“What’s the big deal about being called a slut and a whore” the leftist shill talking head wants to know
This Letterman fiasco is an absolute coup for Palin in particular and conservatives in general. She couldn’t have wished for a better inoculation against personal attacks on her kids or on her own looks and dress and sexuality.
Anything that remotely touches on any of that now is going to be radioactive, and NOW is going to have her back, or they’ll risk looking like fools, after making a stink now. That’s why leftist feminists usually stay out of these quarrels, because leftists are the worst offenders, and the risk for internecine warfare is too great. Witness the Paula Jones, et al betrayal by feminists.
If you know Letterman’s work, this is really nothing out of the ordinary, btw.
Other than the mistake of using a 14 year old, this is typical Dave. His most iconic moments are when he’s being an asshole, even to his own guests (Shirley MacLaine, Madonna). Using a 14 year old in a sexual joke is the kind of joke your asshole buddy tells. “Oh man, we all hate Palin / Clinton / Oprah / Roseanne / Rosie, but that’s crossing a line!” we’d say while laughing, then forget it.
Dave plugs A-Rod and Guiliani and Spitzer into a joke regularly, because just invoking their names gets a laugh from his easy audience. Palin was just a lazy trope to use because of course, all right-thinking people know Palin and her family are a joke, and therefore fair game.
It’s fair to analyze some of these jokes on their merits, as well. To be fair, bad taste has never automatically negated comedy. It could be so wrong, yet still make you laugh. Letterman has been at the highest level of stand-up there is for many years. It’s fair to critique his high-paid hacks on their work. And their work is shit. Is it always this bad? I haven’t really watched him since he moved to CBS.
See, this is why Err America was so unfunny, even though they attempted their own brand of “humor”, much like Limbaugh does, with pre-taped comedy skits and pieces. For humor to be funny, it has to resonate on some level. Ok, Bristol is promiscuous, we’ll give him that, but is A-Rod up on a dozen paternity suits, or even one? He may well be, but anyone outside NYC doesn’t know it if he is. So the joke doesn’t make sense. A-Rod is just plugged in because he’s a typical Letterman target or really, filler, like using monkeys or weasels in a joke, and the seals obediently clap.
Hard-working comedians must hate fuckers like Letterman and Jon Stewart who just mouth buzz-words get laughs. Real comedians must devise jokes, develop them, work on the timing and wording and find a way to make a witty thought or humorous construction really work. Not Letterman, though.
The Spitzer joke is particularly lazy and bad: he may have his faults, but I don’t recall anyone accusing Spitzer of being a child molester or a sexual harasser, just a patron of prostitutes. The only way the joke makes any sense at all is if you equate Willow with a prostitute, which is ridiculous, but not funny ridiculous. That, and the A-Rod/Bristol one, are really lazy jokes. They are premised on people laughing not at the clever formulation of the joke, but on the fact that Dave is being an asshole and ripping on A-Rod, Palin and her kids and Spitzer, all targets who are safely risible. You can say just about anything about them and get a laugh, if it’s Dave’s audience. Koch, Guiliani and Bloomberg ditto. He’d never in a million years do it to Obama’s kids, because that’s not a safe target.
Another point here, the huge winner is Palin. By Dave going too far and dragging NOW into it to defend Palin, there is now a bright line drawn. Anyone who takes shots at her kids or her own sexuality, looks, dress, make-up, hair-style or other personal, feminine qualities is going to be compared to Letterman. This is a huge boon to Palin. Lefties will still say this crap privately, but it won’t be on the tongues of network anchors and cable talking heads, you can bet on that.
I’m interested if this has legs. Is Letterman really that valuable to CBS anymore, versus his cost? Would they throw him under the bus ala Imus, if the pressure really builds up? Palin has a great moral high-ground here, she is very sympathetic in this story, and it has the added benefit of publicizing why she was in NYC to begin with, to receive an award for humanitarian work (something you’d never see Michelle Obama getting, at least before all the honorary ones she’ll reap as first lady, not from her own charitable work, which is nil.)
Another thought is what Johnny Carson would have thought of all this. Never in a million years would Johnny have made this kind of joke, But then, his work was never based on mean humor. That’s the only kind Letterman does. And it doesn’t age well. What was funny when he was a brash youngster just seems bitter and hateful now. I can’t fathom who watchs him anymore. Do college kids still think he’s hip? Really? I can’t believe that. It must be aging boomers who watch him from habit is all I can figure.
This episode kind of points up the bankruptcy of Letterman’s “comedy”, if there were any longer any doubt he’s just phoning it in. How far is he from just standing on the stand and yelling: “Eliot Spitzer! Bristol Palin! Monkeys! Weasels!” and getting laughs from his brain-dead audience? Just how fucking stupid are New Yorkers, anyway?
I think this is a net plus for the GOP and for Palin. It’s also highlighting how liberal entertainers attack conservatives in an unfair, boorish, tasteless and even obscene manner, daily. Now, when anyone else does it, it’s going to look like piling on and they are going to be compared to Letterman “There they go again, the classless bastards” is going to be a handy byword for all conservatives in slamming the slammers, from now on.
And NOW and other feminist groups are going to have to call people on it or appear inconsistent. It’s win-win for Palin and for the GOP and conservative women in general. Any leftist blogger who is defending Letterman looks stupid, hypocritical and childish.
One main reason is Obama has kids about Palin’s kids’ ages. Palin’s kids are no more responsible for their parents’ politics than Obama’s are. Lefties really, really really don’t want to get into defending attacking people’s kids, or they leave Obama’s kids open for ridicule. And that would cause heads to explode. Obama has left them just as exposed by sitting them in interviews with national mags to garner good press for himself and using them as campaign props. It’s lose-lose for the lefties, just as it’s win-win for Palin and conservatives.
I think any good conservative should welcome this opportunity out of something evil and filthy.
more:
The Corner: A Boor and a Coward – Victor Davis Hanson
Powerline: Letterman Explains
AOSHQ: Shriveled Up Old “Comic”: Yeah, I Made A Joke About Palin’s Kid And It Was In “Poor Taste” But It’s What I Do So Move On
Tim Blair: Letterman Blew It Bigtime
Hot Air/Treacher Let’s Break Down This Letterman/Palin Deal for Our Good Friends on the Left
David Letterman’s Stupid Blame-Dodging Tricks
Child Sexually Abused By Adoptive Parents « Nuke Gingrich Hot Air » Blog Archive » Kathleen Parker: Palin kind of asked for those nasty Letterman jokes, didn’t she?
Frankly, My Dear… » Blog Archive » People In Glass Houses…. lead and gold
So When Will Letterman Joke About Obama’s Mother Being a Whore? « AmeriCAN-DO Attitude Kerfuffles :: Why David Letterman Hates the Palins :: June :: 2009
Ed Driscoll » Stupid Talk Show Tricks
David Letterman’s Hatred of Sarah Palin « Kerfuffles and Flourishes
James Lileks: The Bleat
JammieWearingFool: It Would Be Wise to Keep Willow Away From David Letterman
Don Surber: Why the Left Ridicules Women
Malkin: Why They Hate Us
Oh my: NOW inducts Letterman into its “Media Hall of Shame”
I come in praise of…N.O.W.? | Pundit Review GayPatriot » Better Late Than Never; NOW Takes Letterman to Task
Oh my: NOW inducts Letterman into its “Media Hall of Shame” – Hotair.com AddingInfo.com
What if Ashley Biden was Bristol Palin? Jim Blazsik
