Better Late Than Never; NOW Takes Letterman to Task
NOW [the National Organization for Women] inducts Letterman into its “Media Hall of Shame”
It’s nice to see the left-of-center feminist organization condem the late night talk show host for the crude jokes he made about Sarah Palin. Let’s hope this is a harbinger of things to come and other left-of center feminist groups will criticize Letterman for his harsh attacks. I daresay they might have responded more quickly had the women under attack had a (D) rather than an (R) after her name.
But, the feminist organization deserves credit for calling Letterman out for his juvenile references to an elected Governor and his locker-room barbs about a minor:
Letterman also joked about what he called Palin’s “slutty flight attendant look” — yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician’s appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman’s stature, who appears on what used to be known as “the Tiffany Network” (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.
Let us hope this and other feminist organizations remain ever vigilant against such barbs against Republican women just as they are vigilant for barbs made against women in general and liberal women in particular.
R.A. Mansour at Conservatives4Palin has a good roundup on the reaction to the Letterman insult; it’s worth your attention.
Over at Blue Crab Boulevard, Gaius has some kind words for NOW and harsh ones for Letterman:
CBS now has a major problem on its hands. Letterman is radioactive if NOW has come out against him. Will they do the right thing and dump him? We’ll see. But kudos to NOW for refusing any cover for Letterman.
I don’t know how radioactive he has become, but given his non-apology, it’ll be interesting to see if an effort mounts to push CBS to fire him as we saw mounted against Don Imus.
(H/t Memeorandum.)
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Better late… (i.e., safely after the 2008 campaign when Palin was subjected to far worse and more hypocritical sexism) …than never, I suppose.
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — June 12, 2009 @ 2:10 am - June 12, 2009
P.S. Where is Andrew Sullivan in this? Still pushing his crackhead/gutter accusations about Palin’s baby?
Comment by ILoveCapitalism — June 12, 2009 @ 2:12 am - June 12, 2009
I was happy to see NOW address this. And as much as I love Rush and wasn’t happy to see NOW’s statement also take a shot at Rush, I do think what many conservatives said about Chelsea back during the Clinton years was out of line. I hope as a general rule all children are left off-limits for nasty jokes and insults.
Comment by cme — June 12, 2009 @ 8:06 am - June 12, 2009
Good for NOW for doing the right thing, albeit very belatedly. Have they changed leadership since the election or something?
Comment by American Elephant — June 12, 2009 @ 8:22 am - June 12, 2009
Bad publicity is better than no publicity.
Comment by Ignatius — June 12, 2009 @ 10:34 am - June 12, 2009
Some people age and mature, some do not. If Rush bashed Chelsea sometime during the 90’s, it was wrong. I doubt that he would do it today. Rush has not made his career based on walking on the edge. Letterman, on the other hand is 62 and has had a long career to learn what he can get away with. He pushed the envelope for a cheap laugh. In that respect, I see no parallel between Rush and Letterman.
NOW is playing the equivalency game by bringing Rush into the picture. Chelsea was not blessed with striking good looks. Saying so is a far cry from making rape jokes about her.
I always admired Chelsea for taking her embattled parents off on vacation as the intermediary. Her father has been totally exposed for making a sex toy of girl her age who enjoyed whoring for him. Her mother was justified in her anger at having a married lifetime of Bill’s over sexed life come spilling out in public. And that young girl took the job of walking between them. She had heavy baggage dumped on her that no one deserved.
Comment by heliotrope — June 12, 2009 @ 10:47 am - June 12, 2009