It broke my heart to see David Letterman slip into being an anachronism this week after apologizing for remarks made in a monologue about one of Sarah Palin’s daughters.
That’s something the fair-haired Jay Leno would have done. But Letterman was the nation’s favorite redheaded stepchild, an irreverent and eccentric bad boy tossing stones at sacred cows. Now, he’s just another spineless comedian tossing out weightless apologies after somebody got their panties in a wad over one of his jokes.
Letterman has joined Jimmy Fallon as a new equivalent of Leno – a middle of the road, safe jokester without balls.
All hail the new kings of late night: Conan O’Brien and Craig Ferguson!
It pains me deeply to say anything positive about Sarah Palin, but I think she had every right to defend her daughter and call Letterman out. In fact, she would’ve been amiss as a parent if she hadn’t. Why is speech only supposed to be free when the speaker is saying something “politically incorrect?” If someone is offended by something, they’re supposed to muzzle it. I don’t get that.
Her problem was, she couldn’t stop there. She had to go on and make the asinine insinuation that Letterman was somehow a pedophile. And I do hope she tries to take political advantage of all this, because it’ll fail miserably. For someone with such a media-genic mug, she is incredibly media un-savvy.
Letterman’s problem is: He’s just not that funny. When you drain the smirk out of his monologues, you’re left with a thin-skinned chronic complainer. He’s comfortably familiar to folks, sort of a cross between Fred Rogers and Hunter S. Thompson. Now that heart surgery and late life parenthood have come along and knocked the smug expression off his face, though, he seems more than ever like he’s just keeping the host seat warm for his successor.
Sarah Palin had every right to demand an apology — but she shouldn’t have gotten one, especially from a comedian whose entire purpose for existing is to poke sticks at people and cultures and laugh at them.
David Letterman’s refusal to act like a real normal human being sticks out in my mind. He is a complete j a c k a s s – people will remember his crap.
People DID remember HER crap, and responded last November. Letterman has given White Trash Palin enough attention.
I was ever hurt, and suffering greatly upon David Letterman’s open apology to lying-manipulative political official. It is his job, to make jokes about people and lighten the mood for his devoted fans, Such as me. I’ll not leave the show over this, I will be hurt though. He was redheaded? Hmmmph. Since, he apologized for making us laugh aloud; Do we have to apologize too for laughing? Wouldn’t that be something…All of us who laughed must be perverted also, Uhhh, gasp, did I say that outloud?