One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez…The toughest part of her visit was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.
– David Letterman on “Late Show,” 2009
Letterman issues non-apology, saying he didn’t know Palin was with her 14-year-old daughter Willow, but thought she was with her 18-year-old daughter Bristol. Apparently he felt it is permissible to “joke” about an 18-year-old’s pregnancy, and imply she is a prostitute – the object of then-Governor Spitzer’s attentions.
– News item, 2009
Letterman claims former Governor Palin looks like a “slutty fright attendant.”
– News item, 2009
Letterman to retire from “Late Show.” Letterman has been an intelligent, honest host.
– Los Angeles Times, 2014
Do you recall that President Obama and the mainstream media condemned Rush Limbaugh for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut,” when Fluke demanded that taxpayers fund her $1000 a year bill for contraceptives? Yes, they advocate “safe sex,” but when an unmarried student wants others to pay $1000 a year for her unsafe sex, they profess to be outraged when she is called a “slut.”
On the contrary, the president and the liberal media maintained a stony silence when Letterman insulted Gov. Sarah Palin, who visited New York to participate in a charity event for autism. Letterman “joked” that Palin “bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her slutty flight-attendant look.” Oh, I see, “slut” is acceptable only when it is used to insult a conservative woman.
If a man is good looking, he is called “handsome.” But if a woman is good looking, what she is called depends on whether the speaker likes her. If he does, she is called “attractive,” “sexy,” or “hot.” If he doesn’t, she is called “slutty” or “skanky.” And in this era of politics über Alles, it depends on whether the woman is liberal, when she is “attractive,” or conservative, when she is “slutty.”
How can we justify varying the description of a human being, depending on whether we approve of her politics? How can we vary her description, depending on her socio-economic status? Would Letterman have compared Palin to a “slutty attorney”? No, an attorney would be “hot.”
But he views flight attendants as servants, to whom “upper-class” men should not be attracted, because they would not make “suitable” wives. So they can’t be “attractive,” which implies that he is attracted to them. They are merely “slutty.” He adds classism to sexism.
Still, Sarah Palin is an adult, able to take care of herself. Letterman could fob off his abuse of her as “political humor.” But what about the then-14-year-old Willow Palin? She was not a public figure. She was not an adult. She was not able to take care of herself.
Later, Letterman issued a non-apology, claiming he was referring to 18-year-old Bristol Palin, who was not present at the game, rather than 14-year-old Willow, who was. He claimed he never would joke about having sex with a 14-year-old girl. But that’s exactly what he did.
Note that Spitzer was forced to resign as governor of New York for frequenting prostitutes. So Letterman’s “apology” did not include apologizing for clearly implying that Palin’s daughter is a prostitute.
Is that a permissible way to refer to an 18-year-old girl, much less a 14-year-old? Is publicly shaming young people now acceptable behavior? If so, can we look forward to similar “jokes” about Obama’s half-brother and his problems with young girls, or about Sasha and Malia Obama? Are you crazy? If Letterman ever uttered a similar “joke” about them, the network would fire him the next day. But after trashing the Palins, Letterman’s ratings rose, and unlike Limbaugh he lost no sponsors.
Why is disgusting “humor” tolerated, even applauded, when directed against conservatives and their children, but it never would be tolerated against liberals and their children? What does this tell us about the moral level of liberals versus that of conservatives? Why do liberals condone callous, nasty behavior that conservatives find unacceptable? When did it become “liberal” to degrade women and sexualize children?
Recall that Letterman married his long-term girlfriend six years after she gave birth to their son. So Bristol Palin is a “slut” and a “prostitute” because she got pregnant at 17 and decided to raise her baby, but Letterman and his wife are above reproach? Really?
Of course, if Bristol had an abortion, it would have been her “choice” about “her own body,” and no liberal would dare criticize her. The anger is evoked by her decision to let the baby live, and by her mother’s conservative politics. How revealing.
Even worse is the disgusting allegation that Todd Palin was having incest with his daughters. Note the plural daughters − to include 14-year-old Willow and perhaps even 7-year-old Piper. This skit ran on “Saturday Night Live” − not on talk radio like Limbaugh, not on the Internet, not on cable, but on NBC-TV. And the reaction to this nauseating episode? There wasn’t any.
When liberal talker Ed Schultz called conservative Laura Ingraham a “slut,” not only was there no negative fallout, but participants on “The View” laughed it off.. And when Congresswoman Bachmann was introduced on “Late Night,” Jimmy Fallon’s band played “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.”
Meanwhile, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin was called a “Manila whore,” insulting both her gender and her ethnic background. Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was called a “female impersonator,” as was commentator Ann Coulter. And what did gay activists say about these insults? Nothing.
Recall one of Letterman’s favorite sketches, “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.” There was Roosevelt saying, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” There was Kennedy saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you.” And there was George W. Bush saying, “I haven’t had a drink in 20 years.” These spoofs of Bush went on after Obama’s election, but there was no mention of Obama’s gaffes. Obama “visited 57 states.” Obama twice mispronounced Navy corpsman as “corpse-man.” Letterman didn’t find those blunders worthy of his “humor” – his man was in the White House.
We define ourselves by what we tolerate − and what we don’t.
Who made endless “jokes,” in the worst taste, about how old John McCain is? Who called him “confused” and “joked” that he forgets where he lives when he goes out for the paper? Who “joked” that he forgets to put on his pants when he goes out? Who “joked” that he accuses nurses of stealing his sox, and that he needs Viagra because of impotence, and diapers because of incontinence? Who ridiculed him for having difficulty using a computer, though it is common knowledge that the function of his arms and hands is impaired by war wounds, so he can’t comb his own hair? Letterman did all this.
Liberals tolerate all this. They tolerate Letterman and his bitter, unfunny, political “humor.” They tolerate sexist, classist “humor.” They make cruel “jokes” about children, the disabled, and the elderly. Fairness? We don’t need no stinkin’ fairness. We’re liberals!
Liberals boast of their “sensitivity,” but it is oddly one-way. Photos of prisoners in Abu Ghraib with panties on their heads? Print them on the front page of the New York Times for 32 consecutive days. But photos of abused or dead Americans? Ignore them. Call conservative women “sluts” and even worse? No problem. But hear a liberal woman called a “slut”? Feign outrage and demand punishment.
People used to talk about the death of civility. But now that word sounds archaic, like something from Shakespeare. Now we worry about the death of common decency. We must deal with calling a conservative beauty contestant a “dumb bitch with half a brain.” We must deal with sexualizing children, especially girls and even babies − in music, in clothing, on film, and even in school. If people laugh at a “joke” about raping the 14-year-old daughter of a governor, why would we expect them to be upset by films depicting the rape of a 12-year-old or mimicking the masturbation of a baby?
Leftist media bias and disgusting “jokes” are the symptoms. The disease is callous insensitivity masquerading as “tolerance,” and contempt for political opponents masquerading as “diversity.” We can be glad that one of these symptoms, Letterman, will be fading from view, and none too soon. 
Contact: dstol@prodigy.net. You are welcome to publish or post these articles, provided that you cite the author and website.
www.stolinsky.com
