And to start 2011 off on the wrong foot, which is the right foot for Griffin, she has pledged to take Willow Palin “down” during this calendar year. Said Griffin during a CNN New Years’ broadcast: “In 2011 I want to offend a new Palin” (and that “new Palin” is only sixteen years old).

In other words, now that the lies about Sarah and the attacks on Bristol’s weight have grown passé, it’s time to find a new way to be offensive enough to get noticed: and that new way is to make sure that Sarah Palin’s sixteen-year-old daughter “[goes] down.”

Think about it folks: Griffin is saying that she, a washed up, fifty-year-old comedian, is dedicating 2011 to verbally attacking a minor. How much more twisted can things get before a news outlet airs footage of a hospital van sweeping Griffin of the streets while Napoleon XIV’s “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” plays in the background?

The precedent Griffin is setting here is quite troubling. For if she has to step up her offensiveness year after year in order to justify her miserable existence, what happens when 2011 is over and attacking a minor isn’t offensive enough anymore? I suppose Griffin will then have to go after Trig (Palin’s youngest): mocking him for having Down syndrome and making sure he goes down in 2012.

Then Griffin can really be the big woman on campus: She can be the comedian who went from lying about Sarah Palin’s sexual escapades, to calling a young mother fat, to taking minors down, to attacking kids who suffer from varying degrees of mental retardation.

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but none of this is funny.

First, let me tell you what really happened, and then I can explain what we should all learn from this.  Here’s the timeline… 

Monday, June 8th: Letterman uses Palin’s trip to New York to unleash a torrent of  ”comic” attacks on her and her family. The entire “Top Ten” list is devoted to the Governor and includes cracks about her updating her “slutty” wardrobe and possessing illegal drugs. The monologue includes a “joke” about Palin’s “daughter” getting “knocked up” at a Yankees game by Alex Rodriquez during the 7th inning stretch while her mother and a stadium full of spectators presumably watched.  

Tuesday, June 9th: As I’m getting ready for the second edition of my new Los Angeles radio talk show, I see a story on the Drudge Report about Letterman’s “Top Ten” list. Governor Palin was previously scheduled as a guest on that show because she’s basically the “star” of my documentary. I wanted her as my first guest on my new program and she was gracious enough to make the time for that to happen. When I speak to her off the air just before we go live, I ask if she’s aware of what Letterman had done the night before, she says she’s not. I quickly tell her about the “Top Ten” and the “slutty” comments but say nothing about the “daughter” “joke” because I wasn’t yet aware of it. 

During my extensive interview with Governor Palin I ask her about Letterman’s “slutty” comments and she, as usual, takes the high road and offers only a mild rebuke of Letterman, calling him “pretty pathetic.”  

While that clip from my interview makes the rounds for the rest of the day, the “spat” really doesn’t get that much play at first and Drudge even takes the entire issue off his site. However, it is important to note that there was plenty of information out in the public domain before Letterman’s taping that night which should have given the host and his staff all the facts they needed to realize that the only “daughter” with Palin on her New York trip was a 14-year-old, non-public figure, Willow. There is no apology from Letterman that night. 

Wednesday June 10th: Much to my surprise I’m asked on MSNBC to discuss my interview with Governor Palin and the Letterman comments. I’m particularly stunned when I’m told I’ll be interviewed by Norah O’Donnell, with whom I’ve had on-air tussles in the past. Well, clearly O’Donnell either gets cold feet or simply chickens out when she finds out it’s her job to interview me (I was laughably told by the MSNBC producer that this change of plans – a plan I was given 25 minutes before the show — is due to “breaking news” of the Chrysler Supreme Court decision from the previous evening!).   

Instead I’m “interviewed” by Contessa Brewer, and you can judge for yourself how that went: 

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I later find out that what Brewer thought was an analogous situation in her own life was when Don Imus (oh, the irony!) said she had a large ass. Yeah Contessa, that’s pretty much the same as what Letterman said about Palin and her family! 

Rush Limbaugh plays the highlights of what is likely my last MSNBC appearance (twice) on his show, and the video of this exchange is quickly all over the Internet. 

Later, Governor Palin and her husband Todd release scathing statements condemning Letterman for his “rape joke” about Willow.  That night Letteman mocks their statement, lamely claims that the joke was about Bristol not Willow (which, by the way, I think is a valid distinction but one which is not consistent with the facts), invites Governor Palin (while creepily urging Todd to stay home) on his show to further increase his ratings, and proceeds to retell the very same jokes for which he is allegedly “apologizing.” 

Thursday June 11th:  Governor Palin’s spokesperson (contrary to Contessa Brewer’s claims, that is NOT me) says she will not be coming on Letterman’s show and half jokingly says that it would probably be a good idea to keep Willow away from Letterman. This last statement would not (surprise!) be put in the proper context by the news media because they either didn’t know, or didn’t care, that Letterman had been making numerous overt references to his sexual attraction to the Governor for an extended period of time and of course he has just joked (whether he realized it or not) about a public sex act with Willow. 

During most of the day the leftwing media goes into overdrive in their efforts to protect Letterman and even demonize Palin for having the gall to protect her daughter’s dignity. The bogus apology is largely accepted by the media and receives almost none of the scathing criticism it so richly deserved. At this point Don Imus must have been thinking back to his groveling to Al Sharpton after the “nappy headed hoes” outrage and wondered, “What the hell is going on here?!” 

Shockingly, Keith Olbermann (who is both a Letterman sycophant and possessor one of the nastiest cases of Palin Derangement Syndrome in captivity) is one of the worst offenders in this crusade.  He calls the Palins “opportunists” and his guest Margaret Carlson sells out her entire gender for future spots on Olbermann’s show by declaring that Palin should be considered “one of the worst people in the world” for having strongly stood up (in a written statement for heaven’s sake!) for her 14-year-old daughter.  The National Organization for Women of course says nothing and does not call for Letterman’s firing as they did for Imus. 

Friday June 12th: Governor Palin goes on The Today Show to discuss a major development in her efforts to get a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48.  Matt Lauer, like a kid being forced to wait at the top of the steps before being allowed to see what’s under the Christmas tree, barely makes it through the “substance” so he can grill Palin about why she’s so offended by the host of a major show on CBS making rape jokes about her 14-year-old daughter. For some reason Lauer asks her how she found out about the Letterman attacks and she accurately (of course) mentions the events exactly as they happened on my show and gives my program an unnecessary, but still appreciated, mention. 

Later that day I’m made aware of a website (that contrary to numerous allegedly reputable news outlets is NOT mine) www.firedavidletterman.com which is planning some sort of rally outside of Letterman’s theater early the next week. Long story short, I agree to be one of their spokespeople/advisors and promise to speak at the rally if my new radio station can get a studio in New York City in time. 

Monday June 15th:  I make an appearance on Fox News Channel to discuss the rally and why I think what Letterman did was far worse than what Imus was fired for. My radio station (KGIL in Los Angeles) is able to get a studio for me to do my show the next day in NYC, so that afternoon I head to LAX to catch the next flight across the country so I can speak at the rally. 

As I am getting on the plane I get a call from a producer of the CBS Early Show telling me that Letterman had “sincerely” apologized and asking me if the rally is still on with the clear implication that this should be enough to call the whole thing off (the same presumption would dominate nearly every one of the dozens of media inquires I would field after that). The producer books me on the show for the next morning, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to cancel once he puts it up the flag pole and CBS makes it clear from the higher ups that they’re still supporting their guy (one of the obvious signs the Imus MSNBC show was toast was when NBC news spent an entire first segment of the Nightly News obsessing over the “nappy headed hoes” issue). Sure enough, I soon have a message on my voicemail canceling my booking on the CBS Early Show. 

No one involved with the movement/rally/website really gives any thought to canceling because of Letterman’s belated apology. I’m just glad he essentially admitted that we were right. I also wonder what new information or event (other than watching Mark Shields on PBS criticize him; who knew Letterman watches PBS, or that Mark Shields was still alive?!) has suddenly changed the circumstances since Letterman had all the information he needed to apologize a week earlier and did no such thing.  However, knowing the media like I do, I’m sure they’ll use this as the “move on” moment they are desperately searching for and that the environment for Tuesday’s rally is going to be even more difficult than I previously feared.   

Tuesday June 16th: I’m awaken very early with media calls for me to react to Governor Palin “accepting” Letterman’s apology (contrary to the claims of Contessa Brewer and others, I am not part of Sarah Palin’s decision making process nor even in the loop). While I totally understand why she did it (one of the thousands of disadvantages she faces, thanks to the media agenda against her, is no flexibility when it comes to not taking the highest of roads. She would surely have been skewered had she had done anything other than show how classy she really in fully accepting Letterman’s second apology), I must confess that I knew her acceptance of the apology was going to derail our message. The media now had everything they needed to move on from a story that made them very uncomfortable because it forced them to either defend Sarah Palin or expose themselves as blatant hypocrites. Of course, this would mark the first time in recorded history that the national news media has accepted as credible anything Sarah Palin has said. 

In-between numerous radio and television interviews, and in the wildest kind of irony, I was able to do my radio show from, I kid you not, the CBS News building.  This is hilarious not just because Letterman’s show is on CBS, but because I was just arrested at USC for trying to expose Katie Couric’s Walter Cronkite Journalism Award for her Sarah Palin interview as the fraud that it is. For most people this situation would be off the charts on the bizarro meter, but my life is so strange and I was so busy that the whole thing barely fazed me. Sadly, Katie and I didn’t run into each other in the lobby.  

After my show, I take a cab to the Ed Sullivan Theater. My expectations for what is about to transpire are extremely low. None of the heavy hitters in the conservative media (not to mention NOW) had stepped forward to help out the cause, and thus far most of the coverage of the rally was national and not local. The people who were organizing this event (again, contrary to numerous “news” accounts, that was NOT me) did not seem to have their act together and I was very concerned that even the basics for this kind of happening would not be properly in place.  I warned them many times about various aspects of the basic logistics and they assured me it would be taken care of. They also seemed confident that the crowd would be at least a couple hundred people (over 300 had indicated they would be there), which I thought would be fine. To me the size of the crowd had nothing to do with anything. This was about right and wrong. But I also know the way the game is played. 

When I arrived about 10 minutes before the scheduled start time, it was clear this thing would be a disaster. The small crowd was splintered by numerous members of the news media who were clearly dedicated to interviewing the craziest people they could find to represent “all” the protesters. One guy (later determined to be a plant from a satellite radio show) screamed and carried on like a lunatic. Things only get worse from there. 

I immediately recognized that some of the people the owner of fire-david-letterman.com (a guy in Nashville, of all places) had put in charge of organizing the event were the same individuals who had royally screwed me in a NYC screening of my film originally intended for the “PUMA” organization (a pro-Hillary faction that I soon learned was mostly full of complete lunatics with racist and man-hating tendencies who had absolutely no ability to get people to any event of any kind). Now I’m sure we’re doomed. 

Sure enough, no large crowd arrives. Worse than that, the audio set-up lacks a speaker system and there’s no power source (Fox News originally offered to plug the extension cord into their live truck but then apparently decided that might not send the right message; I’m quite sure that CNN and the local stations who were there would have fallen over themselves to help — without fear of repercussion — if Al Sharpton needed electricity). The woman who was supposed to know how to set up the audio system hadn’t yet arrived and the back-up bullhorn could barely outdo a church mouse. 

It is a nightmare. 

Seeking to make the best of a horrible situation and with no other viable options, I call a press conference. About half the media not distracted by the nut-jobs, gather and I proceed to give an address and then take questions. Here’s the video: 

Part 1: 

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Part 2:

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After I finish up and sign autographs for a few fans of my film, I have a decision to make: Either stay and watch the rest of the ship sink, or make a scheduled appearance on CNN Headline News. I decide on the TV show (some bloggers have charged that I just left, never even spoke, or split early for no reason — neither of which is remotely accurate). But even though I had to endure some jackass faux “independent” on the CNN television panel outrageously claim that this was all an attempt at publicity for Governor Palin and me, it was probably the right call.   

As I fly back to LA that night I’m very depressed. I know the left-wing nuts on the Internet are going to have a field day with what happened and that the true point of all of this is likely to get lost. I get in too late to catch David Letterman do a somewhat humorous “Top Ten” list on the things overheard at the Fire David Letterman rally. He should have added, “Who’s that geeky white guy who wishes he had never spent $1,000 and 14 hours traveling from LA to be here?”  

Wednesday June 17th : Though sure the media will let the story completely  die, I’m shocked when e-mails arrive indicating Olive Garden restaurants has pulled their advertising from the Letterman show. I leak the strongly worded e-mails to Politico.com and they indicate that the story will break as soon as they can verify it. 

Thursday June 18th:  Sure enough, Politico confirms the Olive Garden story and it runs prominently (it gets the most page views that day). Drudge runs it, as well as Big Hollywood and Hotair. Weirdly, the article they run has several inaccuracies about me (once again, I did not organize the rally, and the firedavidletterman.com website is not mine). The reporter promises to correct the errors, but never does. He also never adds to the story our verification that Hellman’s/Whole Foods has pulled online advertising from Letterman.  

The reporter claims this is because he’s too busy dealing with a New York Times report (from a reporter who has written a book largely about Letterman) that indicates Olive Garden is denying the story. Politico does not back off the story, but does let Olive Garden off the hook for their obvious reversal/disingenuousness. The media’s allowing Letterman to dodge another bullet. My guess is that the chamber is now empty. 

In conclusion, I wish to share some general thoughts and observations on this whole saga. 

For a guy who’s received WAY more hate mail in my life than 99.99% of the population, even I’m shocked by the volume and intensity of angry e-mails over this matter.  They’re almost all the same; high on profanity and insults (for some reason “douchebag” is a favorite with this crowd) and extremely low on substance and logic. 

The left-wing blogs have been seemingly obsessed with me — as if anything about me changes the basic facts of the story – but it’s obvious they can’t win this argument on the facts so they’ve chosen to make me the issue. Here’s an incomplete list of reasons they give for why my role in this story is illegitimate. 

1. I’ve been fired many times for saying things on talk shows. (Ah, hello! That’s exactly why I am credible on this issue, and nothing I got fired for was nearly as egregious as what Letterman said. If I had said something as bad or worse and NOT gotten fired, THEN that would be a legitimate issue.) 

2. I wrote a little-noticed book called ‘The Death of Free Speech.” (In which I lay out the “rules” for broadcast speech as determined by the news media, many of which were clearly violated by Letterman. I was simply trying to either get some equity or at least expose the massive double standard when it comes to the arbitrary enforcement of these rules, especially when the target is Sarah Palin.) 

3. In an out of context interview for a reality show (which I doubt ever aired) put together by a left winger trying to make me look bad when I suddenly became someone they cared enough about to attack, I once said that most women are irrational and that the key to dating is to find a woman with a manageable degree of irrationality. (It is a shame they missed the section where I joke about a 14-year-old girl getting raped in public by an adult while her mother watches, because THAT might have been remotely relevant to this matter.) 

4. I’m just a media whore. (So is there another way to get one’s message out when you don’t have a national television talk show? Please let me know if there is, because frankly no one hates the absurdity of appearing as a guest on TV talk shows more than me.)

5. I’m doing this simply to make money from my film. (Really? If anyone knew how much money and work and risk I have put into this film/cause and how little money I’m likely to make when all’s said and done, or how many copies of the film I’ve donated because that’s how strongly I believe in the message, they couldn’t possibly think money is anywhere near my prime motivation. I can also assure you that I have made no profit from this specific episode.) 

6. I personally like Sarah Palin. (Yep. You got me. I guess we should wait for one of the millions who seem to hate her to devote their time, money and reputation to defend her. Yeah, that makes sense. I guess I should just shut up about the truth of the media agenda against her – a mission I’ve devoted my life to exposing — because, after all, I am biased, and even worse, actually know what I’m talking about.) 

7. Other comedians had said things almost as horrible about Palin and her family and there was no outrage. (This might be my favorite bit of liberal “logic.” So, because others got away with verbal manslaughter, we should Letterman get away with comparative murder??) 

Yes, much vitriol has been thrown my direction, but I’m not as bothered by that as I am by what has been once again allowed to happen to the Palin family because — despite what you might read on left-wing blogs — this is obviously NOT ABOUT ME. 

This is about a woman who has seen her character and reputation attacked relentlessly and illegitimately by a news media with a clear agenda. She’s been accused of faking the pregnancy of a down-syndrome baby, had the details of her teenage daughter’s sex life discussed on Larry King Live (well after the election), watched one of her previously unscathed children joked about in the most heinous way imaginable, and then gets accused of trying to get media attention when she releases a statement expressing outrage. Is there another parent in this country who wouldn’t have completely lost it at this point, even if they weren’t also the highly successful governor of our largest state? 

Regardless of your political persuasion, what happened to the Palins should be of grave concern. What should sadden and frighten all of us is that we are now in the process of clearly setting a precedent that there are no rules or standards when it comes to attacking a particular public person (and their private family). Sarah Palin and her family have done absolutely nothing to deserve this treatment. The media simply decided they don’t like them. 

Thankfully, my sense is that the Palins are probably uniquely suited to survive and prosper through an unprecedented firestorm that has gone on for almost a year now. But just because they are tough enough to take it, doesn’t make it right and doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be stopped or at least condemned.

A friend of mine sent a link to a website that advocates CBS firing late-night host David Letterman for his over-the-top jokes about Sarah Palin and her children. The site tells readers what they can do to help make this firing happen.

But should Letterman be fired?

His so-called jokes were crass and tasteless. Not only did he refer to Palin herself as being “slutty,” but he used a crude sexual reference to Palin’s 14-year-old daughter Willow, whose only sins are the fact that she is a Palin and she attended a Yankees game with her mother in NYC.

Letterman’s first attempt at an apology was half-witted and half-hearted. His excuse that he mistook the 14-year-old Willow for 18-year-old Bristol was disingenuous at best. Does the fact that Bristol is now (barely) of age and an unwed mother make it OK to attack her thusly?

Now a new, lengthier apology is out, with Letterman saying that “if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke.” Hmmm…his audience that night guffawed right along with him. However, the Palin family has graciously accepted his apology.

Regardless of whether you agree that it’s OK to drag Sarah Palin’s children through the political mud (I have seen arguments for and against), again, I ask the question: should Letterman be fired?

I would say no. And here’s why:

No, I am not a David Letterman fan. I think he’s smarmy, smug, and seriously un-funny. But neither am I a Don Imus fan and I didn’t think he deserved to be fired for his “nappy haired ho’s” comment about the Rutgers ladies’ basketball team a couple of years back.

There are a few differences between the Letterman and Imus flaps. Letterman’s jokes were scripted and went through the stages of writing, rewriting, and final approval before the taping of the show. A lot of people saw them and thought they were just fine. Imus made an off the cuff comment during a live broadcast. Tasteless, yes, but not something he thought about previously. The apology process was a lot more different too. While Letterman first tried to justify his jokes about Willow by saying he was “confused” about which daughter really attended the game – and then asked Sarah Palin to “come on the show” – Imus not only apologized on air, but visited the Rutgers team to apologize in person and even sucked up to self-proclaimed spokesman for black people, Al Sharpton. Imus got fired anyway.

The reason, of course, is that an old white guy making any kind of slur against a protected minority group is verboten. But an old liberal white guy making crude sexual jokes about the young daughter of a conservative politician is fine, because who the hell cares what those knuckle-dragging conservatives think? Considering the relative paucity of criticism from like thinkers on the left, who would have been up in arms had a similar joke been made about Obama’s children (heaven forbid, I might add), is telling.

The double standard is astounding. However, both are examples of freedom of speech in America – not to mention examples of how low societal standards of humor have sunk. We all have the right to criticize what we don’t agree with – that’s also free speech – but to demand that Letterman be fired for exercising his rights, no matter how distasteful, smacks of totalitarianism.

If you’d like to see Letterman out on his rear, by all means vote with your remote and your wallet. Don’t watch the show and don’t patronize its sponsors. If Letterman’s ratings fall far enough, the suits at CBS will take appropriate action. And, with his most recent “mea culpa,” it’s possible that some pressure is being brought to bear – perhaps by network brass upset with the loss of some lucrative advertising sponsorship.

The same applies to Bill Maher, who took an even uglier shot at Palin and her family on his HBO weekly show Real Time with Bill Maher. Crass, vulgar, disgusting – all of those superlatives apply. But he broke no laws except those of common decency. Not that common decency often matters in the world of entertainment anymore.

Sarah Palin has accepted comedian David Letterman’s apology made during Monday night’s broadcast of “The Late Show” for crude jokes made about her and her teen daughters last week.

In a statement to FOXNews.com early Tuesday, the Alaska governor said, “Of course it’s accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve.”

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” Palin said. “This is all thanks to our U.S. Military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s Right to Free Speech – in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.”

You can read the rest of the Fox News story here.

Full text of Letterman’s explanation, which will air on tonight’s show:

“All right, here – I’ve been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week – it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don’t know about it.  But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There’s no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can’t be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They’re angry at me because they said, ‘How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?’  And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani … and I really should have made the joke about Rudy …” (audience applauds) “But I didn’t, and now people are getting angry and they’re saying, ‘Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who’s completely innocent, minding her own business,’ and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she’s now at the ball game, and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I’m wondering, ‘Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?’ I’ve never made jokes like this as long as we’ve been on the air, 30 long years, and you can’t really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.

“And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer ‘Newshour’ – this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke.  And I’m certainly – ” (audience applause) “– thank you. Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.” (audience applause)

During his opening monologue on ‘Real Time’ Friday night, Bill Maher, couldn’t resist piling on to the David Letterman controversy and the sex jokes made by him earlier in the week regarding Sarah Palin’s daughter. 

In defending his friend, Maher thought Republicans had over reacted and this was just a case of ‘fake’ outrage. Much ado about nothing. He then went on talking about how Letterman had invited Sarah Palin and her young daughter, Willow, to appear as guests on his show but the Governor declined because she thought it would be wise to keep her daughter away from him. Said Maher, “…that’s right, he’s 62 years old, he’s gonna fuck her right there on stage…it would be very wise to keep her, very wise, yes. You know, I’d worry a little more about the 18-year old hockey players who knock up your daughters.” To which his audience of trained seals laughed and clapped and had a good old time. 

I sat there stunned. Much like his pal Letterman, as far as I was concerned, Maher had crossed the line. Big Time. 

What is it with these guys? 

For some strange reason, the Palin family continues to be a source of comedic gold despite the fact that Sarah Palin is Governor of Alaska. Can you imagine the side-splitting laughs we would’ve been able to enjoy had she been elected as our first female vice-president? Damn! Maher and Letterman would have ‘killed’ day in, day out. Their adoring audiences would have been carried out of the theatre on stretchers. “Somebody call the comedy ambulance for the love of Mike!  Dave did it again!” 

According to Bill Maher, these jokes are ‘harmless.’ Women of NOW are you listening? 

Remember when Don Imus was canned in 2007 for his comments made in reference to the Rutgers women’s basketball team? The outrage from the usual suspects and others was a bit more ‘real.’ He was called a racist and a sexist. He was forced to apologize for his lame attempt at humor and sent on his merry way by the powers that be. 

No such luck with Bill and Dave. Harmless. Yeah, right. 

Isn’t it interesting?…depending upon who is telling ‘the joke’ and who is the subject of ‘the joke’ there seems to be an inconsistency of just how ‘real’ or how ‘fake’ the outrage is when dealing with those oh so tolerant souls on the left. 

What’s up with that? 

We all know the answer.  For Bill Maher and David Letterman, no harm, no foul because the Palin family deserves it. They asked for it because Sarah Palin is who she is. An authentic, decent woman who became the governor of a state and last year accepted an invitation from Sen. John McCain to join him as his running mate for vice-president. 

The fact that the Palin’s are conservative doesn’t have -a- thing- to- do- with- it.  In the upside/down world which we now live, the Palin’s and their kids seem fair game to some on the left. WTF!?

One man’s free speech is another man’s hate speech. One man’s outrage is another man’s ‘fake’ outrage. At least it is if you worship at the altar of Leftism. 

As a father and a husband, I can tell you this much, my outrage is friggin’ real. For Todd and Sarah Palin. For their daughters, Bristol and Willow. For their family and those who love them. For my  wife. For my  daughter. Nothing fake about it at all, Billy boy. 

Enough is enough. 

Time for action. Saturday, my wife and I canceled our HBO service. A big thank you to Bill Maher. If there are others out there who have had enough of his brand of comedy, I suggest you take some action. Make a phone call to your service provider, let them know how you feel. You need to hit back. Hit ‘em hard where they understand it most, in the wallet. For some odd reason, that seems to get their collective attention. Money. Honey. 

In closing, it’s good to see the National Organization for Women and other women’s groups speaking out on the Letterman issue. As I mentioned earlier, hopefully, feminists are watching, listening and take notice of Maher’s Friday night performance and his stab at humor regarding the Palin girls. Harmless? You be the judge. 

As for Bill and his friend Dave, if they want to get back to the high road and make amends for the hurt they’ve caused the Palin family, I have a few suggestions: 

Apologize. Sincerely apologize. Stop with the jokes concerning the Palin’s daughters. Millions of young women and their families will be watching; listening. 

And if by some slim chance our pseudo heroes punk out, I suggest women and the men who love them, petition our state department to send Bill and Dave on an excellent adventure. Swap these two clown kings for American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee currently being held prisoners on some BS charge of illegally entering the armpit which is, North Korea. 

That way, everybody wins.

Here’s my take on Letterman’s obsession with Sarah Palin:

-ideology clouds what you find funny. If you’re a lefty, then a Palin joke is priceless. If you’re a righty, it’s lame. That’s just the way it is.

-Letterman is a comedian, and he tells jokes, and he shouldn’t have to apologize for them. If they’re not funny, or in poor taste, or horribly offensive – the marketplace will deal with it. That’s free enterprise.

-Having said all that, Letterman still makes me sad. He’s an old, rich man relegated to choosing easy targets for cheap laughs. He has an entire bumbling administration to poke fun of – along with a conference room full of writers to do it for him- and he goes after the daughter of an Alaskan mayor. Letterman was a god in the eighties – now he’s just a mere, sad mortal driven by fumbling bitterness. And that makes me sad for him – and for those who never saw how truly great he once was.

Which leads me to my final point: Chris Elliott was the true genius.

Tonight’s awesome guests!

Governor Huckabee!

Marc Lamont Hil!

Jill Dobson!

The awesome awesome awesome Billy West!! (you know, from Futurama, among other things)

Mark Ebner!

Plus, my mom!

10. Listen, I didn’t know Willow Palin was 14. She was born in 1995. I thought she was still 13.

9. Why’s everyone so mad? I wasn’t making fun of Barack…?

8. I understand some offense was taken over my remarks last night. If that’s the case, I’d like to offer an apology to A-Rod. Tonight on the show, we have…

7. Careful buddy. You’re criticizing the guy who almost got the “Tonight Show.”

6. I’m a comedian and therefore not responsible for anything I say … ask Jon Stewart.

5. See, you all spoiled it. The plan tonight was to come out and tell a similar joke about Barack Obama’s daughters. But you can forget it now…

4. Everyone just needs to relax. Page, six, paragraph seven of the “Democrat Handbook” clearly states Republican children are fair game. Or is that the “Mainstream Media Handbook” … I get them confused.

3. It’s just been brought to my attention that during the campaign Barack Obama declared Sarah Palin’s children off limits. So, I would just like to say that this will never happen again and I hope the President will accept my apology. 

2. Would you believe I was hoping to be Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World”?

1. If what I said was so wrong, why haven’t feminists complained?

…Anyone else care to predict?

–

To be amazed at how low David Letterman will stoop in order to humiliate Sarah Palin means we still think of him as an entertainer, instead of what he is: a leftist ideologue willing to do whatever it takes to destroy a perceived threat to the Democrat majority. Letterman’s nothing special or unique. He’s merely joined the whole of the entertainment industry in sacrificing his place as an entertainer and legacy as an artist to wage ideological war.

Maybe our first step in fighting back is to wake up to this fact and stop being amazed.

Once upon a time I loved David Letterman. I loved him because Johnny Carson did, and that was good enough for me. Before he found his place in Late Night, Letterman had a short-lived daytime show. Some of you might remember it. I never missed an episode, and like Johnny, I thought Dave deserved the “Tonight Show” spot … but we were both wrong.

Johnny Carson defined show business class and so it’s not hard to imagine what he would’ve thought of a comedian willing to use an innocent 14-year old girl as a political weapon of humiliation. But to have learned it was Letterman…

There’s a whole lot more here, including John Ziegler’s interview with Governor Palin and her response to Letterman. Glenn Reynolds. Ace.  Jim Treacher. Protein Wisdom.

To be clear: Glenn Reynolds and Ace have both noted that the daughter in question, the one who accompanied Governor Palin to the Yankee game, was Willow Palin, born 1995 … 14-years old.

UPDATE: Conservatives4Palin posted these statements from Todd and Sarah Palin:

“Any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too.”

- Todd Palin

“Concerning Letterman’s comments about my young daughter (and I doubt he’d ever dare make such comments about anyone else’s daughter): ‘Laughter incited by sexually-perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/NY entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands – that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone’s daughter, contribute to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.’”

- Governor Sarah Palin

Even if Letterman had told this joke about Bristol, is that really any better? It’s a disgusting, degrading comment about anyone, especially an innocent bystander regardless of her age. But a 14-year-old?

I’m guessing Don Imus is pretty curious about where this might be headed.

2nd UPDATE: EW reports that Letterman responded to the uproar during today’s taping:

“We were, as we often do, making jokes about people in the news and we made some jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughter [Bristol]… and now they’re upset with me…” Letterman says on tonight’s show. “These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter. I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl…. Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes. Did I suggest that it was okay for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.” Saying he hopes he’s “cleared part of this up,” Letterman extended an invitation to Palin to come on the show as a guest.

Still curious what Don Imus thinks of all this.

Well, none of my Top Ten proved true, but I do think Letterman’s further damaged what little audience goodwill he had left. This was also one of those moments that ends up defining how a person is remembered; a shorthand description of who they are.

This is Letterman’s “definition of what is – is” moment, his Dean Scream.