4) the other participant (Rodriguez) is identified expressly, thus giving a focal point away from the daughter and thereby emphasizing the tradition view that it is the male who is at fault and who must take responsibility.
To say the joke is chiefly about an underage girl being raped is to force to prominence that which the writers attempted to obscure by extenuation.
I think the worst that can be said is that the joke treats an underage girl's sexual virtue as trivial collateral damage.
Another good point, MadisonMan. If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't say anything because David Letterman's audience is pretty small and that joke wasn't going to get out. And anyway, she's 14 and probably needs to learn to handle herself. If Mom and Dad express public outrage every time David Letterman jokes that she got fucked by ARod, when will she learn to defend herself.
When I grew up, people used to say about their families "I can kick my dog, but you can't kick my dog." I like your approach much better: "anyone can kick my dog".
Bissage - you're missing the point as usual. Letterman is saying she has no sexual virture. She's bereft of sexual virtue. If you went into her cupboard and looked in the cannister labeled "sexual virtue", it would be empty. And how do we know? Because her older teenage sister got pregnant. Consequently, Willow is fair game.
... and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
So you're saying that Sarah Palin pimped, in the broader sense of the word, her daughter Bristol to Levi? That seems to be the only logical way you can compare 'imposing traditional values' with 'raising her daughter as a whore'.
Sarah Palin responded Thursday morning to Dave's invitation to appear on his show in a statement to Foxnews.com: ""The Palins have no intention of providing a rating's boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show," the statement read. "Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."
Excellent!!!! Give it back. That's the only language liberals understand.
This episode - John Stodder - began with liberals bringing it up, not conservatives. They throw their hateful shit and expect decent people like you to just bend over and say "well, we're above that". They count on it.
This issue is cut and dried and buried - whatever the "intent" - Letterman fucked the pooch when he used the daughter at the game part of the illustration. He should grow a pair - is that possible for liberals? - and man up and just say that it could have been done better and possibly even humorously.
The best part is this shows the dividing line between people who are actually decent human beings and those who can't find decency and integrity if you opened the dictionary pages and showed them. You either are offended at the poor attempted joke no matter what your politics, or you're not a decent human being at all. Case closed.
If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't say anything because David Letterman's audience is pretty small and that joke wasn't going to get out.
If it were MY daughter and tasteless comments like these were said in front of even ONE person, I would certainly not just roll over and let it go. That person would be confronted by myself or my husband and probably both of us at the same time to demand an IMMEDIATE apology and retraction.
I would also let everyone know just what kind of scum that the person is who would make comments about my daughter or comments about myself. It would become my mission in life to get retribution.
What kind of a family doesn't defend each other's honor and defend themselves against the rest of the world?
I would also let everyone know just what kind of scum that the person is who would make comments about my daughter or comments about myself. It would become my mission in life to get retribution.
What kind of a family doesn't defend each other's honor and defend themselves against the rest of the world?
Conservatives. Bend over. Spread wide. It's the liberal mentality (it's called "hate").
Arod and Rachel Maddow were caught in a "compromising situation" last night when police responded to a call about screaming and "Yes, Yes, Yes!" sunds were heard coming from a Red Lincoln Navigator parked by the Hudson River F . . "
DBQ, I think there's a fine line to walk along between trying to defend your daughter and going overboard and exposing your daughter to even more inspection. What teen wants the spotlight? MO is that the Palins are too far on the generating more inspection side of things at the moment, and I wonder why.
This is, however, a great learning opportunity for Willow -- another one -- about the world. As a middle child, though, Willow's already gonna be plenty astute about things (That's what my brothers tell me about middle children)
MadisonMan - I have to say that you, like ARod on Palin teen, nailed it. The parents are over the top. The Letterman joke was pretty widely publicized the next morning before we heard a reaction from Sarah Palin. So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them. It will be a good learning opportunity for your 14 old daughter. Next time someone jokes about you getting fucked by an old man, just laugh it off like you'd laugh off a "C" on a quiz. And don't go running to Mom and Dad again. The best way they can defend you is by not defending you.
You know, mocking people that fall - that live below their own hopes and heart-felt desires for themselves –is such a blast. What a complete laugh.
Hey Dave - next time you see someone stumble on a curb in NYC, you should run over an kick them in the face. Wouldn’t that be huge? That would be such a howler.
Oh, here's a good one: let's make fun of the father of a family being weak and cheating on his wife, and how hilarious it is that the family split up! He shattered the trust of his companion and left his kids feeling betrayed and vulnerable to the harsh world. OMG, what a riot!
Dave, isn't other people's pain so funny?!?!
Given how people struggle, you could milk these things forever, I’ll bet. You could probably make millions on the backs of the weak!
Want to shift attention a bit from Letterman to CBS more generally?
It turns out that, even though Letterman's comment is on video for everyone to see, CBS had it removed from the official transcript that they give to people in the print media.
Ye gads, EKatz. That paints a whole different picture! So Letterman knew that some people might be upset, and he proactively corrected the transcript so that those with weaker sensibilities would not read what was obviously intended to be a joke about a 14 year old girl having sex with a thirtysomething man. In other words, Letterman offered an implicit preemptive apology! Sarah Palin should have recognized that as such and, as MadisonMan pointed out, said nothing. After all, once we all read the transcript from the show, we would understand that his joke was never intended to be heard by us anyway.
After all, once we all read the transcript from the show, we would understand that his joke was never intended to be heard by us anyway.
Yes, that's it!
It was a mere oversight that the joke survived the final edit.
The entire Letterman show staff was busy feeding the poor in a neighborhood soup kitchen from the 6:00 PM show finish to the 11:35 PM broadcast, and someone forgot to edit out the ambiguity on which teenage daughter Letterman was sliming.
Just shut up now. You've displayed over and over that your ignorance knows practically no bounds, so why go through it again?
Just because you've "never heard her name" means less than nothing. You've never heard of a lot of things like: World History 101, logical thinking, intellectual honesty, and the list goes on.
Go back and tell Axelrod that your Astroturfing mission has failed, and that you need to move on to a different blog.
And here comes Jeremy! You know what, Jeremy? You're right. Letterman never said the name of the Palin girl; he only mentioned the Palin daughter who was at the game with her mom. And he never said "rape". Consequently, as I noted above, what he meant was that ARod had consensual sex with the Palin daughter who was at the game, i.e., the 14 year old daughter.
.....aaaaaand with the appearance of that troll, that denizen of the deep, that lucky old son from some squat-n-pee community college in bankrupt California, it is time to call the thread dead dead dead.
"The entire Letterman show staff was busy feeding the poor in a neighborhood soup kitchen from the 6:00 PM show finish to the 11:35 PM broadcast..."
Well yeah, which is why Dave wanted to reward their hard work by delivering the most tasteful joke he could find, one that would make them proud of their old boss.
I wonder if CBS, now that they've taken it out of the transcript, will also ask youtube to remove the clips with that "joke"?
that lucky old son from some squat-n-pee community college in bankrupt California.
Hey now! Sarah Palin attended two community colleges of the 5 she attended in 5 yrs. North Idaho Community College and Matanuska- Susitna Community College. Rather elitist statement don't ya think Pogo?
Is there some reason we should care what David Letterman is saying? Is this "Has-Beens of the 80s Week" and nobody told me? Could we get a comment from Yakov Smirinov?
While you're whining about a comedian's comments about Princess Sarah's kid...you can always count on your GOP to be on the wrong side of an argument:
Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton are now thrusting themselves into the raging fight over the White House’s request for Congressional cash for the International Monetary Fund, demanding in a letter that GOP leaders back the funding or put our security at risk.
In the letter, Gates, Clinton and a third signatory, National Security Adviser James Jones, say the IMF plays a key role in reducing the “security risks” the crisis “poses to our nation and the world.” The crisis, it says, risks destabilizing foreign economies, producing “unforeseeable reactions.”
It adds:
Financial hardships and poverty breed desperation, which helps terrorist networks to attract new recruits with messages of hate, violence and intolerance. IMF financing reduces this threat by reducing economic instability in vulnerable states.
Just as long as you remember that whatever type of sexual activity that Jeremy engages in - even when it's with young girls and boys - is not rape...It's love...Because rape is such an ugly word when you describe the relationship between lonely men fixated on their penises and the underage children they "love"...Jeremy would never use the word rape, so neither should you.
Financial hardships and poverty breed desperation, which helps terrorist networks to attract new recruits with messages of hate, violence and intolerance. IMF financing reduces this threat by reducing economic instability in vulnerable states.
This may or may not be so, but one thing is certain: when the U.S. starts paying money on this theory, it will immediatly become true.
craig said..."A 35-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl is a rapist under the laws of most states, and New York probably among them. QED."
He never mentioned the 14-year old and never said "rape." (In NY and other states, if consensual, it would be referred to as "statuary"...so if you're a lawyer, you must not be a very good one.)
You and others are just trying to take the focus off Princess Sarah's nose dive in the polling (she wasn't even mentioned in the latest Republicans poll).
Letterman apologized and this story will be long gone in a matter of days...but, you know what?
OBAMA WILL STILL BE PRESIDENT!!!
And, Jim...are you volunteering to suck my dick? Pogo and Daredevil already put in their bid so you might have to hold off.
*Oh, and as for this poor guy who works at a community college somewhere or as some say, in Santa Monica...I'm not him, never have been, own a business in an entirely different industry, and have no idea where this came from or why anybody thinks they know who I am.
Wow - I guess when the Dems were in opposition they didn't care so much about our security - when John F'n Kerry publicly dissed our allies in war and San Fran Nan went to suck, I mean succor Al Assad (Logan Act anyone?)?
... and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
So, having a baby out of wedlock makes a woman a whore? Remind me, how old was Letterman's son when he finally got around to marrying the boy's mother? Oh, and I wonder what Obama thinks about Letterman calling his mother a whore.
The parents are over the top. The Letterman joke was pretty widely publicized the next morning before we heard a reaction from Sarah Palin. So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them.
Funny how Republicans are supposed to lay back and take whatever crap assholes like Letterman dish out.
So Letterman is apparently helping sustain a certain trend in late night comedy programs when it comes to the Palin family. And now he can say - "hey, at least I wasn't joking about incestuous rape!"
holdfast said..."Letterman was talking about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium with her daughter. That daughter is 14 years old. Jeremy endorses endorsing stat rape."
Oh, you know that's a stupid thing to say.
Oh, wait...for a minute there, I forgot who I was dealing with.
My bad.
Are you joining Pogo, Jim, Daredevil and the others in the suck-my-dick-fest?
Quayle (you're not Dan are you?) "...when the U.S. starts paying money on this theory, it will immediatly become true."
Remember this guy?
President Reagan, calling the International Monetary Fund the ''linchpin of the international financial system,'' urged Congress today to back a large increase in the resources of the lending institution to prevent an ''economic nightmare that could plague generations to come.''
hillary's 18 million cracks in the ceiling will never be shattered as long as we have these old white men (limbaugh, imus and now letterman) continually make cracks about women of all ages.
Jeremy doesn't endorse statutory rape because he doesn't use the word. And if you don't use the word statutory, then it's not rape according to Jeremy. So you see, in Jeremy's world, there is no such thing as statutory rape.
Therefore, Jeremy is free to have sex with all the little girls and boys that he wants. He jokes with Letterman all the time about how funny it would be if someone like A-Rod would join him in his sexual "adventures on young side" as he likes to call them.
That's probably where the misunderstanding between Palin and Letterman arose: A-Rod and Letterman were talking about Jeremy, wires got crossed, one thing led to another, and..well..you can see how things got confused.
Just remember the Jeremy's Theorem of Loving the Little Ones:
1) It's not rape if you don't use the word. 2) Statutory rape isn't rape if you don't use the word statutory. 3) Since you can't use the word rape, there is no such thing as statutory rape.
She's still waiting to find out which gender Jeremy is, so she didn't know which one to pick. That information will be arriving at her door as soon as the identity of Jeremy's father is uncovered. I hear that OJ Simpson will be looking for it as soon as he finds "the real killer."
also, may i remind everyone of what hillary said after shuster's "pimped out" remark on chelsea: ------------------- “I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” Clinton told reporters in this snowy town outside Bangor. Earlier, she sent a letter to NBC brass that called for swift action against Shuster, who was suspended Friday by MSNBC.
“Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient,” Clinton wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus, who apparently had already called Clinton to personally apologize.
“I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language,” Clinton wrote. ---------------- i don't see how palin and todd or any parent's remarks could be over the top or unwarranted.
You see that in Jeremy's world, parents protesting his "special time" with their young ones is offensive. After all, freed from those pesky things like decency and any sense of humanity whatsoever, it is terribly inconvenient to deal with the righteous anger of parents who feel that their underage child's sexuality shouldn't be the playthings of moral degenerates like Letterman and his fellating sycophant Jeremy.
So you'll have to forgive Jeremy his confusion at the whole kerfuffle. He just doesn't see why someone should have a problem with talking about an activity that he fantasizes about each day as he waits outside elementary schools with his bag full of lollipops.
I was hoping Todd Palin would have given the old 1950s-era response, If I see Mr. Letterman in person, he's gonna get a sock in the nose..
What would be funny would be a scene of the Palin living room with Todd and Sarah sitting before a roaring fire reading the Anchorage Gazette and over the mantle next to the stuffed elk head would be Letterman's head.
The most pathetic part of this is that Letterman's writers, and he--
are SO out of touch.
They're just showing up and collecting the paycheck, and too lazy to do any research or homework.
Letterman took plenty of shots at Palin during campaign season--and yet, he knows so little about her, that he can't even distinguish from one daughter and the other.
Nor can his writers. In the end, they are left looking like washed-up hacks, who think just inserting any old Palin joke for the viewers, will get a few laughs.
Jim said..."Jeremy doesn't endorse statutory rape because he doesn't use the word. And if you don't use the word statutory, then it's not rape according to Jeremy."
Jimmy, you need to learn how to communicate with out lying.
I never said anything of the kind, and you know it.
What I find most bizarre is why you, or anybody for that matter, would care what a late night TV host has to say about anything.
Why would something this trivial, so completely irrelevant make you clowns come out of the woodwork with such a vengeance? (I understand Fox News, Rush, Hannity and other wingnut talking heads, but why a bunch of yahoos on a law professor's blog site?)
And if you're soooooooo upset by this, and considering Rush Limbaugh has said many things that are at least as unsavory, about all kinds of nice people, yet you relish and celebrate damn near every word.
Why would something this trivial, so completely irrelevant make you clowns come out of the woodwork with such a vengeance?
Okay, Jeremy. I'll have a real discussion with you. Here goes. Conservatives didn't start this. The lefty blogs began with numerous anti-Palin comments before conservatives jumped on it as an excuse to bash Palin.
So this is a reaction to that my friend.
But far more importantly - whether someone likes, loves, hates or is indifferent to Palin and family, any decent human being no matter their political stripe should agree that the joke was tasteless at best and mean-spirited and thoughtless. It doesn't matter what Letterman MEANT to say - he failed miserably and should have the balls to apologize for it.
considering Rush Limbaugh has said many things that are at least as unsavory, about all kinds of nice people, yet you relish and celebrate damn near every word.
Wrong again. I have personally criticized Rush Limbaugh dozens of times. Sometimes he's right and sometimes he's wrong. Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for me - I speak for me. And that probably goes pretty much for most conservatives/libertarians here, but I'll let them speak for themselves. Unlike most lefties I know, I don't make up my mind by just reading the talking points of Keith Olbermann and Josh Marshall and then go looking for someone to piss off. I want all sides.
So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them. It will be a good learning opportunity for your 14 old daughter
So the learning opportunity is that when people make unfounded, rude, nasty, insults about you, on national television or anyplace esle... you should just roll over and take it? How many times are you going to teach your child to allow themselves to be a punching bag? To be a doormat for people who aren't worth wiping your own feet upon? Teach your children to be wimps and losers?
Sorry... a good parent sets the example that you can't be a push-over and that you, the parent,will go to the mat to defend yourself, your children and your family and that you expect your children to do the same.
They, the Palins, didn't ASK to be the butt of a bunch of sleazy jokes or to be pilloried by people in the media who haven't got the moral fiber to say these things to their faces.
Because Sarah Palin is in the public as a political figure, it is understandable and proper to take exception to her political viewpoints and to make your attacks in that quarter.
However, to attack her children, her husband, their personal characters, calling personal names like slutty trailer trash, wishing rape on Sarah Palin and making sexual innuendos about her minor children,criticising her decision to keep her youngest child instead of aborting and so on and so on....This kind of dirt and sleeze is completly unacceptable.
A good parent teaches their children to stand up for themselves, to stand up for others, to be brave and to not compromise on their principles.
A good parent doesn't teach their children to be door mats for ANYBODY even if it means that you are putting yourself into an uncomfortable situation.
I feel awful for this Jeremy guy. All he's doing is stating the following facts:
1. Letterman never said "Willow Palin". All he did was talk about the Palin daughter who was with Sarah at the ballgame. So that's Willow Palin.
2. Letterman never said "rape". He said "knocked up". And we all know that really means "consensual sex".
So what Jeremy agrees happened is that Letterman joked that 14 year old Willow Palin asked ARod to fuck her and she got pregnant. That's all Jeremy's saying.
It's like saying "Jeremy's mother was fucked by a pack of stray dogs".
A. We're not saying anyone's name - only "Jeremy's mother". So that could be anyone.
B. We all know that "fucked by a pack of stray dogs" means "knitted a sweater with the church sewing circle".
So, "Jeremy's mother was sodomized by a pack of dogs" really means that Estelle Getty and the girls from church made a sweater. That strikes me as self-evident from Jeremy's posts. You all should stop picking on him.
Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, are swinging back at David Letterman after the talk-show host made the Alaska governor and her family the focus of a series of off-color jokes.
After two days of back and forth between Alaska's first family and the late-night talk show host, the Palins today refused Letterman's invitation to come on his show after he offered an apology for comments Letterman made earlier in the week about the governor and her daughter.
"The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman," PalinPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said today.
"These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them."
True. True. And she can't.
You can't ignore something when reporters and who all else are asking you for your reaction. For all of that... I'm sure that someone had to *tell* her about it, and then ask for her reaction.
"I said this before, but I'll repeat it. I don't understand how people could think the joke was about Willow, not Bristol."
Because Willow was at the game and it's only FUNNY if it's Willow, not Bristol.
The "funny" is the call-back to the older sister and that the NEXT Palin daughter gets knocked up out of wedlock.
If it's Bristol, there is no "ha ha". Granted, Letterman is almost never funny at all, so maybe he did just mean that Bristol, no longer a minor and already a mother, just got pregnant again. Maybe he just made a mistake.
Darn good thing for him that it wasn't Piper at the game, huh.
BTW, my agreeing that this doesn't hurt Palin or the party only means that the more this sort of behavior and hatred is exposed the more Palin and the Republican party benefits.
Go read the comments after the linked article.
It's obscene how many people are expressing vile hatred and total approval for any sort of abuse that could possibly be directed at Sarah Palin and certainly her children and her husband as well. It's amazing how many people are mad at HER for somehow manufacturing this whole thing simply to get herself in the limelight... how she mind-controlled Letterman is never explained. This attack on HER and on her CHILD is portrayed as proof of how terrible she really is.
Reading through just about made me like and admire *Jeremy*, fer chrissake.
Did you hear about Letterman being ID'ed as the original Fordham Flasher? Or, did you hear about how Letterman's supposed wife turned him in to the cops since he was jerking off in front of his TV set? Or, did you hear about Letterman's rating dropping like a French ballon?
How about Letterman crying in front of his audience because the Palin's were so nasty to him, after all he'd once been a comedian! Did you hear about that?
Actually, ARod is coming on Letterman's show and Davie boy can hardly wait!
"Nice try Treacle. You fail to grasp who the joke is about."
The joke is on Sarah, the "daughter" incidental, not even named, just the daughter who happened to be at the game... not Bristol, or he'd have said *Bristol*. Who is pretending that the family members with Sarah Palin on the trip weren't known?
"If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now."
The joke wasn't on Bristol getting pregnant AGAIN, it was on Sarah Palin having ANOTHER daughter get pregnant.
It doesn't even make sense as a joke on Sarah Palin if it's Bristol. The subject of the joke, of the sentences that Letterman spoke, is Sarah Palin... and an unnamed daughter who was at the game... because he knew a daughter was at the game.
Rev: "Is there some reason we should care what David Letterman is saying? Is this "Has-Beens of the 80s Week" and nobody told me?"
You know... not really.
I mean... not past saying, "Wow, Letterman is sure a jerk. The children of politicians should be off-limits and that was inexcusable."
And then everyone could nod, "Yes, yes. So true." And it would be over. Just like that.
But that's not what happened because there's always someone who pops up and says... "She deserved it, the B*tch, because she's a inbred Hillbilly slut! Bwa ha ha! And it's a JOKE, can't you take a JOKE? You right-wing extremist racists have no sense of humor. You know HUMOR? And besides, Rush once showed a picture of dog in place of Chelsea, so you're all HYPOCRITES, because we can be mad about the dog picture because it wasn't a JOKE and besides, did we mention that Sarah Palin DESERVES it?"
BTW, those left of center folks who don't care for Sarah Palin who did, in fact, make the simple statement that children of politicians, including hers, should not be the subject of "jokes" like that...
Tina Fey's takeoff on Palin was funny and effective. Of all the slings and arrows directed against Palin during the campaign, it was arguably the most damaging. Sarah took it with good grace and even appeared on SNL to show that she was a good sport....Letterman's jibes were of a different order. It's not just that they were unfunny and smarmy; it's that they were delivered with such an air of smugness. And in his apology where he explained that the Palins' had an affirmative duty to take note that he was not mocking their fourteen year old daughter, but the older "knocked up" one, he looked not just condescending but clueless. Really, he looked just awful.....Jane Fonda went on to further fame and fortune after manning an anti-aircraft gun. Don't expect Letterman's career to suffer because of this. Well, Jane's life has been its own punishment. A similar fate awaits Letterman. If he can't see the wrongness of this, he will rub himself raw against his own neurotic edginess. A dead heart causes a dead heart.
NOW has put Letterman into their media Hall of Shame for his Palin jokes -- specifically the two that were aimed at the Palin girls. They even mentioned his 'slutty flight attendant' joke.
Apparently, there is a limit to how much NOW will turn a blind eye to sexism against Palin.
Thanks for the help, Treacle! You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant. But thanks for the clarification, nonetheless.
At least he makes sure that his kids don't listen to bigots for years, right? That'd be pretty darned bad.
If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now.
He didn't attack Bristol --- which would've still been beyond the pale. He accused her 14 year old sister of being ARod's sperm receptacle.
I think I'd want the spotlight to move away from my kid, so I'd be saying as little as possible. I think. What is gained by replying to people who want a reaction to a joke in very bad taste?
So if I called your daughter a gutterslut who will fuck you as long as you have exact change --- you'd just ignore it, huh?
Well poor Sarah Palin was on the Today Show and complained (AGAIN!) about David Letterman joking that her daughter got fucked by ARod.
Matt Lauer pointed out that David Letterman never said "Willow" or "14 year old". All he did was make his fuck-joke in reference to the daughter who was at the game with Sarah Palin. And then Sarah Palin had to go and say "it was 14 year-old Willow who was with me at the game".
Boy, Sarah Palin really just doesn't get it: DAVID LETTERMAN WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DAUGHTER WHO WAS WITH YOU AT THE GAME! He wasn't talking about the 14 year old! He wasn't talking about Willow! He was talking about the daughter who was with you at the game!
Enough! Sometimes parents need to learn that they really shouldn't defend their young teenage kids who do irresponsible things like go to baseball games with Mom.
The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
And saying that an older teenage girl who has sex with her long time (?) boyfriend is a “whore” is totally ok? That shit is beyond Sarah Palin.
Apparently, there is a limit to how much NOW will turn a blind eye to sexism against Palin.
Good. This last campaign had the most sexism I have seem openly in public in a long damn time.
"I'm curious how Palin could have imposed these virtues."
It's a bit like how homophobes feel gayness might be caught by proximity to gay people.
Anyone with a moral position is threatening to others. They impose these virtues by having a stance on certain issues, and then, flagrantly, daring to go out in public and talk about their opinions.
God, it's too bad Letterman isn't running for office, then this might actually mean something...but, he isn't...he just signed another massive contract with CBS.
Palin won't be running either.
Mark my words...she's nothing more than a darling of the far, far right yahoos who have little if any effect on who the next GOP candidate will be in 1012.
By the way...WHO IS the leader of the GOP...Hoosier??
Jeremy: Jeez, you don't know anything do you! I was the leader of the GOP until a palace revolt threw me over in favor of my neighbor who drives a bigger and faster SUV, who was in turn replaced by a former Blue Dog Dem -Marxist, who'd been kicked out cuz he wasn't mean enough to little old ladies crossing the street against the red light.
So, Jeremy, grow up or get your f'ing facts straight, you ad hominem piece of crap.
Jeez, can't you and your Marxist / Commie pals, fags, twits, pieces of schwiss, dipsos, Letterman lovers, do any better than that, you piece of worst bottom ten of all time. Who do you think you are, Olbermann?
"If so, then the joke is not aimed at either of the older Palin daughters. The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word."
Finally someone understands that Sarah Palin is the butt of this joke!
This is not a joke about the 'daughter's' sluttishness, it is a joke about how Sarah Palin is a hypocrite.
If you wish to attack Letterman on the basis that Sarah Palin is NOT a hypocrite, fine, but to imply that eh is making a joke about statutory rape, well, anyone who would do that clearly has pedophilic tendencies.
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Well now that I know he meant that it was 18 year old Bristol getting banged and knocked up by A-Rod I honestly could not stop laughing.
That Davo is a wild and crazy guy.
The joke was sick, and there is no hypocrisy higher than that coming from those who defend it because they hate Sarah Palin while decrying (rightfully) remarks such as those by Rush Limbaugh that make even mild fun of Chelsea Clinton or the Obama twins.
Do people ever just say, "I was wrong and I am sorry?" that would be so refreshing.
Weasel. He says that it was the now-18-year-old who did get knocked up, but failed entirely to mention that it was 14-year-old Willow who was visiting NYC with her parents.
That was a classic non-apology apology: "they're just jokes," and "we make mistakes," blah blah blah. Deny deny, excuse excuse.
I didn't think it was possible, but I detest Letterman even more now.
Here's a test: would anyone make such a "joke" about the Obama girls? You can't rationalize this.
I know, the Obama girls are not twins, but I had to take a stab at it. It's funny.
Anyone who thinks jokes about raping a 14 yr old is funny is sick.
Jokes about raping 14 year olds are not funny.
Unless it's Rachel Maddow. At any age.
"Here's a test: would anyone make such a "joke" about the Obama girls?"
When one of Obama's daughters gets knocked up by her live-in boyfriend, ask me again.
"You can't rationalize this."
Letterman didn't try.
When one of Obama's daughters gets knocked up by her live-in boyfriend, ask me again.
We won't have to ask, because you'll be here posting non-stop about how OUTRAGED you are that some asshole slandered Obama's daughter.
I'd bet a year's paycheck on that.
When one of Obama's daughters gets knocked up by her live-in boyfriend, ask me again.
WTF? Letterman was talking about a 14 year old who hasn't been knocked up. So the Obama twins analogy still stands, mr.trevor shit-for-brains.
Letterman didn't try.
But you just did.
I think it's wrong to pick on Trevor Jackson. When Barack goes to a baseball game in New York with his teenage daughter, I bet Letterman will make sex and rape jokes about her. That's all Trevor is saying.
"But you just did."
No, I responded to Joan's hypothetical.
I don't think the original joke was a big deal, but there is no way this was intended as a defense or apology. He was milking it for more laughs.
- freakin' crude pervert
Thanks for the help, Treacle! You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant. But thanks for the clarification, nonetheless.
You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant.
Nice try at defending what normal people find deeply offensive.
Again - is the brain working there trev. . . hellooo - the 14 yr old wasn't having a live in boyfriend. Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree. You just got bitch slapped.
He wasn't just lame; he was lame in a despicable way....His non apology was a more calculated insult than the original jokes. He throws in Todd's name as an afterthought to indicate that Todd is an afterthought. Letterman is not very good at humor, but he excells at disdain....He admits that it is wrong to make a joke about the sexuality of a fourteen year old, but apparently an eighteen year old is fair game. Only someone as backward and stupid as Palin would fail to see this obvious difference and who the obvious target of Letterman's joke was. Letterman has no positive duty to affirm that it was Bristol and not Willow who was at the game. People of good will should recognize that he was ridiculing the eighteen year old, not the fourteen year old. The fact that they don't just goes to show how mean spirited and stupid they are....It's a shame that good ole Dave has to put up with this kind of abuse. The only possible way she can make amends is to come on his show and give him monster ratings so they can straighten out this silly misunderstanding. And leave Todd home so he can show her what cutting edge humor really feels like deep down inside.
Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree. You just got bitch slapped..
You don't get it. Progressive thinking types like Trevor think that an 18 year old girl of a conservative pol who gets pregnant is perfectly fair game for public riducule. I mean she got pregnant by her live in boyfried so that's easy to stretch it to her being an open orifice to A-Rod.
Happy to help, Trevor. Again - everyone leave Trevor alone! She's just saying what's on her mind.
And I agree with you too, Trevor: Letterman was really making a joke about the Palins' parenting skills. So when he talked about a 14 year old getting fucked by ARod, he really was just having an ironic go at her older teenage sister.
I don't see why this isn't clear to everyone else here.
Is Letterman actually alive, or merely badly-done animatronics?
"People of good will should recognize that he was ridiculing the eighteen year old"
People of good will deplore his "ridiculing" of either girl.
Why all this anti-Letterman hysterial? All he did was make a joke that ARod fucked the Palin daughter who went to the baseball game with her mom. It's a little "edgy" and "out there", but the audience laughed. They get it! I get it! Even Trevor gets it! We've come to a pretty poor pass when a 62 year old man can't joke on broadcast tv about a 14 year old girl getting fucked.
"Your type loves to parse shit to the nth degree."
What my "type" is trying to do is explain how a joke--one that I'm not defending, not saying I agree with, not reveling in, not repeating, not rationalizing, but explaining--came to be, as a means of dispensing with the idea that the joke is some sort of political attack on behalf of Obama or that, were he subject to similar foibles as Palin and her family, would not produce similar results.
I'm not sure how understanding context and its implications in an honest way is "pars(ing) to the nth degree." And again, let's be clear, my efforts are not a defense or a rationalization of the joke.
Telling me I've just been "bitch slapped" (ironic, much?) doesn't necessarily make it so. But keep trying, eventually my hand might scratch my cheek.
You've nailed it once again, Trevor. It's not political! We shouldn't have to dig very far to find Letterman's jokes about the teenage Chelsea. And, happily, the oldest Obama girl is 11, so only 3 years before she's fair game too! Trevor - who do you think Letterman will say knocked her up?
I prefer free speech, thanks.
If you don't like Letterman, don't watch.
I don't, but not because of the joke.
It's because none of it is worth the time.
"Do the Palins now get the freedom to make their own child-rape jokes?"
My sense of this was about protecting Willow from Letterman, but rather protecting Letterman from Willow.
She's an Alaska girl, after all. She's no doubt pissed, and almost certainly could kick Letterman's ass.
It wasn't a child-rape joke, it was an abuse-of-the-elderly joke.
What my "type" is trying to do is ... dispensing with the idea that the joke is some sort of political attack on behalf of Obama or that, were he subject to similar foibles as Palin and her family, would not produce similar results..
Now that's funny!
But keep trying, eventually my hand might scratch my cheek.
Okay Trevor - take a shot here:
Why are you using this occasion to shit on Palin rather than just agree with all of us that Letterman's joke - no matter who it would be about - is defenseless and beyond the pale.
The references to Obama and Chelsea are comments on the the hypocrisy already all over left wing blogs and media. They fired the first shot. You can't change that hypocrisy of others - but you
can make a stand that there is no justification for it. When you choose to parse the joke, you're not defending Obama or Clinton, you're joining the hypocrites of the left who divide the world between good people and the ones they decide are bad, and then never give a break to the "bads" no matter what.
If Letterman had called Bristol or Willow "stringy haired hos" would the reaction be any different?
At this point it seems like the only question will be which rape center Letterman will be donating to, in order for this to all go away.
Fallacy, daredevil! Letterman never said "rape". And, as he said last night, he never makes jokes like that.
All he meant was that it was funny (and, as Trevor points out - it's a sign of poor parenting, which is also funny) that the 14 year old Palin daughter had CONSENSUAL sex with a 35 year old man. That's all.
While the joke was in poor taste, I can't imagine what the GOP or its blogosphere fans think they're accomplishing by making a stink about it. Letterman is not a political figure, he's a burned-out comedian desperate to fill time. He fucked up. End of story.
Conan O'Brien made a much funnier joke about Wisconsin the other day and I saw at least a couple conservative bloggers go off on that too. I don't get it. Conan O'Brien and David Letterman are not where the GOP's problems are. These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them.
treacle, spin it anyway you like but its rolling down hill fast on Dave. The 62 year old pervert vs the 14 year old angle is being exploited, with CBS ad boycotts and the whole nine yards. Maybe another attempt at a sincere apology might stem it. But yeah, this will wind up with a healthy donation to a rape center of Dave's choice, just watch.
Pogo, it is amazing how much older he is looking. I mean, we all age. But wow.
I said this before, but I'll repeat it. I don't understand how people could think the joke was about Willow, not Bristol. Sure, Willow was the one in NYC (and who knew that?), but Bristol is the one who is out there in front of the cameras all the time, so it is she that a 'joke'-writer is going to reference when writing about Palin's daughter. If you don't want to be fodder for late-night jokesters, don't seek out publicity.
As for Obama's daughters, they appear to be living fairly quiet lives. It's hard to make fun of someone if the audience has to think about who you are roasting, or worse, if you have to explain to them who you are roasting. Put another way, neither Obama girl has any really defining characteristic that you can riff off -- other than their parents. Bristol Palin, on the other hand, does.
Letterman is laughing all the way to the bank on this.
These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them..
John I think Sarah Palin would have easily ignored the stupid jokes made about her. She's a pol and has pretty thick skin. But it wasn't about her it was about her kid. Had someone made that kind of crack about my daughter I'd kick his fucking teeth in I don't care if she is 18 or 38.
Another point I would make is this is yet another flare up in the ongoing cultural war between the left and right of this country. We could all at one point agree 14 year old girls were off limits, but I guess that time has passed. That the left is now declaring that family's from the right are a regrettable casuality to this type of warfare, that is duly noted. Just don't come crying when one of your tribe get the odd drop of urine in their face.
You're right, MadisonMan! Bristol chose to be a public figure back in the summer of 2008, so Willow is fair game for LEtterman's "getting fucked by older guys" jokes.
Why are the Palins making such a big fuss about this anyway? Cool parents don't care that tv stars make jokes about their kids getting fucked by old guys.
I, too, am glad that the Obama girls (like Willow Palin) are living quiet lives - stopping traffic in London and all.
You know, I think the real culprit here is Bristol Palin. If she hadn't come out herself and made such a big deal out of getting pregnant last summer, then David Letterman wouldn't have to make jokes about her younger teenage sister getting fucked by an older man.
"When one of Obama's daughters gets knocked up by her live-in boyfriend, ask me again."
Not gonna happen - Michelle will ensure that it is aborted - and if it survives that, the Dr will snuff it for her.
On the other hand, what about Ashley Biden's coke habit - some great parenting there, Sheriff Joe! Or how about Samson Obama, the dirty uncle who could not attend the inauguration due to a charge of sex assault on a minor? How about George Obama, who lives in a shack on $1 / day - some Christian Obama is if he can't even help his brother out - but I guess he has helped out his illegal alien, welfare scamming aunt Zetuni?
Yup, nothing funny here.
That's not fair, HoldFast. They didn't get to go to a ballgame in New York with Sarah Palin. When they do, though, you can be sure there will be no favoritism! I bet Letterman will make jokes about how they get raped too after they go to a ballgame with Sarah Palin.
blame the victim treacle. If that Palin bitch had kept her slutty mouth shut her family would not have become a target. I wonder what Willow was wearing at the ball game?
Nice try Treacle. You fail to grasp who the joke is about.
If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now.
Bristol is the one who is out there in front of the cameras all the time, so it is she that a 'joke'-writer is going to reference when writing about Palin's daughter. If you don't want to be fodder for late-night jokesters, don't seek out publicity..
You're right Madison Man. Bristol is out there telling other girls her age not to make the same mistake she did which of course opens her up to being knocked up by A-Rod jokes.
I mean that's the same as Brittany showing her twat to the world and Lindsey Lohan upchucking on the sidewalk.
It doesn't matter what she was wearing at the ballgame, DareDevil. All that matters is that Willow was AT the ballgame and her sister got pregnant. And that's why it's o.k. to make fun of Willow. David Letterman understands this.
Promoting abstinence? Wow, she was askin' for it.
You're right, MadisonMan. Letterman never said "Bristol". Instead, he talked about the daughter who was with Sarah Palin at the game. So that was Willow. And it doesn't even matter because it's still funny for him to joke about them getting fucked by an older man - whichever one.
Hoosier, it does mean her Name is in people's minds, and with it the association with sex before marriage, so it's an easy joke to link to A-Rod, who apparently goes after anyone.
boy the liberals are back peddiling on this as fast as they can. I guess making rape jokes about politician's daughters may actually be off limits after all. The joke was really aimed at A-rod, thanks for clearing that up madisonman
MadisonMan has nailed it once again! See, Dick Cheney shot his friend a while back. So when they make fun about the guy who shot the guy at the Holocaust museum, we all understand what they will mean: the old white guy shooter is Dick Cheney! So in that sense, it doesn't matter who ARod was fucking. They're all the same - these Palin girls. They're fungible and not unique and separate people like Sasha and Malia. So we should proceed with that understanding in mind.
Hoosier, it does mean her Name is in people's minds, and with it the association with sex before marriage, so it's an easy joke to link to A-Rod, who apparently goes after anyone.
Yes that is obvious. I guess where we part company is that an 18 year old kid whose publicity seeking is encouraging her peers not to get knocked up is justifcation to be made the butt of an ugly joke.
I'm far from being a prude but I do have some standards. Evidently Letterman and a lot of his fans don't.
I prefer free speech, thanks.
If you don't like Letterman, don't watch.
I don't watch Letterman. Never have and see no reason to start now.
That said, I choose to exercise my freedom of speech to say that in my opinion Letterman is an asshole, as is anyone who thinks his "jokes" about a 14 year old girl are funny.
An interesting thing about freedom of speech is that it works both ways. Letterman can say what he wants. I can say what I want about him, just as you can say what you want about me.
Bristol's boyfriend did not move into the Palins's home until after she became pregnant and they were "engaged".
It was Willow Palin--- who has never appeared on tv talking about anything to do with sex or abstinence ---who was at the ballgame with her mother and her young autistic cousin. Sarah Palin was in NY for a fundraiser for autism.
Letterman's joke was clearly aimed at the 14 year old. That is what made the joke so "edgy", so daring and that is why any decent person is upSET with Letterman today.
I don't think Letterman was talking about Willow (even though she was the one attending the ball game with Gov. Palin).
Just disappointed that's what counts for humor on Letterman's show. I'm actually more offended by Dave saying that the Governor has a "slutty flight attendant look." (Could you ever picture him saying the same about her look-alike, Tina Fey?) Is that really any different than calling someone a slut?
If I were the governor, I would be booking an appearance on Conan within the month....and let the ratings tell the story.
dear, simple Martha. Why can't you understand what people like me, Trevor Jackson and MadisonMan get? It doesn't matter that Willow (and not Bristol) was the one at the game, and it doesn't matter that Letterman's joke talked about the one at the game. Her mother is Sarah Palin and her sister got pregnant, so it's o.k. to make jokes about Willow getting it on with ARod.
Treacle, you're being deliberately obtuse.
I am no big fan of Sarah Palin (this will shock no one). I ask myself what I would do if it were my daughter who was the Butt of the joke. I think I'd want the spotlight to move away from my kid, so I'd be saying as little as possible. I think. What is gained by replying to people who want a reaction to a joke in very bad taste?
So the big cynic in me wonders why the Palins are approaching this in the way they are. I think by showing such umbrage they are playing to part of the Sarah Palin base, that is, the Us-Against-the-Establishment part of it. (Read Establishment to be East Coast liberals as typified by fornicator David Letterman). I can understand that approach -- is it smart politics? I'm not sure. Are they using the lampooning of their daughter to do this? Is that exploiting their daughter (again, I would add)?
Not that my opinion should mean anything to the Palins, but their parenting skills have always struck me as so far from what I've seen to be successful in others that I wonder about them. Of course, one never really knows what's happening in anyone's house, and this could all be a by-product of skewed reporting, or bad data-gathering on my part, but it does make me wonder.
Doesn't make me want to watch Letterman, however.
But it wasn't about her it was about her kid. Had someone made that kind of crack about my daughter I'd kick his fucking teeth in I don't care if she is 18 or 38....
Sure. So would I. But that's not what's happening. What's happening is this public display and politicization, and comparisons between how many jokes have Republican targets vs. Democratic targets.
If Sarah or Todd Palin had called up Letterman privately and said, "Apologize or I'm going to kick your teeth in," I would have applauded her. It didn't need to become a political thing. The way they've handled it has, if anything, compounded the embarrassment for her daughters.
I think the jokesters are really furious with Sarah Palin because she brought to term a baby with Down's Syndrome. The jokesters are really furious because 17 year old Bristol Palin did not abort her illegitimate baby. How un-PC! The teenage premarital sex aspect of Bristol's story....that the "jokesters" would approve of.
A-Rod impregnating a 14 year old during the 7th inning stretch---jokesters find that titillating.
@ John Stoddard:
"These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them."
John. This behaviour is part of a very very ugly pattern from the Democrats and their shills in the media. It is not just this ONE joke, this ONE time. It is a malicious and deliberate pattern of trying to destroy the person(s) that they have deemed to be their enemies.
Palin is percieved as a threat. Rather than confront the issues, her policitcal views or anything else in a civilized adult manner, they make fun of her and her family, denigrate and try to destroy through character assasination and lies.
Sure. She and we can sit back, turn the other cheek and play nicey nice, but why should we? There is nothing to gain by that and everything to lose.
Instead. Palin and everyone else who values decency, decorum and fair play should be on this type of behaviour by ANYONE, even a washed up unfunny comedian, like put bulls on a thief in your house.
When people like Letterman and the suck ups in at MSNBC ABC NBC CNN etc denegrate young girls for no other reason than to try to protect their own political hacks and to attempt to destroy a middle American family....they attack us all.
That is why we are incensed. The pattern has to stop. The Palin family, Todd and Sarah, should take this insult to the mat and never back down. Personally I'd like to see the father, Todd, beat the crap out of Letterman.
You all are bats! Please keep this up - it's endlessly entertaining!
In Letterman's almost defense, my guess is that he didn't think it through, and just assumed that it was the Palin daughter who had gotten pregnant last year. And, he kinda admitted that he intended the joke to be about Bristol, and not Willow.
Of course, the fact that a young woman made a mistake at 17 (probably assuming that her boyfriend was as serious about getting married as he sounded), doesn't even justify the joke if it had been about the older daughter.
But David should have fessed up, and apologized. It would have done his ratings good - as there are a lot of people right now who will probably never watch him again because of this. But he is in his own liberal dominated bubble, and doesn't see either the harm, nor why the big fuss, and so doesn't really apologize when he should.
Is this the joke?
One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.
If so, then the joke is not aimed at either of the older Palin daughters. The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
One can dispute the underlying factual allegations and still recognize: (1) the express embarrassment is that of Gov. Palin thus she is the main protagonist; (2) the daughter is not named and is identified only by her general class as it relates to Gov. Palin; (3) the passive voice is used to describe what the context allows is an active and consensual participation; and (4) the other participant (Rodriguez) is identified expressly, thus giving a focal point away from the daughter and thereby emphasizing the tradition view that it is the male who is at fault and who must take responsibility.
To say the joke is chiefly about an underage girl being raped is to force to prominence that which the writers attempted to obscure by extenuation.
I think the worst that can be said is that the joke treats an underage girl's sexual virtue as trivial collateral damage.
Another good point, MadisonMan. If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't say anything because David Letterman's audience is pretty small and that joke wasn't going to get out. And anyway, she's 14 and probably needs to learn to handle herself. If Mom and Dad express public outrage every time David Letterman jokes that she got fucked by ARod, when will she learn to defend herself.
When I grew up, people used to say about their families "I can kick my dog, but you can't kick my dog." I like your approach much better: "anyone can kick my dog".
Bissage - you're missing the point as usual. Letterman is saying she has no sexual virture. She's bereft of sexual virtue. If you went into her cupboard and looked in the cannister labeled "sexual virtue", it would be empty. And how do we know? Because her older teenage sister got pregnant. Consequently, Willow is fair game.
I think the worst that can be said is that the joke treats an underage girl's sexual virtue as trivial collateral damage..
I agree, the joke was intended to harm Sarah Palin, but was made at the daughter's expense. Quite a guy, that Dave.
... and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
So you're saying that Sarah Palin pimped, in the broader sense of the word, her daughter Bristol to Levi? That seems to be the only logical way you can compare 'imposing traditional values' with 'raising her daughter as a whore'.
Real classy analysis.
Statement from the Palins:
Sarah Palin responded Thursday morning to Dave's invitation to appear on his show in a statement to Foxnews.com: ""The Palins have no intention of providing a rating's boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show," the statement read. "Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."
Excellent!!!! Give it back. That's the only language liberals understand.
This episode - John Stodder - began with liberals bringing it up, not conservatives. They throw their hateful shit and expect decent people like you to just bend over and say "well, we're above that". They count on it.
This issue is cut and dried and buried - whatever the "intent" - Letterman fucked the pooch when he used the daughter at the game part of the illustration. He should grow a pair - is that possible for liberals? - and man up and just say that it could have been done better and possibly even humorously.
The best part is this shows the dividing line between people who are actually decent human beings and those who can't find decency and integrity if you opened the dictionary pages and showed them. You either are offended at the poor attempted joke no matter what your politics, or you're not a decent human being at all. Case closed.
The best part
If it were my daughter, I probably wouldn't say anything because David Letterman's audience is pretty small and that joke wasn't going to get out.
If it were MY daughter and tasteless comments like these were said in front of even ONE person, I would certainly not just roll over and let it go. That person would be confronted by myself or my husband and probably both of us at the same time to demand an IMMEDIATE apology and retraction.
I would also let everyone know just what kind of scum that the person is who would make comments about my daughter or comments about myself. It would become my mission in life to get retribution.
What kind of a family doesn't defend each other's honor and defend themselves against the rest of the world?
Now raping Rachel Maddow . . . there's got to be tone of laughs in that.
"Rachel Maddow was at the game the other night in the bathroom when ARod . . ."
"ARod walks into this lesbian bar and . . . "
Damn, I'll keep working on it . . .
I would also let everyone know just what kind of scum that the person is who would make comments about my daughter or comments about myself. It would become my mission in life to get retribution.
What kind of a family doesn't defend each other's honor and defend themselves against the rest of the world?
Conservatives. Bend over. Spread wide. It's the liberal mentality (it's called "hate").
Arod and Rachel Maddow were caught in a "compromising situation" last night when police responded to a call about screaming and "Yes, Yes, Yes!" sunds were heard coming from a Red Lincoln Navigator parked by the Hudson River F . . "
DBQ, I think there's a fine line to walk along between trying to defend your daughter and going overboard and exposing your daughter to even more inspection. What teen wants the spotlight? MO is that the Palins are too far on the generating more inspection side of things at the moment, and I wonder why.
This is, however, a great learning opportunity for Willow -- another one -- about the world. As a middle child, though, Willow's already gonna be plenty astute about things (That's what my brothers tell me about middle children)
I agree with Bissage.
(1) Treacle, I also misspelled “traditional” in the fourth paragraph.
(2) Original Mike, agreed. You said it shorter which is better. Kudos.
(3) Der Hahn, you are mistaken. The truth of the joke’s presumptions is irrelevant to my comment.
MadisonMan - I have to say that you, like ARod on Palin teen, nailed it. The parents are over the top. The Letterman joke was pretty widely publicized the next morning before we heard a reaction from Sarah Palin. So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them. It will be a good learning opportunity for your 14 old daughter. Next time someone jokes about you getting fucked by an old man, just laugh it off like you'd laugh off a "C" on a quiz. And don't go running to Mom and Dad again. The best way they can defend you is by not defending you.
Oh, I get it. Its all just a little fun.
You know, mocking people that fall - that live below their own hopes and heart-felt desires for themselves –is such a blast. What a complete laugh.
Hey Dave - next time you see someone stumble on a curb in NYC, you should run over an kick them in the face. Wouldn’t that be huge? That would be such a howler.
Oh, here's a good one: let's make fun of the father of a family being weak and cheating on his wife, and how hilarious it is that the family split up! He shattered the trust of his companion and left his kids feeling betrayed and vulnerable to the harsh world. OMG, what a riot!
Dave, isn't other people's pain so funny?!?!
Given how people struggle, you could milk these things forever, I’ll bet. You could probably make millions on the backs of the weak!
Want to shift attention a bit from Letterman to CBS more generally?
It turns out that, even though Letterman's comment is on video for everyone to see, CBS had it removed from the official transcript that they give to people in the print media.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/5703E61C8873AA3D862575D1007EC5DD?OpenDocument
We should all try to pretend, like Dave Letterman, to be courageous.
Courageous and sensitive and good and jokey.
Ye gads, EKatz. That paints a whole different picture! So Letterman knew that some people might be upset, and he proactively corrected the transcript so that those with weaker sensibilities would not read what was obviously intended to be a joke about a 14 year old girl having sex with a thirtysomething man. In other words, Letterman offered an implicit preemptive apology! Sarah Palin should have recognized that as such and, as MadisonMan pointed out, said nothing. After all, once we all read the transcript from the show, we would understand that his joke was never intended to be heard by us anyway.
After all, once we all read the transcript from the show, we would understand that his joke was never intended to be heard by us anyway.
Yes, that's it!
It was a mere oversight that the joke survived the final edit.
The entire Letterman show staff was busy feeding the poor in a neighborhood soup kitchen from the 6:00 PM show finish to the 11:35 PM broadcast, and someone forgot to edit out the ambiguity on which teenage daughter Letterman was sliming.
When did Letterman say anything about "rape?"
And don't get into the bullshit that he was talking about the younger daughter, I've never even heard her name before.
oh great cock face jeremy's late to the party. time to go
And don't get into the bullshit that he was talking about the younger daughter, I've never even heard her name before.
1) That's because you were busy wanking off to your fantasy of doing the Obama girls together.
2) If it has to be explained to you Jeremy-Gene, you'll never get it.
3) Jeremy posted? "Blah blah blah - fucking conservatives! - blah blah blah - bitch Palin - blah blah blah - Oh, Ooooohhh, Yes, Yes, YES!!!!
Snore.
Jeremy -
Just shut up now. You've displayed over and over that your ignorance knows practically no bounds, so why go through it again?
Just because you've "never heard her name" means less than nothing. You've never heard of a lot of things like: World History 101, logical thinking, intellectual honesty, and the list goes on.
Go back and tell Axelrod that your Astroturfing mission has failed, and that you need to move on to a different blog.
And here comes Jeremy! You know what, Jeremy? You're right. Letterman never said the name of the Palin girl; he only mentioned the Palin daughter who was at the game with her mom. And he never said "rape". Consequently, as I noted above, what he meant was that ARod had consensual sex with the Palin daughter who was at the game, i.e., the 14 year old daughter.
Jeremy!, ..er..I mean, Sunshine!
How's your day been, Sunshine?
Have you dropped the F-bomb yet, or are you just getting warmed up?
Careful there Treacle -
Jeremy has an extremely difficult time with complex thought processes and big words, he might mistake your obvious sarcasm for agreement.
.....aaaaaand with the appearance of that troll, that denizen of the deep, that lucky old son from some squat-n-pee community college in bankrupt California, it is time to call the thread dead dead dead.
"The entire Letterman show staff was busy feeding the poor in a neighborhood soup kitchen from the 6:00 PM show finish to the 11:35 PM broadcast..."
Well yeah, which is why Dave wanted to reward their hard work by delivering the most tasteful joke he could find, one that would make them proud of their old boss.
I wonder if CBS, now that they've taken it out of the transcript, will also ask youtube to remove the clips with that "joke"?
Seven straight responses to my comment?
I'm flattered so many of you love me.
When any of you get a chance...show me where Letterman ever said anything about "rape."
If you can't...and we already you can't...and we already know you love me...think about how great it's going to be sucking my dick.
You are one creepy crew...
Jeremy just can't get past the fantasy of his cock sucked by anonymous men...
Perhaps he is scarred by a childhood encounter with David Letterman that wasn't rape because Letterman never actually had to use the word.
that lucky old son from some squat-n-pee community college in bankrupt California.
Hey now! Sarah Palin attended two community colleges of the 5 she attended in 5 yrs. North Idaho Community College and
Matanuska- Susitna Community College. Rather elitist statement don't ya think Pogo?
you just know jermey takes it up the ass and is resentful about it. sometimes it goes so far up his ass it shoots out his mouth, like his last post
Is there some reason we should care what David Letterman is saying? Is this "Has-Beens of the 80s Week" and nobody told me? Could we get a comment from Yakov Smirinov?
A 35-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl is a rapist under the laws of most states, and New York probably among them. QED.
While you're whining about a comedian's comments about Princess Sarah's kid...you can always count on your GOP to be on the wrong side of an argument:
Robert Gates and Hillary Clinton are now thrusting themselves into the raging fight over the White House’s request for Congressional cash for the International Monetary Fund, demanding in a letter that GOP leaders back the funding or put our security at risk.
In the letter, Gates, Clinton and a third signatory, National Security Adviser James Jones, say the IMF plays a key role in reducing the “security risks” the crisis “poses to our nation and the world.” The crisis, it says, risks destabilizing foreign economies, producing “unforeseeable reactions.”
It adds:
Financial hardships and poverty breed desperation, which helps terrorist networks to attract new recruits with messages of hate, violence and intolerance. IMF financing reduces this threat by reducing economic instability in vulnerable states.
daredevil -
Just as long as you remember that whatever type of sexual activity that Jeremy engages in - even when it's with young girls and boys - is not rape...It's love...Because rape is such an ugly word when you describe the relationship between lonely men fixated on their penises and the underage children they "love"...Jeremy would never use the word rape, so neither should you.
" Rather elitist statement don't ya think Pogo?"
If Palin ever trolls here, I promise to say the same thing to her.
Financial hardships and poverty breed desperation, which helps terrorist networks to attract new recruits with messages of hate, violence and intolerance. IMF financing reduces this threat by reducing economic instability in vulnerable states.
This may or may not be so, but one thing is certain: when the U.S. starts paying money on this theory, it will immediatly become true.
craig said..."A 35-year-old man having sex with a 14-year-old girl is a rapist under the laws of most states, and New York probably among them. QED."
He never mentioned the 14-year old and never said "rape." (In NY and other states, if consensual, it would be referred to as "statuary"...so if you're a lawyer, you must not be a very good one.)
You and others are just trying to take the focus off Princess Sarah's nose dive in the polling (she wasn't even mentioned in the latest Republicans poll).
Letterman apologized and this story will be long gone in a matter of days...but, you know what?
OBAMA WILL STILL BE PRESIDENT!!!
And, Jim...are you volunteering to suck my dick? Pogo and Daredevil already put in their bid so you might have to hold off.
*Oh, and as for this poor guy who works at a community college somewhere or as some say, in Santa Monica...I'm not him, never have been, own a business in an entirely different industry, and have no idea where this came from or why anybody thinks they know who I am.
Wow - I guess when the Dems were in opposition they didn't care so much about our security - when John F'n Kerry publicly dissed our allies in war and San Fran Nan went to suck, I mean succor Al Assad (Logan Act anyone?)?
Letterman was talking about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium with her daughter. That daughter is 14 years old. Jeremy endorses endorsing stat rape.
... and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
So, having a baby out of wedlock makes a woman a whore? Remind me, how old was Letterman's son when he finally got around to marrying the boy's mother? Oh, and I wonder what Obama thinks about Letterman calling his mother a whore.
The parents are over the top. The Letterman joke was pretty widely publicized the next morning before we heard a reaction from Sarah Palin. So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them.
Funny how Republicans are supposed to lay back and take whatever crap assholes like Letterman dish out.
Stepping back from the Althouse peaches thread into this one... because I just realized what this Letterman episode reminded me of.
Remember that SNL episode from the fall, that made a "joke" suggesting that Todd Palin was sleeping with his daughters?
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/entertainment/17528426/detail.html
So Letterman is apparently helping sustain a certain trend in late night comedy programs when it comes to the Palin family. And now he can say - "hey, at least I wasn't joking about incestuous rape!"
holdfast said..."Letterman was talking about Palin's visit to Yankee Stadium with her daughter. That daughter is 14 years old. Jeremy endorses endorsing stat rape."
Oh, you know that's a stupid thing to say.
Oh, wait...for a minute there, I forgot who I was dealing with.
My bad.
Are you joining Pogo, Jim, Daredevil and the others in the suck-my-dick-fest?
Tickets are going fast...
holdfast - Any chance you might be able to mount an argument using something a tad more current than John Kerry?
Good lord...been out of touch?
Quayle (you're not Dan are you?)
"...when the U.S. starts paying money on this theory, it will immediatly become true."
Remember this guy?
President Reagan, calling the International Monetary Fund the ''linchpin of the international financial system,'' urged Congress today to back a large increase in the resources of the lending institution to prevent an ''economic nightmare that could plague generations to come.''
another thread, killed before its time
letterman post, we hardly knew ye
Jeremy's mother called. She has a nice 12 year old waiting for him at home. She's letting the gender of the child be a surprise.
hillary's 18 million cracks in the ceiling will never be shattered as long as we have these old white men (limbaugh, imus and now letterman) continually make cracks about women of all ages.
Jeremy doesn't endorse statutory rape because he doesn't use the word. And if you don't use the word statutory, then it's not rape according to Jeremy. So you see, in Jeremy's world, there is no such thing as statutory rape.
Therefore, Jeremy is free to have sex with all the little girls and boys that he wants. He jokes with Letterman all the time about how funny it would be if someone like A-Rod would join him in his sexual "adventures on young side" as he likes to call them.
That's probably where the misunderstanding between Palin and Letterman arose: A-Rod and Letterman were talking about Jeremy, wires got crossed, one thing led to another, and..well..you can see how things got confused.
Just remember the Jeremy's Theorem of Loving the Little Ones:
1) It's not rape if you don't use the word.
2) Statutory rape isn't rape if you don't use the word statutory.
3) Since you can't use the word rape, there is no such thing as statutory rape.
All's well that ends well!
chase -
She's still waiting to find out which gender Jeremy is, so she didn't know which one to pick. That information will be arriving at her door as soon as the identity of Jeremy's father is uncovered. I hear that OJ Simpson will be looking for it as soon as he finds "the real killer."
also, may i remind everyone of what hillary said after shuster's "pimped out" remark on chelsea:
-------------------
“I found the remarks incredibly offensive,” Clinton told reporters in this snowy town outside Bangor. Earlier, she sent a letter to NBC brass that called for swift action against Shuster, who was suspended Friday by MSNBC.
“Nothing justifies the kind of debasing language that David Shuster used and no temporary suspension or half-hearted apology is sufficient,” Clinton wrote to NBC News President Steve Capus, who apparently had already called Clinton to personally apologize.
“I would urge you to look at the pattern of behavior on your network that seems to repeatedly lead to this sort of degrading language,” Clinton wrote.
----------------
i don't see how palin and todd or any parent's remarks could be over the top or unwarranted.
I was hoping Todd Palin would have given the old 1950s-era response, If I see Mr. Letterman in person, he's gonna get a sock in the nose.
wanderlust -
You see that in Jeremy's world, parents protesting his "special time" with their young ones is offensive. After all, freed from those pesky things like decency and any sense of humanity whatsoever, it is terribly inconvenient to deal with the righteous anger of parents who feel that their underage child's sexuality shouldn't be the playthings of moral degenerates like Letterman and his fellating sycophant Jeremy.
So you'll have to forgive Jeremy his confusion at the whole kerfuffle. He just doesn't see why someone should have a problem with talking about an activity that he fantasizes about each day as he waits outside elementary schools with his bag full of lollipops.
Jeremy said we already know you love me...think about how great it's going to be sucking my dick.
You are one creepy crew....
I think this should be a new category of irony.
I scroll through and see about 20 "jeremy" comments, so, no comment.
Knox, the fun thing is that you can totally control Jeremy - you can force him to furiously type and click.
Try this: post any comment that conflicts with his off-the-shelf lefty opinions and he simply can not not post a response.
It's a blast, watching him twitch at the end of our cat 5 cable.
I was hoping Todd Palin would have given the old 1950s-era response, If I see Mr. Letterman in person, he's gonna get a sock in the nose..
What would be funny would be a scene of the Palin living room with Todd and Sarah sitting before a roaring fire reading the Anchorage Gazette and over the mantle next to the stuffed elk head would be Letterman's head.
The most pathetic part of this is that Letterman's writers, and he--
are SO out of touch.
They're just showing up and collecting the paycheck, and too lazy to do any research or homework.
Letterman took plenty of shots at Palin during campaign season--and yet, he knows so little about her, that he can't even distinguish from one daughter and the other.
Nor can his writers. In the end, they are left looking like washed-up hacks, who think just inserting any old Palin joke for the viewers, will get a few laughs.
Blahblah.
Jim said..."Jeremy doesn't endorse statutory rape because he doesn't use the word. And if you don't use the word statutory, then it's not rape according to Jeremy."
Jimmy, you need to learn how to communicate with out lying.
I never said anything of the kind, and you know it.
knox said..."I scroll through and see about 20 "jeremy" comments, so, no comment."
Actually there are about 8.
Skip those math classes?
So now most of you are in love with me, want to suck my dick, and the rest of you are afraid of me.
Like I said before...you a creep crew.
(1) Thanks, Freeman.
(2) You dialed a wrong number, Larry J.
What I find most bizarre is why you, or anybody for that matter, would care what a late night TV host has to say about anything.
Why would something this trivial, so completely irrelevant make you clowns come out of the woodwork with such a vengeance? (I understand Fox News, Rush, Hannity and other wingnut talking heads, but why a bunch of yahoos on a law professor's blog site?)
And if you're soooooooo upset by this, and considering Rush Limbaugh has said many things that are at least as unsavory, about all kinds of nice people, yet you relish and celebrate damn near every word.
Creepy.
Boo, Jeremy! BOO!
You know, like a creepy ghost. BOOOOO!
Or if that's not creepy enough. Argh! ARGH! Like a zombie.
Now you can use the word "creepy" and have it make sense.
Why would something this trivial, so completely irrelevant make you clowns come out of the woodwork with such a vengeance?
Okay, Jeremy. I'll have a real discussion with you. Here goes. Conservatives didn't start this. The lefty blogs began with numerous anti-Palin comments before conservatives jumped on it as an excuse to bash Palin.
So this is a reaction to that my friend.
But far more importantly - whether someone likes, loves, hates or is indifferent to Palin and family, any decent human being no matter their political stripe should agree that the joke was tasteless at best and mean-spirited and thoughtless. It doesn't matter what Letterman MEANT to say - he failed miserably and should have the balls to apologize for it.
considering Rush Limbaugh has said many things that are at least as unsavory, about all kinds of nice people, yet you relish and celebrate damn near every word.
Wrong again. I have personally criticized Rush Limbaugh dozens of times. Sometimes he's right and sometimes he's wrong. Rush Limbaugh doesn't speak for me - I speak for me. And that probably goes pretty much for most conservatives/libertarians here, but I'll let them speak for themselves. Unlike most lefties I know, I don't make up my mind by just reading the talking points of Keith Olbermann and Josh Marshall and then go looking for someone to piss off. I want all sides.
Can you say the same?
Or if that's not creepy enough. Argh! ARGH! Like a zombie..
ZOMBIE? ZOMBIE????
Lock and load!
So it stands to reason that a good parent will let such comments stand on their own - don't respond to them. It will be a good learning opportunity for your 14 old daughter
So the learning opportunity is that when people make unfounded, rude, nasty, insults about you, on national television or anyplace esle... you should just roll over and take it? How many times are you going to teach your child to allow themselves to be a punching bag? To be a doormat for people who aren't worth wiping your own feet upon? Teach your children to be wimps and losers?
Sorry... a good parent sets the example that you can't be a push-over and that you, the parent,will go to the mat to defend yourself, your children and your family and that you expect your children to do the same.
They, the Palins, didn't ASK to be the butt of a bunch of sleazy jokes or to be pilloried by people in the media who haven't got the moral fiber to say these things to their faces.
Because Sarah Palin is in the public as a political figure, it is understandable and proper to take exception to her political viewpoints and to make your attacks in that quarter.
However, to attack her children, her husband, their personal characters, calling personal names like slutty trailer trash, wishing rape on Sarah Palin and making sexual innuendos about her minor children,criticising her decision to keep her youngest child instead of aborting and so on and so on....This kind of dirt and sleeze is completly unacceptable.
A good parent teaches their children to stand up for themselves, to stand up for others, to be brave and to not compromise on their principles.
A good parent doesn't teach their children to be door mats for ANYBODY even if it means that you are putting yourself into an uncomfortable situation.
DBQ, exactly!!
I feel awful for this Jeremy guy. All he's doing is stating the following facts:
1. Letterman never said "Willow Palin". All he did was talk about the Palin daughter who was with Sarah at the ballgame. So that's Willow Palin.
2. Letterman never said "rape". He said "knocked up". And we all know that really means "consensual sex".
So what Jeremy agrees happened is that Letterman joked that 14 year old Willow Palin asked ARod to fuck her and she got pregnant. That's all Jeremy's saying.
It's like saying "Jeremy's mother was fucked by a pack of stray dogs".
A. We're not saying anyone's name - only "Jeremy's mother". So that could be anyone.
B. We all know that "fucked by a pack of stray dogs" means "knitted a sweater with the church sewing circle".
So, "Jeremy's mother was sodomized by a pack of dogs" really means that Estelle Getty and the girls from church made a sweater. That strikes me as self-evident from Jeremy's posts. You all should stop picking on him.
"Why was Jeremy's mother fucked by a pack of stray dogs?"
That's a pretty good straight line.
I liked the end of this: Palin Slams Letterman's 'Sexually Perverted' Joke:
Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, are swinging back at David Letterman after the talk-show host made the Alaska governor and her family the focus of a series of off-color jokes.
After two days of back and forth between Alaska's first family and the late-night talk show host, the Palins today refused Letterman's invitation to come on his show after he offered an apology for comments Letterman made earlier in the week about the governor and her daughter.
"The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman," PalinPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said today.
"These jokes are not hurting the party, and they're not damaging Palin by any means. She should have just ignored them."
True. True. And she can't.
You can't ignore something when reporters and who all else are asking you for your reaction. For all of that... I'm sure that someone had to *tell* her about it, and then ask for her reaction.
"I said this before, but I'll repeat it. I don't understand how people could think the joke was about Willow, not Bristol."
Because Willow was at the game and it's only FUNNY if it's Willow, not Bristol.
The "funny" is the call-back to the older sister and that the NEXT Palin daughter gets knocked up out of wedlock.
If it's Bristol, there is no "ha ha". Granted, Letterman is almost never funny at all, so maybe he did just mean that Bristol, no longer a minor and already a mother, just got pregnant again. Maybe he just made a mistake.
Darn good thing for him that it wasn't Piper at the game, huh.
BTW, my agreeing that this doesn't hurt Palin or the party only means that the more this sort of behavior and hatred is exposed the more Palin and the Republican party benefits.
Go read the comments after the linked article.
It's obscene how many people are expressing vile hatred and total approval for any sort of abuse that could possibly be directed at Sarah Palin and certainly her children and her husband as well. It's amazing how many people are mad at HER for somehow manufacturing this whole thing simply to get herself in the limelight... how she mind-controlled Letterman is never explained. This attack on HER and on her CHILD is portrayed as proof of how terrible she really is.
Reading through just about made me like and admire *Jeremy*, fer chrissake.
Did you hear about Letterman being ID'ed as the original Fordham Flasher? Or, did you hear about how Letterman's supposed wife turned him in to the cops since he was jerking off in front of his TV set? Or, did you hear about Letterman's rating dropping like a French ballon?
How about Letterman crying in front of his audience because the Palin's were so nasty to him, after all he'd once been a comedian! Did you hear about that?
Actually, ARod is coming on Letterman's show and Davie boy can hardly wait!
"Nice try Treacle. You fail to grasp who the joke is about."
The joke is on Sarah, the "daughter" incidental, not even named, just the daughter who happened to be at the game... not Bristol, or he'd have said *Bristol*. Who is pretending that the family members with Sarah Palin on the trip weren't known?
"If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now."
The joke wasn't on Bristol getting pregnant AGAIN, it was on Sarah Palin having ANOTHER daughter get pregnant.
It doesn't even make sense as a joke on Sarah Palin if it's Bristol. The subject of the joke, of the sentences that Letterman spoke, is Sarah Palin... and an unnamed daughter who was at the game... because he knew a daughter was at the game.
"Actually, ARod is coming on Letterman's show and Davie boy can hardly wait!"
Seriously?
Because I'd been wondering from the start how ARod felt about the "ha ha" of knocking up a 14 year old girl.
Nice shot by the Palins.
If I were Willow's dad I'd be inclined to highlight Letterman's fecklessness by publicly challenging him to a duel.
But I'm old fashioned that way.
Rev: "Is there some reason we should care what David Letterman is saying? Is this "Has-Beens of the 80s Week" and nobody told me?"
You know... not really.
I mean... not past saying, "Wow, Letterman is sure a jerk. The children of politicians should be off-limits and that was inexcusable."
And then everyone could nod, "Yes, yes. So true." And it would be over. Just like that.
But that's not what happened because there's always someone who pops up and says... "She deserved it, the B*tch, because she's a inbred Hillbilly slut! Bwa ha ha! And it's a JOKE, can't you take a JOKE? You right-wing extremist racists have no sense of humor. You know HUMOR? And besides, Rush once showed a picture of dog in place of Chelsea, so you're all HYPOCRITES, because we can be mad about the dog picture because it wasn't a JOKE and besides, did we mention that Sarah Palin DESERVES it?"
Drags that conversation out a bit, that does.
BTW, those left of center folks who don't care for Sarah Palin who did, in fact, make the simple statement that children of politicians, including hers, should not be the subject of "jokes" like that...
... your decency was noticed and appreciated.
Tina Fey's takeoff on Palin was funny and effective. Of all the slings and arrows directed against Palin during the campaign, it was arguably the most damaging. Sarah took it with good grace and even appeared on SNL to show that she was a good sport....Letterman's jibes were of a different order. It's not just that they were unfunny and smarmy; it's that they were delivered with such an air of smugness. And in his apology where he explained that the Palins' had an affirmative duty to take note that he was not mocking their fourteen year old daughter, but the older "knocked up" one, he looked not just condescending but clueless. Really, he looked just awful.....Jane Fonda went on to further fame and fortune after manning an anti-aircraft gun. Don't expect Letterman's career to suffer because of this. Well, Jane's life has been its own punishment. A similar fate awaits Letterman. If he can't see the wrongness of this, he will rub himself raw against his own neurotic edginess. A dead heart causes a dead heart.
NOW has put Letterman into their media Hall of Shame for his Palin jokes -- specifically the two that were aimed at the Palin girls. They even mentioned his 'slutty flight attendant' joke.
Apparently, there is a limit to how much NOW will turn a blind eye to sexism against Palin.
I wonder if me calling Dave's wife a whore and his child as a skanky ho would ALSO be funny to the man?
Thanks for the help, Treacle! You left out the part about how Obama shows great parenting skills by allowing his teenage daughter's boyfriend to move in with the family and then she gets pregnant. But thanks for the clarification, nonetheless.
At least he makes sure that his kids don't listen to bigots for years, right? That'd be pretty darned bad.
If Bristol wasn't on the Today Show talking about abstinence, if she wasn't in People Magazine talking about abstinence, if she wasn't pushing herself on people now then she'd be lousy material for 'joke' writers now.
He didn't attack Bristol --- which would've still been beyond the pale. He accused her 14 year old sister of being ARod's sperm receptacle.
I think I'd want the spotlight to move away from my kid, so I'd be saying as little as possible. I think. What is gained by replying to people who want a reaction to a joke in very bad taste?
So if I called your daughter a gutterslut who will fuck you as long as you have exact change --- you'd just ignore it, huh?
Great dad you are. Really.
What I find most bizarre is why you, or anybody for that matter, would care what a late night TV host has to say about anything.
Man, isn't the Left STILL obsessing over Rush insulting Chelsea about 16 years later?
What I find most bizarre is why you, or anybody for that matter, would care what a late night TV host has to say about anything.
Man, isn't the Left STILL obsessing over Rush insulting Chelsea about 16 years later?
Did you say something?
Well poor Sarah Palin was on the Today Show and complained (AGAIN!) about David Letterman joking that her daughter got fucked by ARod.
Matt Lauer pointed out that David Letterman never said "Willow" or "14 year old". All he did was make his fuck-joke in reference to the daughter who was at the game with Sarah Palin. And then Sarah Palin had to go and say "it was 14 year-old Willow who was with me at the game".
Boy, Sarah Palin really just doesn't get it: DAVID LETTERMAN WAS TALKING ABOUT THE DAUGHTER WHO WAS WITH YOU AT THE GAME! He wasn't talking about the 14 year old! He wasn't talking about Willow! He was talking about the daughter who was with you at the game!
Enough! Sometimes parents need to learn that they really shouldn't defend their young teenage kids who do irresponsible things like go to baseball games with Mom.
The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word.
And saying that an older teenage girl who has sex with her long time (?) boyfriend is a “whore” is totally ok? That shit is beyond Sarah Palin.
Apparently, there is a limit to how much NOW will turn a blind eye to sexism against Palin.
Good. This last campaign had the most sexism I have seem openly in public in a long damn time.
Why don't you take a seat Mr. Letterman.
Take a seat. Right over there.
Please take this towel and cover yourself.
What are you doing here?
The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others .
I'm curious how Palin could have imposed these virtures.
"I'm curious how Palin could have imposed these virtues."
It's a bit like how homophobes feel gayness might be caught by proximity to gay people.
Anyone with a moral position is threatening to others. They impose these virtues by having a stance on certain issues, and then, flagrantly, daring to go out in public and talk about their opinions.
Treacle, you win the 2009 Pulitzer for Best Use of Sarcasm on a Blog, Political or Personal.
God, it's too bad Letterman isn't running for office, then this might actually mean something...but, he isn't...he just signed another massive contract with CBS.
Palin won't be running either.
Mark my words...she's nothing more than a darling of the far, far right yahoos who have little if any effect on who the next GOP candidate will be in 1012.
By the way...WHO IS the leader of the GOP...Hoosier??
You know, if she is so irrelevant, one must ask: Why is the Left spending so much time and effort demonizing her?
Conservatives barely give Ed Schultz the time...largely because he actually IS irrelevant.
Jeremy: Jeez, you don't know anything do you! I was the leader of the GOP until a palace revolt threw me over in favor of my neighbor who drives a bigger and faster SUV, who was in turn replaced by a former Blue Dog Dem -Marxist, who'd been kicked out cuz he wasn't mean enough to little old ladies crossing the street against the red light.
So, Jeremy, grow up or get your f'ing facts straight, you ad hominem piece of crap.
Jeez, can't you and your Marxist / Commie pals, fags, twits, pieces of schwiss, dipsos, Letterman lovers, do any better than that, you piece of worst bottom ten of all time. Who do you think you are, Olbermann?
Now that was fun!
Listen to Mommy. SHUT THE FUCK UP JEREMY!
scinfinity said..."You know, if she is so irrelevant, one must ask: Why is the Left spending so much time and effort demonizing her?"
He did a Top Ten...once.
This story will be history as soon as Princess Palin stops showing up on TV shows promoting her hurt feelings.
Please forgive Jeremy everyone. I breast fed him until he was 14 so he's pretty fucked up when it comes to women.
He did a Top Ten...once.
We then had Couric making jokes. We have monkeys like you making comments constantly. We have the press obsessing...over the Governor of Alaska.
Oh, and then we have sleazy dead men like Larry King obsessing over the sex life of her 18 yr old daughter.
Why do powerful women scare you so?
"If so, then the joke is not aimed at either of the older Palin daughters. The joke is aimed at Gov. Palin and criticizes her as a hypocrite because she would impose traditional sexual virtue on others while she raises a daughter who is a whore, in the broader sense of the word."
Finally someone understands that Sarah Palin is the butt of this joke!
This is not a joke about the 'daughter's' sluttishness, it is a joke about how Sarah Palin is a hypocrite.
If you wish to attack Letterman on the basis that Sarah Palin is NOT a hypocrite, fine, but to imply that eh is making a joke about statutory rape, well, anyone who would do that clearly has pedophilic tendencies.
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