Letterman crossed the line but Sarah & Todd Palin are the ones guilty of victimizing their daughter

[wndycty]

Cross posted at my blog: http://snurl.com/k0cde

Letterman crossed the line but Sarah and Todd Palin are the ones guilty of victimizing their daughter
Alaska’s first family is pulling the classic “flop” move, unfortunately they are exploiting their 14-year old daughter and its beyond sick

When David Letterman told his joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter this week it crossed the line in that the children, even adult children, of politicians are supposed to be off limits.

While many of us assume that Letterman’s joke was about Palin’s 18-year old daughter, who is an unwed mother and has made herself a public figure by becoming a spokeswoman for an abstinence campaign, the Palin’s quickly claimed that Letterman was going after their 14-year old daughter.

"Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is ... disgusting,” said Governor Palin.

Todd Palin added, "any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable."

Hold up! Hold the F’ up! Letterman never said such a thing. He never mentioned a name, he never mentioned an age, he never mentioned anything about rape . . . THE PALIN’S DID!

I am watching commentators taking Palin’s side in this and as I have said Letterman deserves to be criticized, but he does not deserve the accusation of making jokes about raping the Palin’s 14-year old daughter.

Shame on the media for playing into Palin’s sick and calculating hands by allowing her and Todd to get away with accusing Letterman of something he did not do. Give them a forum to voice their displeasure but don't let them get away misrepresenting what was said.

If the Palin’s truly were outraged and concerned about their children they would have put a call into Letterman’s bosses at CBS demanded an apology and moved on. But instead they embellished an already off color joke to make it worse and in effort to leverage it for political gain.

This is a lot like a “flop” move made in basketball or soccer when a player dramatically flops when they make contact with an opposing player in an effort to look like they have been hurt in hopes that the player will get slapped with a penalty.

The tragedy is if the Palin’s didn’t draw attention to this joke by issuing statements, talking to Sean Hannity about it, talking THE TODAY SHOW about it, etc. this joke would have died at the water cooler the next day. While their 14-year old, or for that matter 18-year old daughter, would have heard about it they would not have had to witness a discussion of their sexuality or their rape dominating the news cycles. That good be good for the self esteem for either one of them, but evidently it is excellent for their parents.

Tell me who is the sick one in this is. The comedian who told an off color, tasteless joke or the mother and father who saw it as moment to exploit it, their daughter and the unwanted attention for political gain? Letterman told an off color joke. Todd and Sarah are the ones who twisted that joke into it being about a 14-year old being raped.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Agree. Letterman shouldn't have, but THEY - the parents - are responsible for using their kid as a

prop.

Still no reason to go after the kid.

[JI7]

2. they are shitty parents, forcing the kids to stay up for those hate events during the campaign

i hate these people

[sandnsea]

3. "made herself a public figure"

Consequently Bristol Palin is no longer entitled to off-limits protection. The second she went on a talk show and proclaimed she was an abstinence spokeswoman, she became open to jokes and criticism.

Todd and Sarah Palin interpreted something that nobody else did, most likely because they wanted to.

[elehhhhna]

4. my daughters would be mortified were I to insist on keeping

them in the public eye like these people.

DL was off w/ that comment but let it sink, Sarah.

[EFerrari]

5. Letterman did a joke about two public figures. That's what comedians do.

[rustydog]

6. The Palins are alaska's northern version of Trailer Trash

who happen to be Governor and "first dude".
Shit, look at how stupid GW Bush was and he was the friggin Decider!

The sad thing is, the Palins' don't know they are a joke. They don't see the hypocrisy of having a daughter who didn't stay "pure" until marriage, yet Palin kept telling the rest of America how to live. Of having a suspected crooked Alaskan Administration and palling aoround with crooked Republicans while Sara gleefully accused the now President of "pallin' around with terrorists!

Then daddy Palin bribes sinning daughter with a new car if she dumps the father of the baby?

If I tried to sell this as a script to Hollywood, they would insist there ain't no family as fucked up as all that.

[Berry Cool]

24. Oh, they know, all right.

Why do you think they're so full of faux outrage right now? Because they hope that if they're vocal enough about defending Willow's supposedly impugned honor, everyone will forget that they let their older teenage daughter get knocked up right under their roof.

[Kerrytravelers]

7. I would never have through "statutory rape." Now, that is all the Palin's can say.

Tells you where their brain is at. Looking for fundraising dollars by being outrageous.

[Cha]

8. Thanks for this, Wndycty..Rec'd~ The corporatemediawhores always

showed palin-mccain rallies more than they did Obama-Biden.

Here's a buzzflash analysis that exposes her cruelty to her children, too.

<snip>

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Chad Rubel

"If you don't think Sarah Palin is dangerous -- and chances are, you are already do -- what she and her husband Todd pulled off this week is just the latest chapter in "Which Palin family member will be sacrificed to make Sarah Palin look like a martyr."

She got a significant percentage of the population to think David Letterman was actually making a sex joke about a 14-year-old girl and got Letterman to apologize profusely for something he never did.

Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg News put it best when talking to Keith Olbermann last night on "Countdown."

"David Letterman did not drag the 14-year-old daughter into this. The Palins dragged the 14-year-old daughter into it. And it was absolutely egregious. And they obviously hunger for this kind of melodrama."

<more>>>>
http://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/813

[chat_noir]

33. Willow Palin is 15 years old

According to commenters at the Anchorage Daily News, Willow was born in January, 1994. That makes her 15 1/2 years old.

What "14 year old" are Sarah and First Dud referring to?

[wndycty]

34. So when Willow starts driving in January of 2010. . .

. . .what will they tell us?

[rvablue]

9. I disagree with you that all politicians kids, regardless of age, are off limits.

Seems to me, and rightly so, that there has been extensive criticism of Liz Cheney on here as of late.

Why, because she's splashed herself all over our teevees preaching about right and wrong.

And so did Bristol Palin. She has sex and got pregnant but now nobody else should. :eyes:

They are both hypocrites. They are both making coin preaching their BS on my teevee.

And hence, they are open to criticism and examination....and for that matter, late night show humor.

If you don't want to be seen, heard, mocked or photographed, get off my teevee and go home.

And if you want to check out some horrible, mean, degrading remarks about politician's kids just go do a search of "Meaghan McCain" over at Free Republic. While I don't agree with it, the fact of the matter is that she put herself out on teevee, too, and is responsible for the spotlight on her and all that comes with it now....

[NavyDavy]

12. or Chelsea Clinton....they were horrible when it came to her....and

she did not bring herself out for any cause at the time....

[glitch]

10. I have a hunch the Palin's would win any "most offensive" contest. nt

[eleny]

11. Two wrongs don't make a right ... BUT... Letterman apologized

On the other hand the Palin's are milking this situation for all they can.

Thinking back to how it was at the ages of their daughters, I imagine those girls wish their parents would stfu already.

[katandmoon]

13. The Palins used Bristol, now they're using Willow, to make political hay.

I can't and don't feel too sorry for Dave Letterman. I don't have to like Sarah Palin, and I don't -- I utterly despise her -- to find his "jokes" sexist and offensive, regardless. IMO, Letterman, who should know whom he's dealing with in the Palins by now, very stupidly set himself up for just the very theatrical, holier than thou outraged reaction he ended up getting from them. You think you're the only one in show biz, Dave? Meet the Palins.

But the Palins' over-the-top reaction, deliberately dragging their 14-year-old into this to try to make a political point against Dave the comedian, in the exact same way they dragged Bristol into the spotlight, keeping her in the dark about the fact that her unwed pregnancy was about to be exposed and exploited to the entire country -- is infinitely viler and more calculated than anything Dave said.

I would love to see Dave call the Palins on what they are doing to Bristol now, in order to make Sarah appear to be so cruelly victimized. They are shitty, miserable people beyond all belief.

[Warren Stupidity]

14. What line?

"When David Letterman told his joke about Sarah Palin’s daughter this week it crossed the line in that the children, even adult children, of politicians are supposed to be off limits."

No. If you make your whole fam dambly part of your campaign persona then your whole damn family is fair game.

[whathehell]

17. I have to respond this because I see it so often here...What politician

does NOT bring his/her family out?

I cannot think of ONE.

In a word, I can't stand Palin..for her "politics"..Not because she's supposedly "slutty looking" -- like Flight Attendants?!..Hello?..Are THEY the enemy now too?

As a poster on AlterNet asked..How would he like it if we referred to Harry as his "bastard child"?

Letterman's a sexist oaf -- and I don't think he should have "joked" about her or any of her kids in that sleazy, sexist way. Women are sick and tired of having their sex or sexuality attacked everytime some man doesn't like something about them, something more often than not, that is entirely unrelated to their gender.

Her gender has no more to do with her politics than Alan Keyes RACE does with his!

And please don't tell me that she "used her looks"..So what?...Do you have to be homely to avoid being called "slutty"?

[Warren Stupidity]

31. It wasn't just trotting them out for photo ops

They made their supposed superior christian family values, which included abstinence induced teen pregnancy, part of their campaign.

[wndycty]

32. Exactly, the Obama's realized that when the girls sat w/them for the EXTRA interview. . .

. . .they were indirectly making the girls available to the media and they quickly limited access to the girls and limited their exposure on the campaign trail.

[havocmom]

20. and the butt(s) of the joke were A-Rod and Elliot Spitzer

[bluedeminredstate]

15. For the Palin's to even throw the word "RAPE" around

about what Letterman said is far worse than the jokes DL told. It's so beyond the pale that I was shocked that they could go even further by issuing another statement implying DL needed to be kept away from their 14 year old daughter because he's a pervert. They are the ones dragging their 14 y.o. daughter by name repeatedly to express their poutrage about, I believe, the "slutty flight attendant" joke.
If I were Willow Palin, I would be pissed and embarassed about the stink Todd and Sarah are making. They look ridiculous in this and they need to stop it now before they say anything else. Going on the Today Show was a wrong move - it reeks of exploitation of her daughter. People know Letterman. They know he's a bit of a dick, but he's not nasty and never has been. She's the one who has paraded her children around the country for various causes - special education, teen pregnancy and abstinence - for the last year to her political advantage and she shouldn't be so outraged when someone takes aim.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I feel sorry for Willow, too,

because from what I've seen and heard of her, she prefers to stay in the background, unlike Bristol who doesn't seem to mind at all being "out there" for the public.

[Jade Fox]

18. This is all a circus designed to distract from RW violence....

and stop all the attention paid to the Holocaust Museum killing and the Tiller murder. And of course the media is eating it up.

That said, your analysis of the incident is great, Wc.

[spanone]

19. this am on the today show she implied letterman could be a pedophile

when matt lauer asked her to interpret your comment that she should keep 'willow' away from letterman, she replied 'to can take it any way you want to'

classy mom

[havocmom]

22. I have more concerns about what older males in the Palin's clans might be naughty to little girls

Any therapists in the house? If momma sees pedophiles were clearly there aren't any, and momma has made a career trading on her own sex appeal while playing at being all morally superior, might one want to delve a bit into HER history as a young woman? Don't some girls who have been sexually abused (initiated into sexual rolls at too young an age) tend to use sex to get their way/control others as grown women?

[6000eliot]

21. Letterman DIDN'T cross the line.

I can't understand why anyone buys into these creeps and their bullshit.

[TahitiNut]

23. The Palins are "waving the bloody sheet."

Once upon a time, the custom was to display the bloody sheet resulting from the 'deflowering' of the bride on her wedding night. It (supposedly) 'proved' she was a virgin at her marriage. More often than not, it is thought, the blood was that of a sheep or goat. The bride, in those days, was usually a teenager.

The notion that the intact state of a teen-aged bride's hymen is of public interest - and that the PARENTS' 'honor' was somehow dependent on her virginity - is the kind of medieval, disgusting exploitation in which the Palins have engaged for over a year, now. These people are human trash ... despicable hypocrites.

Sarah Palin, unable to attain attention or respect on her own individual merits, has been pimping her kids. It's not at all remarkable that any late night comic would use it for the joke it is ... in fact, it'd be remarkable if they didn't!

[opihimoimoi]

25. Sneaky Palin and her dirty tricks....they are sicko's in their sick evil Mode.

Blame the other guy when there is no blame...distort and set up Dave....

Thats is not fair play

Thar is perverted media twisting.....

not good enough though...peeps are on to her You Betcha Shit...they know better

Reality shows she is dumb as a box of rocks...

[Hepburn]

26. I agree....

...and this is exactly how this whole tempest in a teapot hit me.

[Sheltiemama]

27. Very good post.

Dave made a joke. He stepped up and apologized for it. I still love Dave. If the Palins hadn't made such a big deal about it, intentionally "misunderstanding" it, most people never would have heard about it. I know I certainly wasn't keeping up with which daughter was at the ballgame with them, and when I heard the joke, I assumed it was about Bristol, as I think most people would have. Willow must be mortified, but her own parents are the ones who have turned all eyes on her. I can't think of another family that is so willing to use its children as political props.

[chrisa]

28. How did Letterman cross the line?

I love how the humorless drones are filing enmasse to demand an apology from Letterman, or even his firing. You know we've dropped a level in discourse when dumb anchors on the news can't even tell the difference between a joke and a political statement.

[d_b]

29. that girl would be better off being raised by roman polanski

[wndycty]

30. LOL

Saturday morning :kick:

[Rabrrrrrr]

35. "We;re playing house." - "Why is he tied up?" - "Roman Polanski's house"

:rofl:

Great gag from Family Guy.