...Palin v. Letterman...

Okay, this is insanity.

First, I am proud of Letterman for not really apologizing for his joke about Sarah Palin's daughter(s). If you don't know the story, you can easily look it up online and find out everything about it, it has been covered by all media outlets this entire week, but I wanted to weigh in.

Dave is a comedian, he is a host of a talk show. Now, I know that Late Night talk shows have been watered down to a place where real opinions, real stories, real honesty and real life is filtered through a pattern of Monologue-skit-commercial-guest-commercial-skit-commercial-music-end credits...The reality is that Dave didn't write the joke, probably read through it quickly once or twice, and had little to do with its existence on the final product - it is his job to be a late night host, he goes through the motions just like you and me and everyone does at their job...

But the good thing about a guy like Letterman is that he has been around forever, he has interviewed a great deal of people, in all walks of life, including Presidents, politicians, athletes, celebrities, etc...he has perspective on Palin, who she really is and what she stands for, maybe even more than the people on This Week.

So, again, I am proud of Dave for not apologizing for real - he gave one, but it was more of "I wish this never happened," rather than, "I am sorry."

Why am I happy about his decision? I'll explain.

The joke itself, in essence and I'm paraphrasing, went something like this: "A-Rod knocked up Sarah Palin's daughter during the 7th inning stretch."

The reality was that Palin's 14 year old Daughter was at the Yankees game, not her 18 year old Daughter Bristol, who, in fact, was the pregnant teenager during the campaign.

If you dissect the joke, there are clearly 2 targets, ARod and a Palin daughter. Letterman claims he made the joke about Bristol, and if you watch Late Night shows, which no political pundit does, clearly, you would know that the jokes always skirt the truth - they are often off the mark as far as facts go, they exaggerate, they are jokes, really. Bill Maher said last week that "Jokes are lies, that's why they are funny," and he is right. Jokes are lies. Letterman told a lie, ARod knocked up one of Palin's daughters - clearly he didn't. Once you get over the fact that it's a lie, and realize it's not based on truth, it gets easier to examine.

One of the reasons this is funny as well, is that it was also about ARod, who has been known to be promiscuous both before and after his marriage ended recently - and although there is no question about the target (Arod is clearly of age), there has been no uproar there because, most likely, ARod laughed at the joke, or at the very least, he didn't care.

So what is the uproar all about? Palin is furious that the joke was made about her 14-year old daugther. She took to the airwaves, in full force, to make sure she was seen and heard on this. She didn't issue a press release, she didn't speak through her "people", she went on Hannity, she went on Today with Matt Lauer, she did everything a celebrity would do.

Oh, but wait a minute, she is a Governor! She isn't a celebrity, she is someone who was nominated to be the Vice President of the country - and she is taking on David Letterman? Holy crap.

The reality of it all, and I don't think the press is really covering this, is that Palin chose to put her daughter Bristol through hell during the campaign - Bristol's pregnancy was clearly, and without question, used as a tool during the campaign. Bristol was an asset, and treated as one. It was horrible. This girl is 18 years old, just wants to have a baby, and instead she has to sit up on stage in front of the entire country holding hands with her 18 year old high school boyfriend, who most likely wanted to be at Pizza Hut with his friends...it was disgusting.

Palin chose to parade her kids around, her pregnant daughter around, and has essentially used her daughter as a tool since day 1. I can't remember the joke, but Bill Maher said something hilarious about how Marriage is a term that can't be used by Gay Couples...it should be saved for 2 unwitting teenagers who are forced into it by their politically greedy Mother...it was spot on.

Palin upped her profile this week, prior to the Letterman flap. The reality is that Palin has been in the news, and the behind-the-scenes facts are that the GOP are frustrated with Palin's "people", who can't seem to answer press phone calls, get out press releases, and generally aren't available for comments. Palin had a fiasco with the Republican Party in regards to a fundraiser, and my assumption is that this fiasco was the reason the Letterman writers even thought of writing a Palin joke this week.

She has chosen to put her kids in the spotlight, she has chosen to be the kind of person who puts political gain above all else, and she is the kind of person who Late Night talk shows exist for. Letterman should never back down from this, he should keep pressing because, after all, he needs ratings, and what could be better for him than this.

The last thing I want to say is that you hear both Palin haters and supporters saying that the joke was over the line (I disagree) and that if the same joke was made about Obama's daughters, there would be an uproar.

Well, yah, there would be, and there should be. You know why? Because we are human beings capable of seeing clear distinctions between related events - at least I thought we were.
1. Neither of Obama's daughters were "knocked up" during the campaign.
2. There hasn't been a disgusting side of Obama's family life like there has been in Palin's. This is clearly direction we all knew this would go. Could this have ended any differently?
3. If the joke were to be made about Malia Ann or Sasha, it would be completely out of left-field, and make no sense. Love it or hate it, you got the joke Letterman told, because the context made sense.

Palin is an asshole, there, I said it.