Other People's Sex Lives

Posted by Fraulein

Ever since then-President Clinton was practically burned at the stake by our highly-principled news media for his affair with Monica Lewinsky, I've been fascinated by the pull that this type of adultery story seems to exhibit. I totally understand the concern that a person in a position of power could abuse that position to demand sexual favors from staff members. If that had been the case with Clinton, then yes, my journalistic instincts tell me that would have been a story. But with a willing, adult-age partner, where is the story? A guy cheated on his wife? These things do happen. Dog bites man. Not a story.

I've been reminded of all this in reading the tons of ink spilled on the David Letterman adultery story. Unless I’ve missed something, it doesn’t seem that any of the women Letterman apparently slept with have accused him of demanding sex in return for job perks or promotions or continued employment. Nobody is saying he preyed on underage staffers. So why the hell does anyone care? Did the guy break any laws? If not, why does the media feel inclined to beat this story to death? I guess in this case the answer is the same as it usually is: this story is being over-covered because it’s an easy story to cover. (Our media is nothing if not lazy.) There’s ready-made video with Dave’s noteworthy on-air discussion of the events, in an effort to take control of the narrative from the guy trying to blackmail him. And as much as we love our celebrities in America, we love seeing them beaten down even more. A humiliated celebrity is far better news fodder than a famous person on top of the world.

That said, I find the Associated Press’ hand-wringing in the above-linked story quite interesting. What must Dave do to keep women viewers, the AP wonders? Speaking as a (sigh) middle-aged married woman, I have to say that nothing about this whole thing bothers me, aside from the media’s over-reaction to it. Letterman’s sex life concerns me precisely as much as Bill Clinton’s sex life concerned me back in the 1990s: not one goddamn bit. Why shouldn’t I keep watching Letterman’s show? Don’t I have more pressing things to worry about? How immature am I supposed to be, exactly?

The last thing I want to waste time worrying about is other people’s legal, consensual sexual activities. Period. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. But the media will never admit that most people simply don’t care about this stuff.

Cross-posted at Purple Ink

Letterman's Apology

It seems that after further reflection of his Palin joke, David Letterman is issuing a formal apology on tonight's Late Night broadcast. My only question is this: Will the Palins graciously accept the apology and let it drop? Or will they continue to beat a dead horse and milk the fauxtrage?


UPDATE (6/15/09 10:15am): Palin accepts:

"Of course it's accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who 'joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve," the statement read.

"Letterman certainly has the right to 'joke' about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction. And this is all thanks to our U.S. military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America's right to free speech - in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect."

It's over, right? Not for opportunists like the slimy John Ziegler who is calling for Letterman's firing and started up a website campaign. I'll tell you what, John, when you start up a campaign to impeach Senator John McCain for his joke and go on national television to demand the firing of Rush Limbaugh for his joke , then we'll talk. Until then, shut the fuck up.

Adding... after reading and re-reading Palin's statement, I'm going to amend "Palin accepts" to "Palin accepts scornfully."

Outrage, Please.

First it was the Stimulus Bill/Monkey shooting editorial cartoon and now comes word that South Carolina Republican party activist Rusty DePass felt the need to insult Michelle Obama with an ape characterization.

A prominent S.C. Republican Party activist is in hot water after describing an escaped gorilla at a South Carolina zoo as an “ancestor” of First Lady Michelle Obama.

The exchange occurred after Trey Walker, an advisor to S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, posted an innocuous Facebook update about this morning’s escape of a Western Lowlands Gorilla from Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo.

Walker’s harmless update, however was followed by a highly-questionable comment from longtime SCGOP activist and former State Senate candidate, Rusty DePass.

These people are just crawling out from under their rocks lately. Daily Kos has more.

Adding... I wonder if this story will get as much play as David Letteman's "slutty flight attendant" joke?

There Goes The Neighborhood

Picture the really annoying family that lives on the block that ruins what would otherwise be a fun neighborhood to live in. You know the ones. Everyone has those types of neighbors driving down property values. They are the reason, "There goes the neighborhood" became a catchphrase. They have regular shouting matches in the driveway. They leave garbage in their backyard after a barbecue that attracts rodents which soon infest your own yard. They have the police pulling up to their house once every couple of weeks in the middle of the night to settle a domestic dispute. You don't want your children playing with their children for fear of them being a bad influence on your kids, be it disrespect... or drugs... or lice. Or scabies.

Meet the Palins. The Wasilla Hillbillies. There goes the neighborhood.

This past week, Late Night host David Letterman made a couple of crude jokes at the expense of the Palins. Specifically the joke in question was, "Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment. During the 7th inning stretch, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodgriguez."

In response, Todd Palin released a statement: “Any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable. Alaskans know it and I believe the rest of the world knows it, too.”

Raping my 14-year-old daughter? A bit over the top, eh Todd?

Letterman discussed the whole situation at length in what I view as a half-hearted apology. I say half-hearted because the Palins made the joke something which it wasn't, and although he called the jokes "ugly," Letterman wasn't so much apologizing as explaining the truth of the matter. 14-year-old Willow Palin was not the subject of the joke. Something the Palins seem to skirt around.



They could have taken the high road, accepted the apology and left it alone. But no, they decided to make this an issue that it wasn't about, while insinuating that Letterman can't be trusted with underage girls. It's pathetic. The Palins' continuation of this fiasco with their idiotic press releases and Sarah Palin's appearance on the Today Show further exemplifies the opportunists that they are.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Enough of the feigned outrage. Anyone who has any sense of humor at all knows that this joke, although in poor taste, was not meant for Willow. Did everyone forget about Bristol Palin? Apparently her own mother, Sarah Palin did.

"I would say that you and anybody else are extremely naive to believe that very convenient excuse of David Letterman's the other day - it took a couple of days for him to think of that excuse that - uh, no he wasn't talking about my daughter who was there with me at the game, the 14-year-old, he was talking about some other daughter. Well I think it's a weak excuse."

Yes, Sarah, the "other daughter." Remember the one named Bristol that you exploited during your campaign? Bristol, your "other daughter" that actually did get "knocked up" and is now laughably pushed out into the spotlight as an advocate for ABSTINENCE?! Your "other daughter," Bristol, that you were forcing to marry off to Levi Johnston and trotted them out as Margaret Carlson said, "like the Charles and Diana of the Klondike" until you lost the election. Where's Levi now? Discarded. Conveniently out of the family portrait.

And not that it matters but guess what? Not everyone knows exactly who attended the Yankees game despite the fact that Sarah Palin thinks we await her every move with bated breath. When I heard the joke, it was obvious that the daughter inferred was Bristol, the knocked up abstinence advocate, and that the real butt of the joke was Alex Rodriguez.

Sarah and Todd Palin are the ones who interjected 14-year-old Willow into this faux controversy, not Letterman. Why? Because they can't stand being ignored. During the campaign they felt the national spotlight, and it was good, and now they need the national spotlight, even though under that bright light, every ugly deed and deceitful lie uttered is more easily revealed for all to see than when sitting in seclusion in Alaska.

Is this the future of the Republican Party? Sarah Palin in 2012, with her run-on sentence rants and her penchant for playing Hatfield/McCoy on the national stage? I'm guessing the Democratic National Committee is dreaming of it. I actually think that her act will get old and tired pretty fast and that she'll burn herself out by then. At least I hope so, because if I have to listen to her jibberish for three more years, I'm going to contemplate putting a bullet in my brain.

Krauthammer Blames The Economy

When will these conservative pundits admit the truth and just come out and say that McCain fucked up? Obama has so far received over 65 million votes, 8 million more than his opponent and counting. 364 electoral votes and counting. And yet the so called conservative pundits can't bear to give credit where credit is due. Any excuse to exonerate the Maverick.

Charles Krauthammer blames the economy.

In the excitement and decisiveness of Barack Obama's victory, we forget that in the first weeks of September, John McCain was actually ahead. Then Lehman collapsed, and the financial system went off a cliff.

To be fair, Krauthammer does go on to mention other factors that caused McCain's demise, including the choice of Palin, and trying to steal the "change" message - real change because of McCain's and Simple Sarah's maverickiness. And he does say that Obama ran a "brilliant" campaign. But that's secondary to Krauthammer's main message which more than half his column is devoted to, blaming the economy subliminally by suggesting that if the market didn't tank and banks didn't collapse, things could have turned out differently.

We'll never know. But the major difference is that while John McCain was playing political stunt du jour, Barack Obama was thoughtful, sought advice from experts and multi tasked - he didn't have to pretend to suspend his campaign in order to deal with a crisis.

If anyone or anything beat John McCain besides Barack Obama, it was John McCain, not only because of his choice of Sarah Palin in an attempt to galvanize a base that would never vote Democratic anyway, but in the one line that Krauthammer fails to mention in his column: "The fundamentals of our economy are still strong."

With that one sentence, McCain showed that he wasn't in touch with what was going on, that the economy was not his strong suit, and that he thought it better to try and calm the populous with a false line instead of giving them "straight talk." The non-suspension suspension of his campaign (which Krauthammer also mentions) to "solve the economic crisis" that he didn't believe was a crisis to begin with, only to go to Washington, not participate in the talks in a leadership role and quite possibly derailing the progress that had been made before he got there - was only exacerbated by the botched Letterman debacle. He should have given Letterman some "straight talk" instead of lying to a man with a nightly broadcast.

Then the Maverick who said he would "make famous" the seekers of pork with his Almighty Sharpie™ voted yea for an $850 billion bailout bill (renamed a "rescue" bill to make it more palatable for us taxpaying schmucks) when he probably knew it could have passed without his support. He could have made a statement and separated himself from his opponent by voting against it and using that Sharpie like Leonard Bernstein used a baton. Instead, he holstered his mavericky magic marker, voted for the bill and then railed against Obama as a socialist for voting in favor of the same bill!

Everyone was looking at John McCain 2008 through John McCain 2000 glasses. They wanted McCain 2000, but that McCain shriveled away a long time ago. That McCain was replaced by the 90% Bush appeaser when he realized that McMaverick wasn't going to win him any elections. The economy didn't beat John McCain, it just exposed him for the loose cannon, shoot from the hip, political stunt politician he has become.

But then Krauthammer ends with this last line - a eulogy, if you will - for Johnny Maverick:

But before our old soldier fades away, it is worth acknowledging that McCain ran a valiant race against impossible odds. He will be - he should be - remembered as the most worthy presidential nominee ever to be denied the prize.

Really - a valiant race? The most worthy presidential nominee ever to be denied the prize? I know of one particular Nobel Prize winner that might disagree with you, Chuck. If ever someone was "denied" something that was probably rightfully his, it was Al Gore.

And as far as "a valiant race" is concerned, when you resort to fear mongering by calling your opponent a socialist, claim he's "palling around with terrorists", and tacitly approve of 527 groups running non-stop Reverend Wright ads for three straight days before the election, that's not valiant, it's cowardly. Not condemning that kind of hateful rhetoric is far off the bravery meter in my book.

The Final Days of John McCain

These past few days have been scary. I'm not talking about a standard, figurative scary. I'm talking about never seeing things like this in my lifetime, thinking that the sins of the past were history and how we couldn't possibly go back to those horrible places again. I'm dumbfounded by the turn of events that have taken place over the last few days and how I could have been so wrong.

I always knew that race and racism have been and still are issues in this country, but it was always lurking underneath; a not so pretty, guarded chamber of man's soul that had laid dormant for at least the last twenty or thirty years. Of course, there are code words racists use to show their colors such as "affirmative action" and "immigration reform." In my own life, being of Hispanic descent I have occasionally been the victim of some racist taunts or comments. In my lifetime, there have been hate crimes based on race, but overall it's been few and far between in comparison to the civil rights movement of the 60s. I never thought it would ever get as bad as it had been "back in the day."

But with the new hate-filled speeches of McCain and especially Palin, depicting Barack Obama as someone you should fear - a one-man terrorist cell, a Manchurian candidate, someone who "sees America as so imperfect that he pals around with terrorists" - the dormant volcano of racism in America has erupted into some very ugly scenes at the McCain/Palin rallies.

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. McCain

In the last seven days alone, we've seen Senator Erratic trade in his Maverick's license, which had been suspended for quite some time, for a chance at the golden ring. In his performance at the final presidential debate, McCain came off even angrier than is usual cantankerous self and then joked on a revealing Letterman interview, where he caught himself in mid-lie at least three times, having to revise his answer in the same breath that he uttered the falsehood. McCain also apologized to "Joe the plumber" for drawing attention to his story and putting him in the national spotlight after mentioning him 21 times during the debate, then blamed Obama for "smearing" Joe and exposing his private life.

McCain said that he has repudiated all of the hate filled rhetoric against Obama at his rallies (another lie) - calling shouts of "terrorist," "traitor," and "kill him" fringe elements - while hiring the same company that was used against his campaign in 2000 to robocall and continue the Obama/William Ayers smear just this past week. This is the same tactic that McCain called "hate calls" when used against him eight years ago.

Guilt by association and sowing the seeds of doubt from McCain and Palin are only serving to perpetuate the fear and hate. They have nothing else to run on - they fail on the issues, they fail on their policies - so the only other alternative is character assassination. But character is not the only thing they may be inadvertently urging to assassinate. This is dangerous territory they are treading on and Georgia Rep. John Lewis got it right.

"As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. What I am seeing today reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who only desired to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed one Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

Of course the McCain campaign took umbrage at Lewis' statement, concentrating on the Wallace section and dismissing the very essence of Lewis' meaning. Fear breeds contempt and hatred and we've seen that in spades at the McCain/Palin rallies. They've encouraged it.They've stoked it. Will it take someone to be being beaten or killed before they understand the nature of Lewis' remarks instead of painting it as a smear, feeling "saddened" by his remarks and asking Obama to repudiate a leader of the Civil Rights Movement? Will they listen if and when someone dies in a hate crime incited by their campaign rhetoric? By their guilt by association tactic? And by then, won't it already be too late?

I watch the videos of the crowds' overt racism and it truly scares me. What does it say about Sarah Palin when she thinks she can differentiate between "pro-American" parts of the country and anti-American parts? Does she believe that anyone who doesn't support her is anti-American?

Is this what she thinks is "pro-American"?

Or this?

Or maybe this?

What does it say about Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann when she suggests that Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid are anti-American because of their "liberal" views? The same liberals she rails against, by the way, are the ones who fought for her right to vote and her right to run for office!

What does it say for us as a collective people that imbeciles like Palin and Bachmann get elected into office?

Luckily, I do believe that we are in the final days of daily McCain and Palin sightings. It's just another 18 days until the election. Soon, they'll be out of sight, out of mind. McCain can go back to the Senate and become irrelevant as his maverick status no longer applies and eventually die the bitter, old bastard that he truly is. Palin can go back to Alaska and get voted out of office in her next election bid after the ugliness we've seen exposed - the Troopergate controversy alone showing her native Alaskan voters that she is no different from the people she replaced, and then have the free time to help her husband cheat on his taxes.

In eighteen days we start a new chapter in American history. In eighteen days we take our country back as citizens of the United States and finally beat down the Rovian machine that has been holding us back for far too long. In eighteen days.

Eighteen long days.

McCain on Letterman

When I first heard that John McCain was invited back to The Late Show I got pissed. I figured Letterman would say it was water under the bridge, would let bygones by bygones and make McCain look like a hero. I was wrong.

Not only did Dave ask some very pertinant questions of McCain, but he also held his feet to the fire when the Maverick tried to weasel his way out of answering questions with a joke and a mug to the camera. McCain played his POW card again when he said, "I haven't had this much fun since I was interrogated." The line fell flat to my ears and although Dave chuckled, he wasn't having any of it.

If you can bear to watch it, you can see the wheels spinning in McCain's peabrain as he catches himself in mid-lie a couple of times and tries to correct himself - the Palin "palling around with terrorists" line and his association with G. Gordon Liddy are just two questions off the top of my head where McSquirmy started to lie and then caught himself, knowing full well that the audience just wasn't going to buy it.

I don't think this interview helped McCain any. He didn't mention anything new, just his routine stump speech. "I know how to get Bin Laden." "Palin's a reformer, I'm proud of her." Blah, blah, blah. Nothing new.

By the way, CBS disabled its own "embed this video" widget for this interview. Could it be that McThuselah wasn't happy with his performance and had the "liberal media" shut it down?

(H/T Paddy)

I ♥ David Letterman

McNuts - UPDATED

(H/T HuffPo)


Even Dave Letterman has had enough. David. Fucking. Letterman!


(H/T Cesca)


UPDATE I (7:05am):

Morning Joke - Mike and Joe are OUTRAGED! (especially Mika) that CBS would let the Letterman show air as it did, mocking our war hero. Grow. Up. Assholes.

ADDING - The McCain campaign is in fucking shambles. Either this was campaign advice to try and make political hay out of a supposedly dire situation and disguise it as all "mavericky," or it was McCain's own decision which make his managers look completely incompetent and worthless beyond how they've run the campaign to date. Either way, Letterman's right. This smells like shit.

Now he gets to strut into D.C. a week late and $700 billion short, after an agreement is 95% complete and take credit for something he didn't do.

UPDATE II (9:35pm): The insanity continues. It seems that the McCain camp DID NOT suspend the campaign, has been running adds all over the US and his presence in D.C. probably did more harm than good in getting a deal done... which is probably what he wanted to avoid tomorrow night's debate. What the hell is going on? I've never seen anything this crazy. Reminds me of a conservative version of Bulworth.

And CBS reported that McCain tossed out a proposal that offered "fewer regulations and corporate tax breaks." What a surprise.

Amy Winehouse in Rehab? Yes, Yes, Yes

"Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors," Universal Music Group said in a statement.

"She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction," the statement said.

Good luck, Amy.

Schmuckabee Crosses Picket Line

What a man of the people. Mike Huckabee is going on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. You remember Leno... the guy who picketed with his writers for about a day and a half, then decided to start his show this year without them. Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is appearing on Late Night with David Letterman. Letterman worked out his own contract with the writers.

In the meantime, Schmuckabee said he was unaware that he would be crossing a picket line and believed that the program had reached a special agreement with the union.

...On Wednesday, he said he identified with the striking television workers as an author himself and believed they deserved a share of the proceeds from the sale of their work.

Mr. Huckabee’s lack of knowledge about the picket lines outside the Leno show are the latest in a string of missteps that have underscored the ad hoc nature of his campaign. Last week, he made a series of small misstatements about Pakistan that raised questions about his fluency with foreign affairs and raised eyebrows by suggesting that the situation in Pakistan could lead to special scrutiny of Pakistanis at the borders in the interest of national security.

And let's not forget the NIE report regarding Iran's lack of nuclear weapons of which Jeebus Schmuckabee© had no clue 24 hours after the fact. What an ass.

(I know it's past midnight, but) T minus 384 Days: "I believe we are called to do the hard work to make our communities and quality of life a better place." - Collinsville, IL, January 2005