Or, am I stupid and missing it?

Letterman makes a crack that A-Rod knocked-up Palin's daughter.
People say he meant her 14 year old. He said he meant her 18 year old.
Hilarity ensues.

So, in what - 8 months, Palin is already embroiled in her 2nd media fued?

I love how Palin is quickly becoming the conservative MILF version of Paris Hilton. I can't wait for panty-less upskirt photos to appear on someone's blog.

Because the entire thing is fucking pointless in the face of so much other important shit happening.

Honestly, I wish sexist jokes about women politicians, racist jokes about Michelle Obama and ALL jokes about politicians kids would just stop.

In a perfect world...

I love being shown monkey negro watermelon eating Obama cartoons though... lets me know just what kind of person I am dealing with.

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Yea this whole thing is about as stupid as the Obama Special Olympics nonsense.. maybe even more pointless and absurd, if that's possible =)

All that comes from this silliness is that Palin shows she's really not ready for a major office and the public scrutiny/attention that really comes with it, and Letterman gets a massive ratings boost.

Yay!

People still watch Letterman?

15 years ago I loved Letterman. I haven't watched his show in years. I think what ultimately turned me off were the boring monologues and lack of funny in the beginning of the show.

Every time they would cut to the guy in the deli, I changed the channel. BORRRING I watched Leno for the first 15mins then turned to Letterman for the interviews, but after awhile I just kept it on Leno and Conan all night.

I'm thrilled Conan took over the Tonight Show... I just wish they would find somebody better than Jimmy Fallon after that. I watched Craig Ferguson last night and he wasn't half bad.

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Personally I think that format is either dead or on the way. It's too long and not focused enough. There's no niche like Jon Stewart and Colbert have, and I don't know anyone that feels it's must-watch TV.

Even if there's a celebrity you like being interviewed... just read a recap on the net or hell, watch one of the clips that will inevitable float up to the top.

I think Leno moving to an earlier time slot is more along the lines of what needs to be done to stay relevant. Who really wants to sit and just watch a program like that anymore? There's too much information saturation out there to watch a general interest program for 60 minutes at the end of the day.

I watch them because it's the best thing on in that slot. Sure, Daily show comes on, but they play re-runs a lot and they play the daily show about 7 times a day.

Late night is more of an event for me.. a habit. I have been watching Late Night since I got my first TV for my bedroom when I was a kid. So.. probably 20 years ago or so. I used to watch Carson and Letterman every night with the sound down real low and a towel around the cracks in my door so my parents couldn't see the TV light.

I still watch it cause I've always watched it. I don't always stay up for the interviews but I would say at least 3 nights a week I watch the majority of the shows.

It is a nice, stable constant in my life. I know that sounds kinda retarded, but it's just re-assuring knowing that it is always on at the same time, same nights and I know exactly what I am getting. It's kinda like what prime-time sit-coms were for me as a kid. I knew on Monday nights ALF was going to be on and on Tuesday I was going to watch Perfect Strangers. Course nowadays you never know what night what show is going to be on. I don't know how many times I have set my DVR to record something and it is something different than what the title says. Most recently was Norah Jones on Austin City Limits that turned out to be a Paul Simon concert *still pissed*

Anyway, sorry to ramble.

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I still watch the late night shows because - generally - they're funny and entertaining and they're on at a time when I'm generally winding down and sitting in bed anyway!

I don't care about who or what is being interviewed usually. And it's not about being "focused' for 60 minutes. It's just nice, end-of-the-day amusement. =)

Conan is excellent, the genre in general is a nice change from the plethora of sitcoms, dramas and reality shows.

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Kuwen Furyblades
Hunter of Memento Reejeryn
Champion of Faydark

To elaborate on my previous post...that's kind of the point. It's scattered, random humor and other elements tossed into an entertainment show.

That's what shocked me about the whole thing..

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Devil

Build a man a fire, and he's warm for the night.
Set a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.

Yeah, you're probably too busy watching Rush to watch Letterman.

Letterman, Conan, etc will always be around because they're mindless, segment oriented stuff shown late at night. People can tune in at any point, watch 1 or 2 segments and go to sleep. There aren't a lot of other types of shows that can fill that niche.

Why is an adult relative of a politician off-limits?

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He's tryin to make a stand for the innocent peoplez, man. Joxur sounds like one of those Miss America contestents. "I just want world peace!!".

If they aren't media-whores, they should be. Remember when John McCain's brother called 911 and went ape-shit about traffic? Yeah, people do shit like that all the time, just because you happen to be related to someone famous, do you think they should have their brand of crazy put on display for all of america to see? I don't. I guess I just have a soft spot for people who get shit upon for no good reason.

Joe the Plumber? Shit on him. Sonny and Cher's "Chaz"? Shit on him/her/it. McCain's brother? Not so much. Obama's wierd ass half brother/sister/cousin .. not so much.

If somebody holds a news conference about themselves or appears on Oprah to talk about themselves.. yeah, piss on them. They deserve what they get. Other people not so much.

It's like somebody taking a big shit on Dick Cheney's daughter for no good reason. If somebody is keeping to themselves, then leave them the fuck alone.

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If you need to ask, I can tell the debate will go nowhere

Ehh... in a perfect world maybe they would be. Also, famous people would have their privacy and no one would care about politicians' personal lives. Whatever.

If she'd ignored it, no one would have remembered the comment a day later. This is why people with any sense don't start feuds with comics. All she's done is boost Letterman's ratings.

Letterman, Conan and Fallon all suck.

I watch Stew/Colb and Chelsea Lately on E for pure hilarity.

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"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -Henry Louis Mencken
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VEGETARIAN -Noun (vej-i-tair-ee-uhn): Ancient tribal slang for the village idiot who can't hunt, fish or ride.

Here's an example where it's okay: Cheney's daughter Mary puts herself in the public eye by working (for pay, not as his daughter but in the capacity of her career) on his campaign. She also put her sexuality in the public arena by working as a gay/lesbian outreach coordinator as a PR rep to end a GLTB boycott. Both those things were public.

Where it's sorta okay but tread lightly: When someone talks about abstinence only blah blah blah and they have a teen pregnancy in their immediate family. It's okay to address that ISSUE as it directly relates to shit they've been yammering. However, the child (even if they're now an adult) should be completely off limits, unless *as an adult* they've put themselves into the media spotlight by choice.

Where it's never okay: When relatives are never seeking media attention, and the only 'public' interest is as a relative of someone. It's just inappropriate.

Exceptions: When that person plays the 'DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! DO YOOOOOU!!!!' card somehow publically and gets called on it. Or they're involved in any scandal of office (such as misuse of govt. monies...like a spouse charging up shitloads of stuff) things like that. Non-exceptions: When their public eye spouse is caught with a hooker/gay lover...the spouse should NEVER be dragged into the public eye unless they come into it by choice. Standing awkwardly by their spouse w/in 24 hours of getting the news doesn't equate to choice for me. But the media has been relatively cool with that shit.

And it's easy for people to enforce it: Don't watch 'news' stories that do that shit. Don't buy the papers that cover that garbage. I see that shit, I flip the channel.

Then again, I don't tend to watch their intentional media whoring either. Unless it's really funny, like Palin and the turkeys.

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Which Bristol Palin has done. She's done interviews for Fox News, Good Morning America, People magazine, etc. She's fair game.

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1 thing Tyral, the problem with the joke isn't that it was about Bristol - it's that people felt Letterman implied A-Rod was banging her 14 year old daughter.

I don't really care either way, but I can see how some people would get bent out of shape over that.

If by "people" you mean conservatives trying to make fake outrage.

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Well... I don't know what Palin's 14 year-old's name is, let's say it's Whistler.

Had Letterman said, "Reports are coming in that A-Rod recently knocked up Whistler," I think there would be some semi-legit gripes. That to me would be worse than Imus calling some adult basketball players "nappie headed hoes". One is slightly racist, the other is implying someone's kid got raped.

Personally, I don't care. I think Letterman had a joke that missed that wasn't thought through. It's over. But, I also thought Imus being fired over his comment was ridiculous.

The "liberal bias to media" people are having a field day with it, and I sorta see their point... slightly (very slightly).

Letterman was referring to the 18 yr old. That wasn't the daughter actually at the Yankees game, but it's pretty obvious that is who the target was. Lots of hoopla over a not very funny, poor taste joke. Palin is a hack and Letterman is over the hill. Neither wins this round, but Palin comes out much worse because she actually wants people to take her seriously.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said "Keep your guns, vote Palin"

It cracks me up that so many Republicans think she's going to be their savior. If they really want to completely sink their party, they can keep trying to push that moron as their poster child.

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/nod, pretty much either only really stupid and/or really ignorant people thought it was a reference to the 14-year-old daughter. The 18 y.o. got pregnant, geeeee who would a "knocked-up" joke be referring to?!?!? Maybe the one that got media attention for just that?!?!?! Dumb, just dumb.

Personally I've always enjoyed Letterman more than most of the latenight hosts, especially Jay Leno. Leno was good at delivery, that's about it. Letterman actually demonstrates some intelligence and an impromptu sense of humor once in a while. Conan is more off and on, but tries way too hard to appeal to the younger audiences and it shows. I can't think of anyone else worth watching; Conan usually isn't worth it.

By and large I'm sure most everyone (Including Palin herself) knew full well what Letterman was saying. But the manufactured outrage just isn't as convincing if they admit that!

I thought the jab at Palin's kids was tasteless.

I thought the jab at Palin's looking like a "slutty flight attendant" was offensive.

Palin won the exchange when NOW weighed in against Letterman. NOW's involvement sort of tosses your point about manufactured outrage out the window.

wait a sec, NOW took Palin's side? That is a news story!

Please. It's bullshit. He's not saying anything that hasn't been said before, and less tastefully, about many other politicians and their families. What I find offensive is that the Republican party thought Palin would make a good vice president. Further, I find the fact that we still have to hear about this retard half a year after the election is over grossly offensive.

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Feminist organization doesn't like female jokes, more news to come at 11.

Tyral must not be offended by any of the racist jokes told about the Obamas.

How? All it does is make NOW look stupid too, in the eyes of anyone who isn't just searching for a reason to be offended.

Even if she wins the exchange, she loses. She accomplishes nothing aside from making sure that everyone in America has now heard the jokes about her daughter, whichever one it may have been. Comedians don't get elected, and it's not particularly damning for them to be seen as tasteless sometimes. If anything, she's helping Letterman's ratings by focusing attention on him.

There's a world of difference between "slutty stewardess look" and racism. Don't try to muddy the waters with that bullshit.

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What are you, a woman?

Seriously though.. she does dress the part.

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yeah specialized political lobbyist groups almost never take an opportunity to get their name printed by publicly taking a side on an issue within their spectrum

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Yea that cracks me up. Feminist organization cries foul over a silly joke, PALIN IS VINDICATED!!11

Why not look at what they actually have to say about it. They make some good points.

http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of ... n-daughter

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No, they don't.

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I think that's an extremely valid point, and one you don't see with male politicians.

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of course the converse to that is that you don't see male politicans winking and playing cutesy at their audience in debates.

Appearance is important for both sexes when it comes to candidacy. But women get judged more on looks than men instead of the substance of the topic. Hillary was considered as a masculine appearing shrew and Palin as empty headed model. Both comparisons are completely dead wrong. Hillary is a shrewd politician and Palin is as well.

Winner!

Shenanigans! Obama's appearance and his "bod" were often mentioned by the media during the elections. It's still brought up anytime they catch him with his shirt off.

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Yes, but when they do it to a guy it's just a "person". When they do it to a woman it's a "female being objectified."

Granted, women get it more, but do you not notice all the male athletes plastered all over things and models with their washboard stomachs and shit all over the place too?

Of course not.

Palin needs to talk to Hilary.

You might get support if you play the victim, but you don't win elections with it. When the day is over, nobody wants a pansy for a prez.

SUre they do, maybe not to the extent they did with Palin because she was considered "hot". But, I remember pictures of Obama shirtless floating around and people commenting on Clinton's sex appeal.

Oprah said Obama was sexy didn't she?

Hillary's appearance was constantly focused on, and I don't recall her ever winking or playing cutesy.

Bush's grossly unqualified nomination for the Supreme Court...Harriet Myers...was mocked incessently for her appearance and called more than once 'a cleaning woman' in the media. Can't say I recall her being winky or playing cutesy...and the media certainly had plenty of real issues with her to deal with.

The list can go on, ad infinitum. While there are the occassional unicorns on the other side (JFK being handsome, Obama being objectified with his six pack when he's shirtless) they're neither focused on, nor are they commonplace either for men in general or those men specifically.

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Only because she brought that shit up herself. I don't remember it EVER being discussed until she did that whole teary-eyed crap with that women's group.

I'm not disputing this, but I don't remember that at all. I can't imagine it was a common theme if it doesn't even ring a bell.

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You have a short memory it seems.

That may be true, but Hillary did bring up her appearance a number of times and opened herself up to it.

With Harriet Myers, I remember the cleaning woman references in the media, but no more than I heard references of Mitt Romney being a used car salesman.

Obama's six pack(or lack thereof in that one beach photo IIRC) seemed like a pretty damned big deal in the media. If THAT was being focused on, I don't know what being "focused on" is. I can't count the number of times I saw even CNN display some of those stupid photos.

It really works both ways. The big difference is that women are taught to be more outgoing than men, both in appearance and socially. The problem is that it's still a conscious decision on a woman's part to wear that frilly outfit, or wear an enormous but fake smile. You can't have your cake and eat it too - being outgoing and open runs the risk of being criticized and leaves you open to attack. Crying every time the latter happens isn't going to bring women any closer to equality. Sure I think we can all agree that there's more criticism about women's appearances for the same reason, and it's not always fair, but if we want that to stop then women also share some responsibility in not making a big fuss about both their appearance and criticism for it as well.

society objectifies women someone start a thread about that because it's news

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Pardon me for this inexcusable bump, but I realized that no thread about Palin would be complete without the obligatory:

MASTERFUL choice!