Sarah Palin Tells CNN David Letterman's Joke "Sexist, Perverted," Beyond Inappropriate

Sarah Palin really is on a roll. She can't help herself. Using David Letterman's inappropriate joke as a springboard, the Governor of Alaska has launched herself back into the public spotlight. She appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room" Friday and continued going after the comedian, picking up where she left off with NBC's "Today Show" earlier.

Wolf Blitzer prompted the discussion by telling her that Letterman admitted that the joke was in bad taste and that it was a mistake to have told it. He asked if Sarah Palin was willing to forgive Letterman.

She said she would always be willing to forgive those who ask for it. Then she said that David Letterman's comments went beyond inappropriate. She said that his joke was "sexist, perverted." She also said that the explanation that the joke was actually about Bristol, Sarah Palin's older daughter (who, incidentally, had been "knocked up"), was a "weak, convenient excuse." She said she had been at the ballgame with her 14-year-old daughter and chided David Letterman for not knowing that.

Sarah Palin said that what Letterman had described was actually statutory rape, that no 14-year-old would consent to having sex with a 30-something-year-old man. (The joke went as such: "One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.")

But that is only if you fall for the slant Sarah Palin and many conservatives are putting on the story. Palin contends that Americans weren't and still aren't being given all the details about the joke and its context. As to the "beyond" inappropriateness, Palin said, "This insinuation that it's ok, that it's acceptable to talk like that and then that it's acceptable for the media to not provide the American public, the listeners, the readers the full context of that joke." She also said it was a "sad commentary on what Americans are fed in terms of full news."

Palin seems to have returned to her position that the liberal mainstream media conspires against the truth, only showing what is best for ratings and whatever casts a poor light on everything traditional and conservative. But this issue has been covered in depth by many in the media from every political ideology. And the video of Letterman's joke can be seen anytime online at any of thousands of different places. If Americans are being "fed" without getting a well-rounded sense of the topic, then it is because of lack of observation.

Yet, it is a typical "Big Brother" scare tactic employed by the political Right, which Palin is aligned with.

And Palin is incorrect. There was no substantive "context" for Letterman's joke. It was part of his monologue. He started talking about Sarah Palin being in New York. Then he told the joke. As is her usual wont, Sarah Palin is attempting to distort the truth in order to promote herself and her agenda.

And David Letterman did not condone nor advocate rape, statutory or otherwise. "These are not jokes made about her 14-year-old daughter," Letterman said Wednesday night. "I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl."

Palin, who acted like she had not heard any of David Letterman's comments, said that it did not matter which daughter he was talking about, it was "inappropriate."

On that, this writer can agree. Letterman's joke was inappropriate. That Sarah Palin and her family were angered by its target and focus is understandable. But to listen to Sarah Palin make the crude joke into something it wasn't is simply annoying and smacks of direct political grandstanding and blatant manipulation.

All in all, Sarah Palin did not sound all that forgiving...

And one is reminded of why Sarah Palin's approval ratings fell so precipitously during the 2008 presidential campaign after people actually started listening to her...

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Sources:

"Late Night with David Letterman," CBS Television

"The Situation Room," CNN Television