Lettercreep and Sarah Palin
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I never thought I would be quoting NOW about anything but I think that this time they are pretty right:
"Late night TV host David Letterman "joked" that during their recent trip to New York, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter "was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez" during a Yankees baseball game. The next night Letterman said that the hardest part of Palin's trip was "keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter."
After two nights of "jokes" at the expense of Palin and her family, Letterman tried to explain himself and offer something of an apology. On his June 10 show, Letterman said he was referring to Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol -- not the 14-year-old daughter who actually accompanied Palin on her New York trip. Letterman said "I recognize that these are ugly" jokes.
NOW agrees. Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age. The sexualization of girls and women in the media is reaching new lows these days -- it is exploitative and has a negative effect on how all women and girls are perceived and how they view themselves.
Letterman also joked about what he called Palin's "slutty flight attendant look" -- yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician's appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman's stature, who appears on what used to be known as "the Tiffany Network" (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.
Source
The thing that gets me is what would have happened if Lettercreep had said the same about Mrs Obama and her daughters?
And flight attendants are certainly not amused.
Good to see that Sarah is hitting back, though. That is how objectionable language SHOULD be dealt with: by critique and counterargument, not recourse to speech laws.
Another good comment on the matter here
41 comments:
I thought it was pretty damn funny. Fuck her if she can't take a joke.
A joke, much like her political career.
SAVE DAVE!!
Anon-1, you are a perfect example of the total lack of tolerence by those on the left for anyone who disagrees with them. You also prove that leftists are true lowlifes.
As for Dave Laterman, they should've sent this left-wing has-been back to the midwest farm he came from years ago, when they realized he couldn't hold a candle to Leno.
It's interesting to see how the "laws" of political correctness are suspended when it comes to one of Commiewoods own leftist losers. These continuing attacks on Gov. Palin are simply a sign of how much the Left fears her.
Letterman was over the line on his comments. He owes the Palins an apology.
John's comment about what would have happened had Letterman made the same joke about Obama and daughters brought up another question - have any jokes been made about Obama on any of the late night talk shows?
I don't watch late night TV or pay much attention to news about it, so don't know that answer, but I'd be suprised if any had.
And, Anon 1:24 - right on. Good post.
Anon 12:49,
That's the whole point, she can take the jokes on herself. Obama made it clear that his daughters were off limits. Why shouldn't the dame rule apply to others as well? And for the record, she would be doing a better job the the"choen one" is right now, although I don't know that McCain would!
"Obama made it clear that his daughters were off limits. Why shouldn't the dame rule apply to others as well?"
Palin dragged her brood around along with the guy who knocked up her oldest daughter (the one Dave was referring). Letterman does not need to exploit her children with humor; Palin has done a good job of it by herself.
Anon 3:53 AM: You say its ok talk smack about Palin because she dragged her brood around? You do realize that Obama also dragged his brood around, right? So then comments about his daughters must also be fair game. And lets compare this to what Imus said on his show. It was no less wrong or disrespectful. He should suffer the same fate.
Sure, why not. ANYONE who drags their family into the political arena deserves what they get. Some holds true for the "reality" shows such as Jon and Kate+8. Exploitation is exploitation regardless of political leanings or commercial gain.
Anon 12:49,
So slander is called "humor" now?
Must be that "NewSpeak" thing Orwell wrote about.
Fact: Oldest Palin daughter knocked up by high school drop-out.
Fact: Oldest Palin daughter preached about sexual abstinence on the friendly TV talk shows after having baby.
Consequence 1: oldest Palin daughter taken to task via opinion and humor.
Consequence 2: right wing motto: "Do what I say, not what I do."
Fact: Obama mother got knocked up without being married and the result was the BIG b.o.
And I am still waiting for Alex to chime in! Letterman said on a world-wide TV show that Alex likes to have sex with 14 year old girls.
Mobius
"Fact: Obama mother got knocked up without being married and the result was the BIG b.o."
Yeah, so?
The best way to look at it would be to put yourself in their place. How would you react to somebody saying your daughter is a slut?
As for the 'trolls' popping up on these blogs, keep it up! You not only make me laugh, but other commentors seems to take your bait!
"I thought it was pretty damn funny. Fuck her if she can't take a joke."
---Can I play "Barrack the Magic Negro" at work? No. So I guess civility only applies to our beloved black President and his holy family.
Besides, Sarah Palin wasn't with Bristol at the baseball game but with her 14-year-old daughter. Letterman should have checked his facts before telling that joke.
With that said, Bristol Palin has no business preaching abstinence after getting pregnant. I don't mind if she teaches the consequences of unprotected sex, the horrors of pregnancy, the expense of a new baby, and stuff like that. But how can you preach abstinence when you fail at abstinence? That's like Bernie Maddoff preaching financial ethics or Arnold Schwartznegger preaching against steroids (which he admits using but now condemns).
I love Sarah Palin but I wish she hadn't let her daughter enter the public arena by giving public lectures that the media is obviously going to cover.
Bristol needs to go to college or join the army, maybe put the baby up for adoption or let someone else raise it while she gets her sh-t together.
"So I guess civility only applies to our beloved black President and his holy family."
You betcha.
-Sarah
Yes Bristol screwed up. But after she made her bad choice, she followed up with good choices and took responsibility for her actions.
Remember, experience is the best teacher. She has the experience of how such a mistake can mess with your life. What's wrong with Bristol telling people that she screwed up and that they should not make the same mistake?
If it was Obama's kids, Letterman could have added, "keeping up with the family tradition" in reference to Obama's mom.
OR
When the family went to France, Letterman could have made the same spin by saying "keeping up with the family tradition of an international lifestyle, the Obama girls got knocked-up by drunk Muslim foreign diplomats"
I'd be pissed.
Anon 7:31 said;
"With that said, Bristol Palin has no business preaching abstinence after getting pregnant."
On the contrary. She is the pefect person to preach, since she's been through it and is now suffering for it. Would you prefer a virgin teach about abstinence?
As for the Muslim half-breed in the Oval Office, i think the Letterman attack (and he's only one of the leftists attacking) on Gov. Palin now makes Obummer's family legitimate targets for humor, slander, liable, and insults. In fact, the very same treatment the Palins have received.
"Yes Bristol screwed up. But after she made her bad choice, she followed up with good choices and took responsibility for her actions."
---I think it's too soon. Look, when Ted Haggard was caught with a prostitute he lost everything he had going in the evangelical movement, it will be YEARS before they trust him again, if ever.
Bristol on the other hand gets pregnant, gives birth, and suddenly she's a spokeswoman for abstinence? Don't you think it's a little too soon? Can't the abstinence movement find someone that didn't get pregnant? That was able to control her hormones?
And by the way, if Bristol has made good choices how come her boyfriend is complaining that he doesn't have enough access to his baby? How come the Palins are thrashing him in the media for seeking publicity while Bristol is out there giving speeches?
Honestly, if Bristol was my daughter I would ask her not to seek the spotlight until she can earn it for something better than being the daughter of Sarah Palin.
Politically speaking, the kid is a liability, I really hope she gets her act together because if she gets pregnant again the media will use that to thrash Sarah and ever her supporters will start to question him.
Every is still concentrating on Sarah and forgetting about the slutty flight attendance, getting pissed off! Letterman's biggest worry now has to be the next time he gets on a flight and some slutty flight attendant, "accidentally" pours a pot of HOT coffee on his lap.
Mobius
Anon 4:26, extending your "logic", it would be OK if people did the same thing to your family, wife and kids. Nevermind, you probably still live in your parent's basement.
Anon 12:57. Exactly his point. Either nobody may be attacked as Letterman attacked the Palins, or we are all vulnerable to such attacks.
If everyone, even liberals, observed the tolerance of others as preached by liberals no such attacks would occur.
Bobby: Just why shouldn't Bristol preach abstinance? There's a good chance she has first hand experience with the falibility of birth control methods. Even if she doesn't, she certainly has experienced being a teen, unmarried, and pregnant. She's very qualified to talk about all aspects of teen pregnancy, including the best methods of not becoming pregnant.
Following your logic no recovered alcoholic should ever advise others on the dangers of alcohol, or no reformed drug adict should ever work to prevent drug abuse.
A few things people seem to have overlooked.
1) Letterman doesn't even WRITE the top ten list (where this joke was). We know this because he constantly says at the beginning of every one "from the home office is (i think it's) Grand Rapids Michigan, here is tonight's top ten list". So clearly his writers need to check their facts, not Dave.
2) Anyone who would actually think that it was the younger daughter being referred to and not the one who actually GOT knocked up is clearly mentally deficient.
3)Leno made a joke about the exact same thing. Result: Zero media attention. Double standard much?
Oh, and for the guy who doesn't watch the late night shows, yeah, they make jokes about Obama. It's their JOB!
"Bobby: Just why shouldn't Bristol preach abstinance? There's a good chance she has first hand experience with the falibility of birth control methods."
---I think she got pregnant because she didn't use birth control methods.
"Even if she doesn't, she certainly has experienced being a teen, unmarried, and pregnant. She's very qualified to talk about all aspects of teen pregnancy, including the best methods of not becoming pregnant."
---Fine, I'll grant you that with one exception, the only method she's preaching is abstinence, that's not very realistic, is it? That's like saying "the only way to prevent car crashes is taking the bus." Why not talk about oral sex, anal sex, mutual masturbation, kissing, rubbing bodies, etc? There are other methods that are great at preventing pregnancies.
"Following your logic no recovered alcoholic should ever advise others on the dangers of alcohol, or no reformed drug addict should ever work to prevent drug abuse."
---You know, in AA they give you a 30 day sobriety patch, then a 60 day, then 90 days, etc. The point is you have to be sober for a long time before you have the moral authority to preach sobriety.
Bristol would be better off concentrating on her own life, growing as a person, learning from her mistakes, and then she can preach whatever she wants. Right now she's an easy-target for criticism.
Look at it this way, when a priest prepares himself for an exorcism he might engage in prayer and fasting for 3 days. The point of that is to make yourself as pure as possible to be strong when fighting the devil. Bristol's "3 days" are the equivalent of at least 1 year, or better yet, 2 years.
"Look at it this way, when a priest prepares himself for an exorcism he might engage in prayer and fasting for 3 days."
They don't seriously still do that kind of thing, do they?
Are we in the dark ages again?
"Are we in the dark ages again?"
Only if conservatives have their way.
"They don't seriously still do that kind of thing, do they?"
---Yes they do, you should read this book: http://thedemonologist.net/
"Are we in the dark ages again?"
---We are in the secular dark ages, a world where we worship secularism, mother nature, materialism, and fix every problem by taking a pill.
Demons are real, demonology is a real science, just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean they don't exist.
"Demons are real, demonology is a real science, just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean they don't exist."
Are you suggesting that Buffy The Vampire Slayer is a documentary?
I know this is off topic now, but what the hell!!!
You know what? I also haven't experienced unicorns on the far side of the moon. Does that mean that they exist too?
Please explain how demonology is a science? How is the existence of demons proved through observation and analysis using the scientific method?
Did ya hear the one about Dave's kid, Harry, doing the entire bench at the game on Friday? Dave's got him trained well.
SAVE DAVE!!
"---Yes they do, you should read this book: http://thedemonologist.net/"
Isn't that one of the Harry Potter or Anne Rice books?
Remember to check under your bed for the bogeyman.
Bobby:
"---I think she got pregnant because she didn't use birth control methods."
That's possible. It doesn't mean she can't promote abstinance, the most effective method of birth control even if not many practice it.
The other 'methods' you mention just add temptation to intercourse. Some, in fact, might consider them foreplay.
You are entitled to your opinion.
But you're wrong. :)
Look 2:45 AM, I don't have the time or the patience to explain to you things you could be researching yourself.
Hey Dean,
"The other 'methods' you mention just add temptation to intercourse. Some, in fact, might consider them foreplay."
---I'm surprised at your comment, you can achieve climax through the other methods, which is why they are just as valid as vaginal intercourse. I agree that abstinence is 100% safe, but, if you're going to have sex, wouldn't you rather have the sex that has no chance in hell of creating a baby?
It's all about self-control.
"Look 2:45 AM, I don't have the time or the patience to explain to you things you could be researching yourself."
Hey, if I'm gonna 'research' stuff people just made up as they went along; I'll pick something a little more entertaining, like Star Wars.
That said, Buffy is pretty cheap on dvd these days, maybe I'll pick up a season or two and look into this 'research' you reccommend.
Anon 3:49,
Go right ahead and enjoy your strawman argument. I hear Buffy is supposed to be quite entertaining. (Never watched it myself.)
But if you want to deal with the actual statements instead of your logical fallacy, ditch Buffy and do some legitimate research.
"But if you want to deal with the actual statements instead of your logical fallacy, ditch Buffy and do some legitimate research."
Are you from the Discovery Institute? Sure sounds like you support junk science.
Anon 10:01,
I'm not sure precisely what Bobby meant because I would need to do my own research to discover and check out what he's talking about. I know that there are people who spend significant time studying demons. I don't.
I can say for certain that it's not Buffy the Vampire Slayer which is obvious fiction. To claim that's what he meant is to build a strawman instead of looking at his actual claims, a well known logical fallacy.
A logical fallacy?
He's talking about the damn bogey man being real!
I'm all for reasoned debate of ideas, but if I went around saying that the moon was made of ribs, would you really consider that an idea worthy of debate past "no it isn't, are you nuts?"
If you want to attack his idea of demons, then you need to look at what his idea of demons is. Substituting some other definition (i.e., Buffy) is not legitimate. It is that substitution which is a strawman fallacy.
"if I went around saying that the moon was made of ribs, would you really consider that an idea worthy of debate past "no it isn't, are you nuts?""
…because we have solid evidence of what the moon is made of.
What evidence do you have about whether or not demons exist? What evidence does he have? Have you compared the two? Or are you dismissing the idea because of a priori assumptions on your part?
Well, I, admittedly perhaps unwarrantedly, presumed that his definition of a 'demon' was the same as everyone else's. A thing with horns on it's head from "hell", possibly with some kind of magical power. Oddly, this is also the definition used in Buffy, so it was a valid comparison.
Since you seem knowledgeable of argument types, I think it would also be same to say that you are fully aware that it is, in fact, impossible to prove that something does NOT exist. Therefore the burden of proof is on him to prove that 'demons' DO exist. And since they've never shown up in museums or on the news, he can't prove that.
Instead he makes clearly false assertions that "demonology is a real science". How do we know it is not? Simple. Universities and colleges offer degree programs in "real sciences", therefore, if it IS a real science, many universities and colleges would offer this as an option (or at least a transfer program).
Provide the names of 20 universities that offer a degree program in "Demonology" under a Bachelor of Science. If it's a real science, 20 should be no problem. Hell, name 10.
"Instead he makes clearly false assertions that "demonology is a real science"."
---Fine, I should have said that parasychology is a real science, demonology is a subdivision of that science.
Here's an article on Parasychology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
Here's an article on demonology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonology
There are cases of demonic posession in all religions and even unbelievers that have suffered the effects of possession. While there are cases that have to do with psychological delusions, others include evidence that defies science such as speaking on a language a common person wouldn't know (aramaic for example), levitation, cuts in areas of the body the person can't reach, etc.
In the end, I can't convince skeptics of that just like they can't convince me of the theoretical ideas of quantum physics.
I mentioned the fasting process exorcists undergo to purify themselves as an analogy of what Bristol must do to become a credible abstinence spokeswoman. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe she's already pure, but I doubt it.
Alternate Consequence 2 in the ninth comment: Oldest Palin daughter learned her lesson and is in a position to detail the mistakes she made, and serve as a warning so others don't repeat her mistakes.
And by the way, "Do as I say, not as I do" is a LEFTIST motto. The right wing motto is much closer to "Give me liberty or give me death!" or "Don't tread on me".
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