Apology Rejected

David Letterman should never have apologized for the jokes he told on his show the other night. To be sure, they were a bit crude and rude, but so have many of the jokes he's told over the years. He's gone after many people for a laugh and he's always gotten those laughs.

The reaction of governor Palin to the jokes was excessive, and only served to draw more attention to what Letterman said. I can understand why she wouldn't like what he said, but by overreacting, and claiming Letterman said things he never did, she ended up making herself look ridiculous. Her best response to Letterman's tasteless gag about her daughter Bristol would have been to completely ignore it.

Anyone aware of Sara Palin's family history clearly understands from where those jokes originated from, regardless of whether they should have been told or not. For a late night show and late night audience, they were appropriate, and in the end, were simply jokes. They meant nothing at all.

Shortly after telling his jokes at Palin's expense, Letterman started to get some heat about them from the press and the Palin crew. Realizing that maybe he had gone a bit too far, especially having targeted Sara Palin's daughter, he mentioned his regret on his show a few nights later. In my mind this was a reasonable response, coming from a guy who clearly means no ill will to anyone, especially teen girls. That should have been the end of it. People who are in the public eye will invariably stick their foot in their mouths during their careers. People whose job it is to talk and be witty will sometimes say something stupid. We all do it, but everything we say isn't recorded and broadcast to the world. If it were, we'd all sound like asses sometimes.

Instead Palin chose to play the role of victim (how unrepublican), and then went on to claim that Letterman had somehow endorsed the rape or sexual assault of underage teen girls. At that point, her comments had become far more offensive than anything Letterman had said. For someone to come to the conclusion that Dave was endorsing anything of the sort is not only delusional, but frankly scary. That kind of "logic" is not what we need anymore of.

And at that point, Letterman should have really let her have it. He should of stood on stage and said how he'll tell any joke he wants about anyone, and if the network doesn't like it, they can do something about it. But no freaking way he'll bow to a thin skinned liar like Palin.

Free speech comes with responsibility for what you say. Dave owned up to going too far and he certainly meant no harm. Do you think Palin will ever apologize to Dave for lying about what he said?

So, on behalf of David Letterman I hereby withdraw his apology to the Palin's, and demand one from her.

I'm not holding my breath.