Ok, am I making too big of a deal about this? Why does it bother me that a 'funny man' can make cracks about a 14 yo getting pregnant, just because she's the daughter of a politician that he doesn't like, then state he thought it was the 18 yo daughter that was in New York with her mother - and that makes it ok. In either case, why would this be funny?
I'm open to comments, but to call a female politician slutty? Is that funny? Shouldn't that joke be offensive to all women, and men? Why would you want to tell your daughter that she can grow up to be President, knowing that she will become the butt of jokes like this?
Why is CBS so quiet about this? Are they ok with it?
As Gov Palin said on the Today Show - are we just becoming so accepting of these kinds of comments that this type of thinking has just become our way of life? If true, that's very scary....

The other thing I'm wondering about is, are people tired of Gov Palin and so that makes it ok to accept these types of jokes as kind of a "she deserves it" - if that's the case, I'm still concerned - why do we not have a higher moral compass? Why is it that some jokes are ok because we're tired of that personality (Brittany's mental health issues, Gov Palin, etc) and some jokes are not, because we love that personality (Pres Obama, etc) - and believe me, I would be just as offended if the same joke(s) had been made about The First Lady or their family (even though I'm no fan of the current administration) - I would also be just as upset if the comments had been made about any of Speaker Pelosi's family.

What do you think? And if you think I'm out of touch and too uptight, I'm ok with you telling me that too!~

I don't think it was funny in any way - neither for a politians daughter nor mine. As a mother, I would have come unglued.

I agree with both of you, it was completely inappropriate.

I could not believe that the audience laughed.

there is a perverted hatred of Sarah Palin for a lot of reasons that are perverted themselves.....

he should be put in timeout to think about this.....

Ah, but you see, this has done just what he needed it to do. It's grabbed the attention of people and taken some of the steam out of Conan's takeover of Leno's show. Don't forget that there's a ratings war going on out there.

I don't watch either of them. I heard it on the news.

I quit watching Letterman a LONNNNNNNG time ago (as did many Americans that is why he is on CBS). He quit being funny when he left NBC. He became too Left Wing Politicle for me. At least Leno is a equal opportunity offender.

No, I dislike her and politics for what I feel and perfectly legitimate reasons. Your definition of what is perverted must have a wide cast...

That being said, from what I understand what Letterman said proved once again, why I do not watch Letterman in the first place.

I never watched late night shows, Carson, Leno, whoever. But the fact remains, millions do. And millions talk about them the next day...or blog. These guys know what they're doing and saying and what will generate a reaction. It's all about staying in the public eye.

I've never thought about it that way TR, but I think you may have it.

At any rate, it was tasteless.

I don't watch either of them either.

<----- watches all of them

I didn't watch it either, but I did read about it online.

I think there is a fine line with people in the public eye.
People who signed up for it (celebrities, politicians, etc.) should expect a certain level of flack and jokes to come their way.

Their children and their families should be out of the line of fire IMO. They didn't choose the spotlight and all the good and bad that comes along with it.

^^^^^ must have a multi-screen TV....

no...but DVR is my friend

can you imagine if these talk show hosts joked about Obama's daughters in this way?

Goodness, Pale, there would be objections, alarums, news stories, commentaries, probably a BOL thread....in other words, pretty much the same thing...

no, ole' Letterman would be "retiring" then..... and would not have been allowed to explain it away as he thought the older daughter was there, rather than Willow....

sure, if you say so...

LOL!

you can snicker and giggle all you want, but the reponse would not have been comparable, and y'all know it!

these late night yahoos and their writers only roll one way...

that is why they are going the way of the news shows on these same channels...

Being a "celebrity" or public figure, you must be prepared to be under the media scrutiny 24/7......with that said however, the family and children of said public figures should be off limits....at the very least to comedic jokes.

I may not care for Gov. Palin particularly, but I am offended that she has endured the type of negativity and insults to her ability to be a "good" mother. I honestly don't feel that (because her then 17 yr old daughter got pregnant) she deserved to be deemed a "bad" mother (in addition to being called "slutty"?). Sometimes our children do things and live their lives in a way that we did not instill in them.

Sometimes no matter how old we are, we must learn the hard way. I became a mother at 22 yrs old and had no intentions of getting married to the father (at the time), but I don't believe for one second that, because I had a child out of wedlock, it was in ANY way my mother's (or father's) fault. It was MINE.

Oh yeah, the response would have been totally equal in all the press, no question.

Hey, I have some property in Florida I'd like to sell you....

Well said, BQ