Note to readers: First, I am grateful as hell for all of you. Happy Thanksgiving!
Second, Tamerlane has a piece on atheism coming up tonight. I'm leaving it on top until Friday morning. Let's keep the conversation going.
I repeat, Happy Thanksgiving to all! Might I suggest that a good way to start Thanksgiving is reading Mr. Lincoln's second Inaugural address. He, not the Pilgrims, gave birth to this holiday as we know it today. Unlike nearly all others, it is not yet totallyoverrun by base consumerism.
Poll: 2009 creepiest TV "personalities". Top five move on to the finals.
I live in a city that has hosted the Olympics twice. I'm all for the U.S. getting another Olympics.
And on Friday we shall.
On Thursday the President will spend tax payer money - a lot of it - to jet to Copenhagen to "lobby" for Chicago's bid. This is a bullshit P.R. trip. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Obama's going so as to take credit when Chicago gets the nod on Friday. He would not be going at all if someone in the White House did not know Chicago has the votes already.
Obama's narcissism is astounding. Truly astounding. His narcissism trumps his job every time one conflicts with the other.
Here is what is on his plate this week: The McCrystal report on Afghanistan, Iran belligerently shooting short and long range missiles, the world wide reaction to the revelation that Iran has another nuclear power processing plant, health care,and a host of day to day responsibilities that all Presidents endure.
Yet Obama, for no reason other to to buff his own helmet, will spend our money for a show appearance in Denmark.
If ever there was ever a job for a First Lady this little jaunt is one. It would still cost us too much money but it would not further demean the office of the Presidency. Then again he's a President who's been on Leno and Letterman in his first 9 months. He's a President that taped a promo for a cable sit com. He's a President that gave, as an official gift, a set of incorrectly formatted DVDs to a legally blind British Prime Minister. Who not fly to Denmark for a few hours so he can take credit for the Chicago 2016 Olympics?
NQ points out something very interesting indeed. How did WAPO get General McChrystal Afghanistan assessment? Leaks like that do not happen easily. Why has it been on Obama's desk for 3 weeks? As Kieran asks in the post below - Why is Obama playing class clown on Letterman while General McCrystal's letter sits on his desk?
Most important of all - Has Obama lost the military already? This is the most important question. The C.I.A. is not happy with the man. If the military higher ups are turning...well...the politics in D.C. will get brutal quickly. Rule one - even in this democracy - don't piss off the national security complex.
I am going to run against the grain of many readers here and say I do not think David Letterman should resign or be fired over the Palin "joke". (Which was not a joke at all.)
If people want to come together, organize and demand this outcome I am all for organizing and exercising freedom of speech and assembly -and economic power. The fury and backlash against Letterman's comments is justified - and goes to the heart of a pervasive way of thinking among many. The cause of being witness to this wrong and standing against it is necessity.
In my mind this particular battle has been won. The "war" goes on - but those deeply offended by Letterman's crack won the day. We need to acknowledge this. The backlash worked. It forced the relentless and unfair insults the Palins have endured into the light. It clarified the hypocrisy on the Left for many- helped by Letterman waiting a week to "come to" - as it gave the excuse makers time to be seen in all their hypocritical glory. The ground beneath late night comics shifted a bit. Good.
Further, it brought into consciousness the grotesque views of girls and women in this society that are all to often considered par for the course. It is an "Amos and Andy" moment. That is: Defining women - esp. ambitious women - as whores and sex objects by default is no longer acceptable. Any more than making jokes about bug eyed, lazy, stupid, servile Blacks is acceptable.
I believe Letterman's second apology was sincere - or as sincere as he is capable of being. Does he "get it"? I do not know. His head on the metaphorical pike ads nothing. The issue here is much deeper than Letterman - and many bloggers more capable than I write thoughtfully about these issues.
It goes to power, though. Societal, economic, sexual, political - you name it. Calling the governor of a state a "stewardess" is aimed at neutering her power in all arenas. Including sexual- as sexual objectification is the one role many sexist men want women in exclusively. (Dismissing the thousands of hardworking, competent flight attendants as stupid is another layer of insult here - let's not forget.)
A commenter here a few days ago said she would like to see a "Women's anti-defamantion league" started. I concur. The Letterman event has seeded the ground for this. I hope it happens. Let's all continue to bring to light sexism in whatever forum we have avalialible.
I am all for satire and jokes - even off base jokes. Making jokes about public figures is essential. I find Obama veneration and Obama himself fertile ground for mocking send ups. There is much gray area however. (For a while Ann Coulter led with her legs, not her opinions. Therefore mocking her own self-objectivication was acceptable to me.) Comedians are essential. Going "too far" is a job hazzard. It took Letterman too long, but he did own up to his mistake.
What was so offensive here was the use of a a girl (or young women - if you believe Letterman) as a punch line. We ALL have a basic responsibility to defend our young. Mrs. Palin roared and this particualr cultural turf battle has been won. Palin went after it head on with the help of millions. She made her point and defended her family and many others.
2 last points: In general, we treat our youth badly. We entitle them and condemn them by turns. We waste their inheritance and leave them ill prepared for adulthood. On some level they know it. A young mother becoming a national punching bag for TV jokesters is a very bad sign for all of us and is indicative of a barely submerged contempt for youth. How has this happened?
Finally, the revulsion against Letterman's joke by thoughtful people came about for another reason: The bias on that talking box in our living rooms simply became too much. The medium is much of the message. But sometimes the message is the message. The message that the Palins are "hicks" or "dumb" has gone on too long. It is demonstrably and obviously false. Many don't like it but it's true: The Palins are just like many of us. Middle class, state college, blue collar, children that bring problems and joy, ambitious, hard working...
AND -we must remember and remind others that Sarah Palin became a Governor against substantial odds. She defeated an entrenched, all male "club" in Alaska. I dislike much about her politics intensely. But, as I've written before, her story is inspiring.
I am grateful so many were infuriated by Letterman.
Also outrage over the joke caused at least on advertiser to remove itself from the CBS website.
Embassy Suites, part of the Hilton Hotels Corp., pulled advertising on CBS' site because of complaints, company spokeswoman Kendra Walker told TVGuide.com.
It still sickens me that so many excuses for Letterman came from the Left during this flap. I commend those of the Left, Right and in between who responded forcefully.
Freemenow has all the Letterman advertisers contact info listed here. I link it for this reason: If - for example - Jon Voight were making the rounds mocking the children of say...Joe Biden...in a blatantly bigoted way the alleged Left would be insane with rage. The fact that Letterman's continued jokes have to do with - there is no other word - rape- triples the fury that real liberals, - and conservatives, and libertarians, and all decent people should be expressing.
I repeat: The Left sold its soul last year utterly and completely - at a bargain rate I might add. What it got in trade was a confused, narcissistic, statist who doesn't give a shit about any "social justice" that might lower his poll ratings. The attack on gays in the military goes on with the help of his Justice department, mountains are being blown up in West Virginia, hundreds of civilians have been slaughtered by Obama approved drones in Pakistan.
Good call "liberals". Sure glad you "won." Boy Howdy, I'm glad that evil McCain/Palin ticket didn't win. Maybe then 43 mountains would be blown to hell and back and not just 42.
Let us call the Obama Pod People what they are finally and forever: fucking amoral morons.
The Left has castrated itself with eyes wide shut and a smile on its face - and yes, I get the irony of the male metaphor in this case.
During the course of 2008 the media and the Obamablogs made it perfectly acceptable for people who claimed to stand for "social justice" to attack, debase, insult, and degrade any woman they did not agree with. Mostly - but not exclusively, and let's be clear here, they insulted working class women. Which is why Palin - who could actually feed her family if she had to with a rifle and a knife and has no Ivy league degree on the wall - was such a juicy target for the Huffpo/Kos goons. The atmosphere of degradation was re-created last year during the mindless, sexist assault on Clinton.
Every bit of my belief system regarding true egalitarianism is now affronted by the Letterman debacle. The silence on most of the Left is grotesque. So where are they? The most disheartening truth may be that many women and men on the Left don't see any problem with the verbal assault on a 14 year old girl who happens to be the child of a conservative. Also please remember this: It is not merely about sexism - it is about class as well. It is open season on poor and middle class whites. If the economy continues to stagger the attacks on and demonization of the poor and middle class will increase.
The entire point of all progressive movements has been that everyone get a place at the table. This has now been completely submerged - if not destroyed. Which, of course, was probably the point of Soros creating Obama in the first place.
The Left attacked women last year with the glee of the racists who watched lynchings in the 1930s. An don't let the bogus "she's 18 now" excuse cloud the point. Sullivan and his ilk went nutters on Britol Palin when she was 17. Letterman's excuse that he meant the 18 year old Palin daughter and his appalling "apology" are despicable. He is either lying to get more Palin punching mileage in or is not man enough to own that the original vulgarity demanded that he make a sincere apology.
Again I repeat: It is not the Right that is lost. In fact, the Right has its bearings in hand. They are weakened now - but not lost. The "Left" is in power but utterly without a core. It is Left that is staggering.
David Letterman has always been one of my favorite celebs. I left the Tonight Show off my nightly rounds after they chose Leno years ago - and never looked back. (Larry "bud" Melman is still one of my favorite shticks.) Letterman's humor almost always nailed it for me. Unlike Leno, Letterman not only tells jokes - he IS funny.
So yesterday's clip of his crack about Palin's daughter disheartened me. At first because Palin jokes are just cheap and easy at this point. She's a public figure - she gets what she gets. We ought to BLOWBACK when they go too far - as they often do when TV jokers crack about Sarah Palin. Still, it is a tough business and it seems she knows it.
But the joke was too much for the obvious reasons. It was tasteless - of course. That does not bother me so much. I love South Park after all. I heard it as a slam against Palin, her eldest daughter and A Rod - at first. Hot Air makes the point that since she took her 14 year old daughter, Willow, to the Yankees game - Letterman was, in fact, making a joke at about the rape of a minor. I missed this - though it is obvious. Massbackwards: I have to think that if Barack Obama had taken his daughters to a Washington Wizards game, and a conservative television personality made a joke about one of them getting raped and impregnated at halftime by Antawn Jamison, that person might be in the middle of a major shitstorm right about now.
That point can't be argued. We've seen it happen a thousand times. One of the most poisonous aspects of the Obama phenomenon has been the complete disregard of liberals for their own stated values. I assume Letterman leans left - though I have no idea. So finally his bad joke concerns me less than the liberal reaction to it. Letterman puts on a show 5 nights a week. Off base jokes are bound to happen under that pressure. As Ralph Richardson allegedly said on his death bed when asked if dying was difficult: Death is easy. Comedy is hard.
I am not going to get to wound up about Letterman. He should have known better. He should be taken to task for the joke. He should apologize. That is it.
Here's my problem. Liberals went off like monkeys being electrocuted in a cage when Rush L. said he "wanted Obama to fail." As if most off them had not thought and said "I want George Bush to fail." for 8 years. They did. We did. I did. At one point last year even saying Obama was arrogant was called "racist" by the false Lefties with the bullhorns. In fact, questioning Obama on anything inevitability went to "racist!" is a few short sound bites. Ferraro got reamed for telling a simple truth last spring. A black man being a viable candidate WAS a bobble many libs hung their vote on. It certainly wasn't because they knew anything about him. Most didn't.
So where is the liberal electrocuted monkey brigade after Lettermen's joke about rape?
The monkeys are MIA. It was only PALIN after all. You know - she's "white trash" so mocking is A-Okay.
Obama and what his pods have wrought is the ruination of any hope a progressive/liberal movement can survive as anything but a rump, neutered force...(Don't believe me? Where is Single Payer now that we have a "liberal" President? Gone. Flushed. Off the table. I promise you if Hillary Clinton was President Single Payer would be on the table. )
...More than that liberals have flushed their values - values fought for over decades - from abolition to suffrage to civil rights
and sold their souls for a cowardly hack from Chicago who gave them tingles.
Hoover Versus Keynes: The only ones really worried about the deficit are bankers like Jamie Dimon and bond investors like Pimco managing director Bill Gross
Hoover Versus Keynes: The only ones really worried about the deficit are bankers like Jamie Dimon and bond investors like Pimco managing director Bill Gross
