Simon: You won’t like him at all. Don’t follow this link: http://savingbristol.com/

Does it mean something in a language or culture I’m unaware of?

My first impression is that KK sucks at spelling names – I can’t spell Michael without spell check, but I’m not doing it on purpose.

Also, does anyone besides me see this as another manifestation of Simon’s unhealthy “relationship” with Sarah Palin?

I still think this is manufactured outrage. It was just a simple joke in bad taste. And as I suspected and others pointed out was quite possible, Letterman probably didn’t even know which daughter was at the game.

Since I don’t have an infinite tank of outrage, I’m saving mine for stuff that matters. This aint it. Was it a nice joke? Nope, it sure wasn’t. Comedy usually isn’t nice.

Let’s take a beat here and realize that whatever our political differences, cultural differences, however much we irritate each other, we are united in our opposition to and contempt for the sort of hate-filled creature who would enter a museum full of children and begin shooting.

We don’t have to agree, we don’t have to like each other, but there are monsters in the world and we are not them. We’re Americans together, madly in love with our country, furious with haters, dedicated to the belief that all are created equal.

Okay, that’s it. Resume combat.

But I did see through the Empty Skirt so I am still up on you.

Who do you think was/is a serious Republican. Key values would be intelligence, balanced arguments and not a hypocrite. I’ll be waiting. John Anderson was better than anyone you’ve had since he left. PERIOD by a mile

Limbaugh lead the pack

In the poll reported at the link you gave, “13 percent identified conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh” as “a ‘main person’ who speaks for the GOP” (emphasis added). So the poll doesn’t speak to who respondents think is the leader of the GOP (your claim above), and it puts a ceiling on the number of people who identify him as a leader: 13% of respondents. But since we know that the survey doesn’t only include Republicans, we can infer that the number of Republicans who so rated him is lower. So your link in fact supports my obserrvation, not yours.

As to the ide that the “last” “serious Republican[]” “left the party in 1980,” that only goes to establish how little you know about the GOP, which is of course fed back into how the rest of us evaluate your claims about what the party believes. So far, “not very seriously” is winning.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/10/poll-majority-unsure-who-speaks-for-the-gop/

Curious who you would consider serious Republicans. Last one I knew left the party in 1980.

It works if he thought it was Bristol. We don’t all memorize the Palin family. I for one had no idea she had another girl.

It has been used by kk and gerryf and that’s about it. I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Also, glad to hear Dave apologized. But I think it’s pretty obvious that they were trying to make a joke aimed at Bristol since she was the butt of many jokes during the campaign. That doesn’t make that joke right either, but it’s certainly more appropriate since Bristol is of age.

Last note, you have to consider the source. Letterman isn’t known for this type of stuff, which is why this post wasn’t entitled, “Letterman Does It Again!” So give the guy a break…until it happens again. Then you can call it a pattern and lay into him all you want.

Dave has now explained and apologized: he was referring to Bristol, who is of age and not a 14 year-old.

Except Bristol wasn’t the one at the game, as Justin noted, so his excuse doesn’t work. The joke is predicated at presence at the game, so the butt of the joke is the child who was there–which was Willow, not Bristol.

I have a teenaged child, so I’m familiar with the kind of game Dave’s playing here. Allow me to translate:

“David, why did you do that?”
“I don’t know” [insta-translation: "I thought it would be fin and I didn't think I'd get caught."]

You know what’s really tiresome? People getting preemptively offended on behalf of 3rd parties. Can’t we at least wait to find out whether Palin’s daughter even heard the joke, never mind was upset by it?

That assumes that the comment was only offensive and in bad taste if its butt thought so. That relativism-on-stilts just isn’t credible.

Justin Gardner Says:

Sara as a joke? I’ve never seen anybody else do that on purpose….

It’s just funny that the misspelling is used often in comments here, and not only by KK. What’s that about?

the Word Says:

Actually, Limbaugh, the guy thought by most as the leader of your party

He may be so considered by many on the left, but not by any serious Republicans I’ve ever met or read.

What next? Malia Obama jokes?

However, the “Democrat Party” thing is very real on the right wing. And that’s from party leaders. Can’t think of anything on the left that has been pushed by Dem leaders as a blatant smack in the face, but I’m probably missing something.

Simon, good point. People think the 1st Amendment allows them to say anything they want. Still, I don’t think Letterman will get in trouble for this beyond the backlash from the right wing he’s getting now.

#2 – I could be wrong on this, but I predict that when Letterman made the joke, he didn’t know that it was Willow at that game, and not Bristol. I think there’s a good chance that Letterman will tastefully apologize, and move on.