Fire Letterman Rally
 

Just unbelievable...all there is to it.

This is Palin's "base"?

That is epic.

This is why I hate people.

Goddamn I hate Sarah Palin.

"What do you think of Leno?"

"I....I only watch Fox News channel."

Haha, epic.

What was with the "sex offender" sign?

I hope those people step on a thumbtack barefooted in the middle of a Wisconsin winter.

All white people with all but one looking over 45 :)

:lol: at the one guy acting all miss thang when a passerby asked where he was from.

Palin supporters are still as embarrassing as they were in Fall 2008.

Doesn't "rape them in the mouth" come from Hamlet 2?

I'd love to see Letterman stick it to these folks (and Palin) and work with this for the next few weeks.

Let's be honest here: If CBS fires Letterman, he would have another job, probably with a raise, within a week.

Yeah, at NBC ;)

SI

This is what's funny to me. Palin has for some reason singled out David Letterman, but it's not like he's the only one telling Bristol jokes:

"Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box." --Conan O'Brien

"You know, they're watching this interview, this is the first time she's really sat down and talked. Political experts say that during the interview, she did a pretty good job convincing voters that she's qualified. Yeah, Palin says she has plenty of experience, and that her daughter has a little too much experience." --Conan O'Brien

"Governor Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. Oh, boy, you thought John Edwards was in trouble before, now he's really done it!" --Jay Leno

Isn't all the uproar because it was actually her 14-year old that he was technically making fun of?

I don't think anybody really believes he was making fun of the 14 year old. Sarah Palin has used that as part of her attack so she can imply he's a pedophile, but I seriously doubt even she thinks the joke is about Willow.

Now, it was actually the 14 year old daughter that was at the game referenced in the joke, but the whole point of the joke was based on Bristol Palin getting knocked up.

I think it's idiotic and juvenile how hard people are on Palin and her family, but a rally to fire Letterman because he made a rude, crappy joke? That's even more idiotic.

CBS isn't firing Letterman because 15 mouth breathers with an IQ below 70 protested outside his studio. No one gives a shit about this besides those people and Fox News.

So did this people actually take off work to do this?

these people have jobs?

I wonder what the reaction from the media and general public would have been if Letterman had made an off color joke about Michelle Obama or one of her children?

Letterman would have been instantly incinerated by God.

Well, first of all, those kids are even younger, and second, none of the Obama children have been knocked up by a hockey player while still in HS. So I suppose the reaction would be a bit different. Probably more confusion than anything else.

She's a public figure. She brought her family into the public spotlight. This isn't 1/10th as bad as the stuff the Clintons suffered through. While I don't even know what the joke was (nor do I care to know), if you parade your family across the stage and make them a big part of your vice presidential campaign, then you're going to have to take it.

It's not like roasting politicians and/or their families is something new. This kind of thing has been going on hundreds, if not, thousands of years.

Technically it was more a jab at A-Rod. I am sure he didn't know which Daughter was at the game, but he was definitely referencing Bristol.

I see.

As for the top ten list with Palin's "slutty flight attendant" look, I suppose you have some similar rationalization that a top ten list with an inappropriate slur on Michelle Obama would be treated no differently.

She doesn't have a slutty flight attendant look?

Bingo. She tried to use Bristols "mistake" as an example of what girls should do if they did become pregnant. In fact at times she shoved it down our throats, so she really has no right to be upset if people choose to continue to joke about it.

What she really needs to be doing is taking her ass back to Alaska and letting her 15 minutes end gracefully. She spends more time in the lower 48 it seems than her own state, which still has plenty to keep her busy in her "day" job as Governor. Maybe she could start by tackling one of the worst per capita gang problems in the US for instance.

That doesn't make it any better, nor does it make the people that participate in it any less sleazy or lame. It's like political tabloid shit. And the worst part is that supposedly/otherwise intelligent people participate in or defend this crap. It makes me almost disregard a lot of their other points because they accept something so irrational.

LOL - East Side Dave from the Ron & Fez show was in that clip :)

I don't think thats the issue. People have the right to say it and people have the right to react to it as they see fit. I choose to ignore shit like this because it is stupid and in the end doesn't affect anyones quality of life.

If I am going to put my time and energy into something it will be something more relevant than a fire Letterman campaign, but if others think that will make the world a better place more power to them. He apologized, move on.

This is the most annoying/worst part about this whole thing. It's bringing this woman back into the spotlight. She needs to be forgotten. A non-entity. The last thing I want is for her name to remain in the public conscious. She needs to be completely and utterly forgotten. It's the best thing for her, her family, and, most of all, our country and the rest of the free world.

It probably would be just a flip flop. The batshit left-wingers would be out protesting, much like the batshit right-ringers did yesterday (or whichever day it took place)

There's lots of "per capita" stats that Alaska's 700k population skews. Not sure I'd say there's more of a "gang problem" here than in many places in America.

Now, if you accuse us of having the most ugly women per capita, I think you've made a very valid point...

Wasn't she called anti-American throughout the entire campaign? On top of the racist stuff that ignorant people (including members of the GOP) spout even to this day.

I do think the daughter is brought up because Palin has had an abstinence stance. The pregnancy showed how utterly ignorant her stance is and the realistic expectations that teens won't have sex (or that birth control is wrong). She also used her family heavily in campaigning (which everyone does). Unfortunately that exposes them to the public ire as unfortunate as that is. You can't parade your family and their views out in public for political gain and then have a fit when someone questions them.

I think the joke made by Letterman was tasteless. Family really should have no role in any of this. I don't care if it's the Palin kids or the Obama kids. They aren't running for office. But this shit does go on all the time and I think this faux outrage is worse than the slur. People are making fun of them because they are upset at a joke about her daughter, but at the same time calling Letterman's 5-year old son a bastard and his wife a whore. More or less just pointing out the hypocrisy and idiocy of these people. Whoever is advising Palin is a moron.

Doesn't really matter. Even Sarah didn't express being upset about being the brunt of a joke. She was pissed because her daughter was. That is, assuming she's being on the level.

Of course, lets not go all hypothetical. We have a real life example of something equally cruel coming from the leader of the Republican Party.

hxxp://www.noseyonline.com/2004/06/not_quite_the_family_dog_eh_ru.php


He never got fired, I don't recall it hurting his career and I certainly recall absolutely ZERO right wing outrage over this. Be very careful before you start playing the hypocrite card because this is a two way steet baybee.

Personally I think both jokes are in bad taste and while maybe, possibly, in some way Willow may have been made to feel that this joke was about her, there's zero doubt in Chelsea's case and she was only 13. I think negatively about both jokes but didn't fly off the handle with either of them and don't think the tellers deserved to be fired or even protested. That's the comedian's fucking job.

There yah go.

Calling him a sex offender is pretty poor.

Actually, many right wingers actually believe Limbaugh's assinine excuse that they were supposed to show a picture of a dog and not Chelsea.

I agree but I think Palin herself deserves a pass on her reaction. She's a mother and she's not particularly gifted in the PR department. She got her hackles up. I understand her reaction even though to someone not intimately involved it's an overreaction.

No.

She has the look of a professional, intelligent woman who loves this country and upholds good, conservative, family values.












:lol:

I think all of those people were at the fire Dave rally though.

I would understand her reaction if she was upset at jokes being made about Bristol. Even if it is her fault to some degree for putting her daughter in the limelight, picking on family members (especially for something I don't really view as a bad thing, as opposed to say the Bush daughter DUI) is in poor taste. However, Palin couldn't just have that, she had to make this all about Willow, who no one has nor ever will give a shit about, because it makes for a good line of attack where she can basically call Letterman a pedophile. Sure she gets an extended 15 minutes of fame by doing this, but she thrusts another daughter into the spotlight in a situation where it's painfully obvious he was talking about Bristol.

I really think someone pushed her into making this an issue. She did all the rounds on television for some reason. It just came across as faux outrage. Would have been better to make one press release and shown some tougher skin.

I can certainly see this as a possibility but to be honest I can easily believe that she really did believe it was about Willow at first ( deep thinking not being a strong point and when family is involved, I wouldn't even blame a deep thinker ) and had worked up all kind of mad about it and when she was confronted with reality she didn't care anymore. She didn't get the pitbull in lipstick tag for being all reasonable and frankly, calling for children to be off limits isn't a nonsensical thought. The firing and all that is an overreaction but I don't recall Palin herself calling for anything but an apology. I could so be wrong about this last part though. I haven't really followed it that closely.

I guess I could go either way and choose to give her the aggrieved parent benefit of the doubt. I have a whole lot of problems with her ideology and politics but personally have seen nothing that shows she's not a caring and loving mother. Mothers do some funky shit when they feel their babies are attacked.

Yep, but she doesn't have the PR sense to know that and since her act plays well to the base I can understand her handler pushing the outrage card and fanning her very real outrage. I just can't see blaming Palin for that in this case. It's nothing new for her anyway and she kinda has a reason to be mad.

Just watched the video and have no idea what the hell that was all about but it looked 100% ridiculous. These are the kinds of videos you wish you could sit down and show people so they could see how fucking stupidly they are acting in public.

Anyone who enjoyed this clip should see the movie Bob Roberts. One of Roberts' fanatical followers is played by Jack Black.

There wasn't this much outrage recently when the GOP leader of South Carolina called an escaped gorilla at the zoo one of Michele Obama's ancestors. Of course, he tried to play it off as a comment on evolution, one that she never made.

Good to see the NY/NJ Idiot convention getting the attention it deserves.

Aw, you almost had me there for a second ;)

SI

he had me. i was like :eek:

You have Women??

We'd give you a good run for your money here in Wisconsin.

Just my two cents...........

I think there's merit in the thought that people are far too judgmental of women and his jokes were pretty crude given we're dealing with an 18 year old. While that's legal, she's still a young kid. I'd be pissed if he said that about my child, regardless of her previous errors in judgment.

Unfortunately, any discussion of merit is being overshadowed by the idiots who are taking the rape/child molester angle way too far.

Considering there shouldn't be a rape/child molester angle at all.

Exactly.

I wish they would just leave the kids alone. Chelsea was nationally mocked for being ugly when she was in her teens - it was just ridiculous, it's amazing she didn't kill herself. (And I hate the argument that it's OK once Bristol turns 18 - we're not talking about a driver's license here).

I guess this is one of the benefits of the Obama media/popular culture love fest, his kids appear to be untouchable. Maybe that will kill this whole "tradition".

wasn't it McCain who said that Janet Reno was Chelsea's father or something?

Yep. It'd be better if we could just focus the attacks on the politicians themselves.

To be fair, I don't think (most) people are saying she's "fair game" at 18, just that the joke was meant to be about an 18 year old and David Letterman is not some pedophile tongue rapist.

Fair enough, but a lot of people (in this thread) are saying she's fair game because....Palin brought them on stage once. God forbid she recognize her family on the biggest night of her life.

Not that I think Letterman should be fired or anything, but good for Palin for probably getting the late night hosts to shut up about her kids. Would people not want to do the same if it were their kids? Not mocking her kids will just be the "cool" underground/internet thing to do, I don't think we'll be seeing much of it in the mainstream anymore.

The fact that this thread is already two pages long demonstrates that, whatever you think about Palin, she stokes the fires. Never a bad trait for a politician.

Well, to be perfectly honest, I think that Bristol became fair game once she chose to appear on the cover of People magazine. I don't think the joke was particularly funny, it definitely wasn't clever, and I don't even watch late night network shows. However, I think that putting yourself in the public eye like that has a downside, and either her mom is milking this for as much publicity/political gain as possible (my bet), or they truly didn't understand that putting yourself in the public arena comes with a lot of scrutiny, not all of it fair (which would make them at best naive, at worst incredibly stupid).

This "fair game" comment really rubs me the wrong way. If you were in her parents' shoes, you would have reacted just as strongly. It's never OK to make jokes at the expense of a young, impressionable girl. That includes all the other examples cited in this thread. As another poster mentioned, Chelsea got the same crap and it was way out of line.

So, are you outraged when Lindsay Lohan gets mocked?

isn't that somewhat different though because Lohan put herself in the public eye by virtue of her chosen occupation, while politicians' daughters are in the public eye through an accident of birth?

i'm sure one could make that argument

My point, which I made above, is that by CHOOSING to go on the cover of PEOPLE MAGAZINE, you are no longer in the public eye through an accident of birth.

Best strip club in America, with VERY hot women, is in Alaska.

But she's not being jabbed because of anything she said in that People Magazine article. If anything, she came off as a pretty good, if somewhat naive, kid who handled herself well. She did nothing other than what many teenage mothers have done before her. That doesn't mean she's a whore as Letterman's joke implied (and you're foolish if you think the intent was anything other than to demean her in that way).

Lindsey Lohan is getting lambasted due to her inappropriate lifestyle that she chose. That's a much different situation.

i can see your point with that.

It's not fair - of course - but people who are in the public eye aren't treated fairly. A big reason why I'd never want to be famous.

First, these groups in the video are the white equivalent of Jesse Jackson and are a complete joke. They deserve whatever ridicule they get from an asinine demonstration.

I think this is pretty silly. Does the fact that the Obama girls appeared on People magazine mean they are fair game?


Leave the kids out of it - all it does it make the side attacking look bitter and (ironically) childish.

To rebut, Arles, Bristol was on there discussing life as a teenage mother - which is the origin of the joke. She was using that part of her life to increase her fame, which leads to people taking shots at you. I would argue that Bristol Palin would have largely faded into the "Where Are They Now" portion of her life except for her choices to keep herself in the public eye. Like the Octomom - if she weren't out pimping herself to whoever will put her on TV, no one would be mocking her.

If the Obama children had something about them that would lead to them getting mocked (see Chelsea's unfortuante awkward looks) then they too should not be pushed out into the public eye because people are dicks. I want to reiterate that I don't think in any way that Bristol DESERVES to be treated like this, but one can't say they're SURPRISED by it at all.

That's a pretty faulty characterization. Everything in that article indicates she was using it as a platform to lend support to those young girls that end up in a similar situation. That's not something that warrants 'people taking shots at you'. That's far from trying to 'increase her fame'. Would you mind citing the specific quotes where you feel she's trying to use it to increase her fame as opposed to openly discussing her situation to inform others?

You're looking for a motive that's simply not there.

I guess you're far less cynical than I, MBBF.

In 2008, as McCain's running mate, Palin makes a big deal (amongst other items) of being behind abstinence-only education, on top of a collection of other right-wing "family values" pablum.

Her daughter becomes pregnant and she and her boyfriend (now fiancee) are paraded in front of the public in an obvious "shotgun wedding" (to detractors) / "demonstration of family values" (to supporters).

Bristol has the kid and hits up the media outlets claiming to be the poster child for why to avoid teen pregnancy, all the while glamorizing it (see the "People" pictures) and admitting that abstinence is "not realistic".

Sorry, the public gets off on hypocrisy, especially if it involves sordid details and hot chicks. I'm absolutely not surprised that the Palins are getting hammered for this.

I got an e-mail at work the other day from corporate and the subject line read something like, "Talking Points re: Palin/Letterman Controversy"

My first reaction was, what in the hell does that have to do with OG and why should I expect anyone to ask me about it? Well, it turns out that OG advertises during Letterman and ever since this whole thing has developed the home office has received numerous phone calls asking how we can dare advertise with him, blah blah blah...

Idiots.

Or, as written by Gail Collins:

Haha, I was thinking the same thing. FOX eh? BIG surprise!

Idiots yes, but this is how people in Lettermans position get fired.

So it was your opinion without any basis in the article. That's fine, but don't state is as fact. Take my word for it since I've been known to make that mistake. :)

Regarding your other comment that 'no one should be surprised', it doesn't really matter whether anyone is surprised. As you correctly stated, it was wrong no matter what the motive.

Seems to me this is an opinion thread. Really confused about how you could have interpreted me saying "She did this for fame" as fact, that seems pretty cut and dry to me.


Sure, I could rail about how popular culture takes cheap shots at people, but that's pretty obvious. What's more interesting to me is why she would put herself in a position to be shot at.

We're going in circles here. That's already been explained by several posters. Discussing her experience as a teen mother in a publication does not equal 'putting herself in a position to be shot at'. Even if you don't agree with her 'abstinence' stance, it doesn't warrant a personal attack on her by a public figure. Cracking on the parents for their stance is well-warranted.

I think I'm ready to agree to disagree as well. If you changed "does not equal" to "should not equal" I'd agree with you. I'm the kind of person who would never want to be famous, because whether its fair or not famous people get shat on.

I gotta say, that's a pretty fair summation of the situation.

+1

Umm, no, her abstinance stance warrents whatever it gets, she didn't follow it, but now tries to say its the way to go? hindsight is 20/20 or something.

Her mother is a moron, a power hungry angry-bitch moron. SHe takes advantage of anyone and everyone she can for personal gain and then, THEN, when something happens that ruins her use of them she has the uadacity to get upset about it?

Please. That entire family should be flushed. Along with anyone supporting them.

+100000

Wasn't the purpose of the thread to make fun of the nutjobs? What's wrong with you people? :(

One could argue that they are, what with all the talk about the Palin family *rimshot* Am I right? Can I get a little applause here?

Wait, that sounded too stupid and like a joke a late night talk show host would make ;)

SI

Those arguing about the jokes being wrong are obviously not tuned in to what gets ratings and what makes money.

You also seem to care what a late night comedian says....

kinda sad all told.

Who gives a fuck what letterman says anyway? he's an old fart whose riding the coattails of his career using whatever material he can find.

and you think it MATTERS?

You sound like someone who enjoys spending $10/oz for steak.

:D

LOL umm....yeah thats...no..no just step AWAY from the conversation =)

I really can't stand it when people refuse to engage the debate in an honest way. "Brought her up on stage once"? Yeah that's all we're talking about. Give me a break. She used her to make a point about responsibility and values that tied into her campaign theme. That's certainly different than just simply putting her on stage. And it turned out to be the show that many people assumed at the time. I don't think anyone was surprised when they didn't get married.

I think some of the comparisons being used aren't apt either. For instance, I think there's a difference between a joke about the choices someone made and joking about something they can't control. For instance, jokes about the Bush daughter DUI or Gore's son are about situations they put themselves in. The Bristol situation is a little more sketchy, because I don't consider what she did a bad thing and the joke borders the taste line, but it's still a joke about a decision she made. Jokes about Chelsea Clinton were about something she had no control over. And jokes about the Obama daughters would certainly be over the line, just as the Letterman joke would have been way over the line if it actually was about Willow.

I'm just weary of outrage.

The stage "incident" is most commonly cited.

But it still escapes me how a political candidate's decisions make it OK to attack their children in tasteless ways. Bristol wasn't Palin's campaign manager, as far as I know. And the idea that Palin is somehow wrong to be upset that someone is attacking her children is just bizarre.

It's all about Palin though, you can see it in this thread. The weird hate comes first, then the scramble for the justification.

Both Palin and Hillary Clinton get a disproportionate amount of raw anger, considering their actual influence. Sexism in this country is far more prevalent than racism, and it's more accepted. You can say "bitch", any other gender slur all you want. The racial slurs on the other and have an aura of universal wrongness. Which is good, I just wonder if we'll ever reach that point with sexism.

(I should point out that people who criticize Palin aren't sexist. I think it exists in the over-the-top hate about wardrobe criticisms, the "slutty stewardess" stuff, the "bitch" attitude (which Hillary Clinton gets a ton of too even though by a male standard, there's nothing offensive about her personality at all, and the weird hate in general).

For me, and many people I know, Palin quickly became the poster child for all the hypocritical right-wing "family values" bullshit we've been fed since 1994.

For fifteen years a right-wing PR machine has told me I'm what's wrong with America because I have liberal social values and then gone and done things that are worse or at least hypocritical to their stances (Ted Haggard -> gay sex, Henry Hyde -> adultery, Rush Limbaugh -> prescription drug abuse, Larry Craig -> gay sex, Sarah Palin -> such an awesome mother her teenage daughter gets pregnant out of wedlock).

So excuse me if, every time one of these self-righteous fucknuts takes a swan dive off of the hypocrisy plank, I point and laugh.

I think it's tricky. Bristol Palin is on the cover of People and making the rounds on talk shows to promote abstinence among other things like her image. This isn't her just standing next to her Mom at a rally or sitting in a family photo. It's her exposing her life and her beliefs for some personal gain. I don't see how that's much different than what Lindsey Lohan or Britney Spears do.

When she first started doing interviews many months ago, she actually seemed genuine and like someone that could really do some good in lowering teen pregnancies around the country. She talked like a real teenager who had learned valuable lessons. I think her Mother and probably her Mother's handlers have tried to use her as something else now and changed her original beliefs for political benefit. It is sad that she didn't stick to the original line.

So while I think children and family should be 100% off limits, I also believe that if you are self-promoting yourself as an adult, you don't get to cover yourself up under that shield. She is no longer an innocent bystander who got caught up in attacks (she was last year). She is now an active figure and semi-activist.

The saddest thing about this is that everyone is missing one of the worst part about Letterman's comments. It wasn't that he attacked her child, it's just the ridiculous stereotype we have for young women who have sex. If you're a young female and have sex you're a whore. If you're a young male and have sex you're a ladies man. I think labeling every teen girl who has sex as a whore is an unhealthy societal image we are portraying.

That's 100% right. Martha Stewart was a cunt for being a tough boss. Donald Trump gets hailed as a tycoon and savvy businessman for the same thing. George Clooney is a ladies man for sleeping around, Sienna Miller is just a slut.

It seems that many men in this country are afraid of powerful women. I do think a lot of the criticism on Palin was fair (in terms of context) but I know that if she was a young, good looking male governor of Alaska, she wouldn't have had half the pressure. The hatred toward powerful women in this country is rather sick. Whether it's a politician, attorney, or CEO.