Save Willow!
Digg 
Stumble Upon 
Newsvine 
Slashdot 
Mixx 
Diigo 
Delicious 
Reddit 
Facebook
I am not generally in favor of social services taking children from their parents. Of course not. But this ridiculous faux-outrage against David Letterman makes me think there might be a case for separating the publicity crazed Sarah and Tod Palin from their brood.
The couple have taken Letterman’s bad joke that Palin’s “daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez” at a recent Yankees game and milked it for all the pints of self-righteous grievance that they can squeeze. Tod Palin, getting on his high snow-ski, said that “any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable.”
Letterman has admitted that the joke was in poor taste – he should have said it was not funny, like almost all his jokes — and expressed regret at having said it. He insisted that he was not referring to their 14-year-old daughter but to their 17-year-old, Bristol, who (as we all know) has recently had a baby.
Not good enough for Sarah P – not when there are a couple more PR spins left in the news cycle. Today, the Alaskan huntress was on CNN saying that she had only taken Willow – the 14 year old – to the game, so Letterman must be referring to her , and that the American public must be given “the full context of what that joke was all about.”
What? The Palins are so hurt by this joke that they feel compelled to explain it to as many people as they can. Why? To clear the family name? To show the outside world that she will stick up for her kids, no matter what? No. Sarah P doesn’t understand much – but she gets that being hurt in public can be good for a politician.
The people to pity, however, are not Tod and Sarah, but Willow and Bristol, who are being horribly exploited by their mother. By blowing this stupid story far out of proportion, Palin is making sure that a foul joke at her children’s expense is being repeated over, and over, and over — all so their mother can talk tough on TV.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Sorry Freddy, but you are horribly wrong on this one. Of course Palin is taking advantage of the situation thrust upon her, but that’s what politicians do. I’m not a fan of Palin, or any other “fresh face” dredged up by the decrepit GOP establishment to blunt the emergence of a hard right political party. On the other hand, your antipathy to Palin has blinded you to grotesque remarks proffered by Letterman. His “joke” wasn’t funny, whether it was about a 14 year old, a 17 year old or a thirty something housewife. It’s a truism that crude remarks presage crude behavior, and that ridicule, at least since the French Revolution, has been a precursor to persecution. Conservatives should embrace this opportunity to direct attention to the loathsome standards that are apparently acceptable in public discourse. Shame on you for blaming the victim, even if the victim attempts to cash in on the incident.
Freddy,
What are you doing on a conservative website with a column that would make more sense coming from the Daily Kos or some other trash the Republicans left wing site. If you are part of this site, especially a paid part, FORGET my money. YOU or the editor who allowed your drivel are dead to me.
Mr. James,
What, precisely, is in any un- or anti-conservative about Freddy’s posting?
Dear John, I hope you are not so offended by my post as to think of TAC as un-conservative. I would be happy to discuss this further if you answer Nathan’s question.
Charles, I completely agree that Letterman’s joke was foul and unfunny. I tried to say that – perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. Just because Letterman is wrong doesn’t mean Palin is right, though. Aren’t they both just plugging themselves and each other – at the expense of those two girls?
Ok, why hit the only true high profile conservative in the teeth with a column about taking her kids away. We have ENOUGH from the left to deal with, there is there own cable network in MSNBC, and CNN does all it can to belittle conservatives, so why help the “enemy”? We either stand up for each other and win back power, or accept our fate of one more Obama after another until doomsday. Home team Freddie, home team!
Your last paragraph Freddie was condescending to the Palin[s], and could have been written by any Air America hack instead of someone who claims to be a conservative.
If you have daughters, maybe then you would get why this could not be ignored. Chester Letterman and the staff of writers KNEW that it was Willow, not Bristol. EVERY politician who runs for office brings their kids on stage, and parades them around for all to see, I don’t see a column about them exploiting them for political gain.
Every thing about Sarah is conservative, yet she is attacked day and night with crude comments and yet NO MAJOR part of my party the Republican party comes to her defense. I admire John McCain for his service to our country, but I have to admit his backing away from her RUINED my opinion of him. She stand for every conservative principle, but our own take shots???
Time to gather the horses and take back our country, a wagon trail so to speak, it will be a useless venture if we are shooting our guns at us. Your column did that, well thats what it said to me.
In what way is calling out Palin for terrible parental judgment “anti-conservative”? Conservatives should want the best available leaders, and Palin clearly is not one. Liberals do not hate her because she’s more conservative. They hate her because she’s a an uneducated narcissist who thinks she should be President despite lacking any actual ability to do the job. Liberals see Palin’s popularity with the right as proof of the intellectual inferiority of conservativism. The sooner conservatives dump her, the better for conservativism.
I tend to agree with Nomo. I think when Palin first emerged there was a lot of knee-jerk and cruel liberal hostility towards her – for being a pro-life mother, for being Alaskan, for hunting etc etc. There still is. But the automatic conservative enthusiasm for her is equally mindless.
I was not seriously calling for social services to take the Palin children. It was meant to be a joke. Clearly though, like Letterman’s gag, it was in bad taste. And I’m sorry about that.
When is it bad parenting to defend a child?
Nomo has no clue, and my bet he is a liberal. Liberals HATE conservatives and trying to be like them will leave the party doomed. Reagan knew he had to confront those on the left, but sadly conservatives seem comfortable to apologize and to eat our own.
McCain was an example of the Democrat lite influence on the Republican party, and the cheap shots about her by Nomo are just wrong.
Freddie, this site is foolish to allow you space when you attack conservatives for being mindless. I support conservative candidates, I don’t want an approved by MSNBC Presidential candidate. Maybe thats what you and Nomo wants, if so FIND ANOTHER PARTY!
Mr. James,
A few points.
1. The calling into question of Mrs. Palin’s parenting techniques revolves not around some attempt “to defend a child”, but the shameless parading of a child through the media circus without good reason. Wholly sincere or not, Mr. Letterman apologized; the responsible, respectable thing for Palin qua mother to do, now, is to let sleeping dogs lie. That, however, stands contrary to her lowest-common-denominator “Aw, shucks” populism.
2. Palin is hardly “the only true high profile conservative”. Perhaps, suffering as you seem to, from an indescribable irascibility, you’re blinded to a few realities, but by TAC standards she’s hardly the sort of leader we seek. In your petulant, virulent attacks on Freddy, your failure to understand just what sorts of conservatism this magazine supports is quite obvious. Hardly a short-sighted, closed-minded GOP echo-chamber, TAC, endorses conservatism of a more traditional, often communitarian type, rather than the GOP’s hyper-individualism veiled with “social conservatism”.
3. Developing a sense of humor, or, at least, the ability to detect an attempt at humor on another’s part (presently, Freddy’s), surely would be to your benefit.
Letterman did *not* apologize. He denied it, and delivered the denial with his usual schtick, playing the entire routine for laughs.
I seem to recall that Obama decreed that families should be off-limits. This is why.
Palin opened the conversation up, making the issue about more than just her family.
Freddy is wrong about this: Letterman acted like the jerk that he’s always been.
I think Tod should be the Palin to visit the set. it would be interesting to see how many “slut” and “whore” jokes he could make to the face of the husband and father of the ladies Letterman deems unworthy.
Nathan
Is the view nice from the high horse you are posting that from?
Freddie may be a nice person, I merely commented on the words he used to express his POV.
I do find humor that people can call themself conservative, but have no problem attacking a woman who is a true conservative. You can call yourself a table, but unless you meet the standard that a table is, you are merely wood and nails. I feel thats the view of conservatives here. You call yourself something you know of but can’t be,
Mr. James,
Yes, thank you: the view from the high horse from which (Dangling prepositions, sir, are a no-no!) I post is quite nice. A higher mount permits for greater vigilance, ever more necessary in this morally decrepit world.
(As long as I’m in a pedantic mood, I should note that “themself” is not a word; your feeble attempt to employ politically correct, gender-neutral language rather confounds me. It seems to be rather uncharacteristic of a conservative.)
More perplexing is that you assert that Mrs. Palin is a “true conservative”, but then engage in quasi-Platonic waxing that, to me, suggests that no one can be a “true conservative”. We may not be “true conservatives” here, but we do think, again, that one must be more than a pro-life “Aw, shucks” populist governor-mom to be a “high profile conservative”.
Angela, I’m not sure that Freddy every suggested that Letterman wasn’t being a jerk. That wasn’t the crux of his argument, anyhow.
Hey folks
I was looking for a conservative view and its clear this is just a bunch of people who wish to call them self conservatives but have NO REAL ties to it.
If you can attack a woman for defending her children, belittle her or state her kids should be taken from her, maybe during the next military holiday you should go up to veteran and kick him in the shins. Tell him he should have been what YOU think a hero should be.
Freddie, you and Nathan should understand being weak kneed Air America copies won’t make anyone think you are a conservative. NO ONE!.
Mr. James,
Have you considered contacting Kraft Foods? As dated as their giant, anthropomorphic pitcher is, they may be in the market for a new mascot for their Kool-Aid.
Reagan was a conservative, you Nathan are a want to be conservative.
MAYBE instead of lying in your Web address about being conservative, you should contact Go DADDY. com and ask if NOTreallyAmericanConservative.com is available, then you wouldn’t be such liars, and then people who are conservatives would not be fooled into clicking on your site.
Willow was not at the game. Sarah & Todd Palin are sick. Seriously, seriously sick.