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Banging Sarah Palin's daughters
June 15, 2009 - 7:59am.
By DOUG THOMPSON

Alaska Governor and national political figure wannabe Sarah Palin got her panties in a bunch last week after late night comedian David Letterman joked that New York Yankees man about town Alex Rodriquez knocked up Palin's daughter.

The brouhaha erupted after Palin and 14-year-old daughter Willow attended a Yankees baseball game. Letterman later claimed his joke was directed at 18-year-old Palin daughter Bristol, whose unwed pregnancy surfaced during Palin's 15 minutes of fame last year as John McCain's vice presidential candidate.

The self-righteous right wing has jumped all over Letterman, claiming the comedian advocated statutory rape because they are certain he was talking about underage Willow.

Letterman's claim that he was talking about the older daughter is lame. Palin attended the game with Willow, not Bristol, and Letterman, commenting on the photo op, said:

This put Palin into full attack mode. On the Today show, she said:

Aha. It seems Palin is blaming Letterman for the fact that young girls (and boys) screw around. In her mind, late night comedians might be responsible for the her older daughter's status as an unwed mother.

I don't know if Willow is getting it on with any of the locals up in Alaska or if she is handing it out on the road but when a young, impressionable teenage girl has role models like Sarah and Bristol Palin anything is possible.

It's not David Letterman's fault that Willow became the target of a joke about sex. Sarah Palin was a known party girl in college and Bristol was 17 when the Palin campaign announced she was five months pregnant. Her ex-boyfriend said in interviews that he and the governor's daughter had been getting it on for about a year when he "knocked her up," so she was 16 when it started.

In Alaska, the age of consent is 16 -- younger than it is in most states. In some areas of the country, the boyfriend could have been guilty of statutory rape.

The problem here is not Letterman. It is Palin. During the campaign she -- like most politicians -- used her family as props. The campaign even trotted out the randy boyfriend and extolled his willingness to "do the right thing" and marry Bristol.

But after the campaign was over, the Palin family dumped the boyfriend. He no longer served any useful purpose. Bristol had the kid and now urges teenagers to practice abstinence.

Yes, Letterman's joke was tasteless but tasteless humor is a staple of late night TV. Sarah Palin has no moral standing on the issue and she put her children into play by trotting them out as campaign gimmicks.

So it's all a lot of hoopla over nothing -- unless A-Rod really did knock up one of the Palin girls during the Seventh Inning Stretch.

DOUG THOMPSON

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Feigned outrage, that's our dear Sarah. A sure way to get more media attention - except it cuts both ways giving Letterman more exposure too. Aside from the A-Rod joke his top ten about her was shown many times. I thought most of them were very funny.

As for Letterman's excuse that he was thinking of Bristol not 15 year old Willow being lame, I tend to give Dave and his writers the benefit of the doubt here. Willow was kept in the background and Bristol become a media star shining in her odd way almost as brightly as her mother. It wouldn't surprise me if they merely heard she took her daughter to a Yankees game and assumed it was THE DAUGHTER.

Besides these are professionals and they know that a sexual comment about Willow and A-Rod isn't in the least amusing so why would they write it?

It wouldn't surprise me if Dave and his writers would have to think it over before they could give Willow's name and age, she's probably just "that other Palin kid".

I agree with Digby on this.

I thought both Letterman's joke writers and himself launched a tasteless, over the top, unnecessary attack on the Palin family. This doesn't mean I support her brand of politics.

Letterman is a very wealthy, entrenched, late night comedian and surely doesn't need to enlist such humor to squeeze a few extra bucks out of his next contract. I don't care for him either since I think he's overpaid and acts like he's doing the public a favor by simply showing up.

Teen pregnancy either of legal age or not is a serious issue for most families that have to confront such an occurrence, so why make a joke of it on national TV; all simply for a few more laughs from the unwashed masses?

It was tasteless, unnecessary humor as far as I'm concerned.

Carl Nemo **==

Wonder what Don Imus thinks about all this?

Actually now the Bristol Palin is making the 'TV circuit rounds' advocating abstinance - she's fair game.

Additionally, the whole Palin family is fair game since Sarah used them as campaign props during the '08 campaingn.

I don't really give a damn what Letterman OR Palin think about the joke.

However, neither of them were the target of the joke -- a 14-year-old girl was. That's a burden she shouldn't be asked to bear.

Julia, with all due respect, tell that to Sarah and Todd Palin.

As for Rick's comment regarding Bristol, I agree whole heartedly.

Just so we all know what we're discussing, if you haven't seen it here's the video clip of the joke.

I think it is irresponsible and sleazy to use the behavior of an adult public figure as an excuse to free one to involve their children in this sort of tasteless public xxxx (looking for an appropriate word).

This is no excuse for Gov. Palin, definitely used her family to position herself to capture the family values vote.... I wonder if her children see that... and how they feel about it.

But, fundamentally, we should leave the kids alone.... no excuses.