Imagine a conservative man on
television making a joke about Sasha and Malia Obama having sex and
being statutorily raped in the middle of Yankee stadium in front of
Michelle Obama.
The outrage would reach Don Imus proportions and it would not stop until the guy was fired. I'd be outraged too.
Well, David Letterman made exactly that "joke" about Willow Palin, age 14, on his TV show.
I
hear absolutely nothing from feminist groups about it. This proves
that NOW is not the National Organization for Women. It's the National
Organization for Liberal Women.
The unwritten rule in politics
has always been "hands off" when it came to a politician's kids. Not
so when that politician is Sarah Palin.
I still can not
explain the hatred the left and the media have for Palin. What exactly
did she do to deserve it? I've seen the most vile things written about
her, but this is a woman who fought corruption and has never had a
scandal. She has no history of being mean to anyone.
If the
left and the media disagree with her policy and expresses that, then
fine. This hatred though is bizarre. It's hard enough to find good
people to run for office. The Palin hatred on display must have a
chilling effect for other candidates, both women and men, to try their
hand at serving. Particularly attacks on family and children.
In
Sarah I see a successful governor who wanted to serve her country as
Vice President, just as 8 other governors in the 20th Century had done.
"Governor" had been the standard by which executive experience was
judged in a Presidential candidate, but since she was a woman, the
Press changed the standard. Suddenly Governor meant "inexperienced."
I'm
informed by my Christian faith when it comes to apologies. I'm usually
very accepting of them. I'm not a pundit who automatically rips into
an apology as "insincere" when a celebrity apologizes. I see pundits
on TV do that all the time.
I'm a Catholic. Accepting apologies
to me is as important as making them. It actually becomes an
obligation when the apologist meets the standard: 1) He's truly sorry
for the offense; 2) His intention is never to repeat it; 3) He does a
penance for the transgression. When that happens, accepting the
apology becomes my burden, and I'm wrong if I don't accept it.
For
the first time, I didn't buy an "apology" by a celebrity. David
Letterman came on TV and repeated that "It was just a joke." We know
Dave, an awful one. That's why you are in trouble. He made more jokes
and laughed along with his audience as he made this "apology" but
continued to deny his actions by saying in effect, "This is what I do."
This wasn't an apology, but a rationalization that what he did was OK.
My friend Andy Garruto copied my on an email he sent to the CBS brass about Letterman. Here it is:
Dear Nina
Tassler, Kelly Kahl, Kim Sartori, and Les Moonves:
In the last few
years, Dave has been moving from comedian to liberal activist – the Sarah
Palin jokes go too far, and the jokes about her daughter (whether or not he was
talking about 14 year old or the 18 year old) are way out of bounds. And to
make matters worse, he responds to the Palin family’s criticism with ridicule
instead of an apology.
You guys should
be ashamed.
You’ve
lost me as a viewer, except to check on who is still advertising.
I'd like to encourage all of you to write your own personal email to the CBS brass asking for David Letterman to be fired.
Here is their respective emails:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]