Wednesday, June 10, 2009

David Letterman's shame: Only a disgusting, perverted old man would make jokes about raping a 14-year-old girl

David Letterman descends into the trash heap of television history

This story has been reported widely, but I can't in good conscience let it pass without saying that David Letterman had revealed himself to be a really rotten, nasty and worthless excuse for a human being,

Governor Sarah Palin traveled to New York City last weekend where she got a lot of publicity. Among other things, she took in a Yankees game at the new stadium. With her at the game was her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

Letterman took off on Sarah Palin in his Monday night show. He hit her hard with a barbed joke about looking like "a slutty flight attendant." Fair enough. Governor Palin is a politician, a public figure and a grown up. But then, the 62-year-old Letterman made a totally out-of-bounds joke about 14-year-old Willow. As reported by Politico:

Riffing on Palin’s trip to New York last weekend, Letterman joked Monday night that during the seventh inning of the Yankees game “her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”

Shockingly, even with 24 hours to ponder just how vile it is to tell such a joke on national television about a someone's child, Letterman went from bad to worse:

Letterman followed up on the line Tuesday night, joking that “the toughest part of her visit was keeping [former New York Gov.] Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”

I suppose someone at CBS or "The Late Show" thought that throwing disgraced Democrat Spitzer into the mix proved something. But this joke is even more reprehensible, since Spitzer's downfall came as a result of his habit of chasing whores.

Letterman owes everyone an apology, but I'm not holding my breath. It's a tragedy for all Americans that our political discourse has become so divided, partisan, hostile and bitter, with right and left, Republicans and Democrats, outdoing each other in hurling insults and epithets. For all that, however, the politicians, pundits and reporters have by and large considered under-age children to be off-limits.

But they are not off limits for one old, vile, perverted "comedian," David Letterman.

Anyone who thinks I'm going to far should consider this: President Obama's daughter, Malia, will turn 14 when her father is still in the White House and likely in the middle of his campaign for reelection, which may be hard fought. Is there any doubt that a "comedian" who made anything remotely like this "joke" about Malia Obama in 2012 would be run out of show business?

What do you think of Letterman's shame. Post a comment. I'd be interested in whatever might pass for a defense of him.

3 comments:

  1. DAVID LETTERMAN'S HATE, etc. !

    Speaking of anti-Semitism, it's Jerry Falwell and other fundy leaders who've gleefully predicted that in the future EVERY nation will be against Israel (an international first?) and that TWO-THIRDS of all Jews will be killed, right?
    Wrong! It's the ancient Jewish prophet Zechariah who predicted all this in the 13th and 14th chapters of his book! The last prophet, Malachi, explains the reason for this future Holocaust that'll outdo even Hitler's by stating that "Judah hath dealt treacherously" and "the Lord will cut off the man that doeth this" and asks "Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?"
    Haven't evangelicals generally been the best friends of Israel and Jewish persons? Then please explain the recent filthy, hate-filled, back-stabbing tirades by David Letterman (and Sandra Bernhard) against a leading evangelical named Sarah Palin, and explain why most Jewish leaders have seemingly condoned Palin's continuing "crucifixion"!
    While David and Sandra are tragically turning comedy into tragedy, they are also helping to speed up and fulfill the Final Holocaust a la Zechariah and Malachi, thus helping to make the Bible even more believable!

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  2. I agree. Letterman is an old, vile, pathetic excuse for a comedian. He has no taste, isn't funny any more, and should be off the air.

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  3. The most annoying aspect of this situation is that the NYT omitted the sentence about Palin's daughter getting "knocked up" when they ran a story covering the ensuing controversy. They claimed the omission was because they have "standards" on what types of information they print. Sure. They can print all the sordid details (including photos) of prisoner abuse in Gitmo but they cannot reprint the joke that way the source of the outcry. Instead, they just reprinted teh top ten list and left it at that, making it seem as though crazy conservatives were all bent out of shape over a few jabs at a public figure.

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