Dave vs. Sarah 2: So Much for the Ratings Stunt

By James Poniewozik | @poniewozik | June 11, 2009 | +

In response to last night’s not-exactly-apology by David Letterman, a spokesperson for Sarah Palin says the Governor will not be making an appearance on Late Show:

“The Palins have no intention of providing a rating’s boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show,” the Alaska governor’s rep said in a statement to FOXNews.com. “Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman.”

I guess you could read that last quip as (1) saying that Dave would not want to be around a ticked-off Alaskan teenager, or (2) calling the host a pervert. Your call. [Update: Oh, or you could get all meta and call it making a joke about calling Dave a pervert. Which would tend to undermine the whole "How dare you exploit our daughter by involving her in a sexual joke" angle.]

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Well, I think this response is highly offensive. Dave should demand an apology. It’s outrageous for a spokesperson to make the assumption that Dave is a sex offender, that’s slander. Poor taste, simply poor taste Palin & co.
alynch3

It’s not really much of a call to make. It’s pretty obvious. Dave made a joke that was in poor taste, and the Palins, being the level-headed people that they are, responded by calling him a pedophile.
Dave

Sigh. The Palins didn’t call Dave a pedophile any more than Dave called A-Rod a pedophile. It’s like they’re all playing this huge game of, “What’s the worst possible way I can handle this situations?”
Rorschach

They insinuated earlier, Dave, that Letterman was referring to Willow and now they did it again. He wasn’t, and it was clear that he wasn’t. It’s still way over the line, and I’m not defending him, but they are making stuff up. This is what they do. They say something clearly not true, and then say it over and over again.
rosseau

Yes, what everybody else said, in a much more succinct fashion. These are not good people. How long before they use the baby(ies) in another manufactured outrage?
Allison

If you knew that Willow and not Bristol was the daughter in New York, then it was not “clear” who the daughter was. Yes, it doesn’t make sense to make a “knocked up” joke about the daughter who did not get pregnant, but it also doesn’t make sense to make a “hardest part about the trip to NY” joke about someone who was not in NY. I believe that Letterman was being lazy and meant for the jokes to be about Bristol, but possible statutory rape was not the only problem with those jokes and I think letting the conversation focus on that lets Letterman off the hook.
Allison

And, actually, I semi-take back that it doesn’t make sense to do a knocked up joke about the non-pregnant daughter because that would’ve been a joke about Sarah Palin’s parenting and how it led to teen pregnancy. Not likely, I think, but possible.
Jim, Foolish Literalist

Letterman was never talking about or thinking about the fourteen year old. He shouldn’t have been joking about the nineteen year old, but he was never talking about the little girl. I hope Letterman goes on the warpath. Politics aside– the fact that his original jokes were in fact cheap and offensive aside– the old man’s never better than when he gets cranky. And the idiot Palin has left a long trail of stoopit to serve as raw material. I have a feeling Palin’s going to be looking back on Tina Fey like an old friend a week from now.
Rorschach

For the record, Palin has once again insinuated that it was a joke about the 14 year old. It’s nutty, she finally has something to be legitimately upset about and she still finds a way to mess it up.