Last night, Letterman passed Conan in the overnight ratings, marking the first time his show had bested The Tonight Show in eight months, and Sarah Palin is doing all she can (i.e. outragin') to assure that tonight, Letterman will have big ratings again. She's issued two statements in two days about Letterman's jokes. In the first, she called his joke about her "slutty flight attendant look" in Monday's Top 10 List "pathetic." And in the second, she took issue with a joke about Bristol and A-Rod, as well as a joke that Letterman told in last night's monologue about her visit to New York with her daughter, Willow.
The joke: “They had a wonderful time. The toughest part of her visit was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”
A normal reaction: Groan. (This is the normal reaction to any and all monologue jokes on any and all late night shows—especially when read out of context without the benefit of mugging, humorous teeth-gnashing, or any other delivery that makes up for the fact that you're listening to a string of awful ba-dum-pum topical jokes.)
Palin's reaction (via Politico):
Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/N.Y. entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands – that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone’s daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.
Hmm. I was unaware that the aim of Letterman's joke, Eliot Spitzer, was a 14-year-old girl. Still, it's nice of Palin to stick up for him when nobody else would, I guess. Also, I'm pretty sure that statement should read "comments made by a 62-year-old celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old daughter/accessory of a celebrity politician." There. Fixed.
Maybe tomorrow Palin will issue an official boycott of Letterman, thus ensuring more people will tune in to his show to see what all the fuss is about, and cementing his ratings lead—at least until Conan gets Hugh Grant deliver a ratings-boosting apology on air for something. (Maybe this?) Oh, late night.
Update:
Dave, naturally, took the opportunity Palin gave him and ran with it: On his show last night, he (slowly, carefully) repeated his jokes, he made fun of her some more, he expressed surprise that he hadn't heard from A-Rod or Eliot Spitzer as well, and he hilariously deconstructed the whole situation. The way he says "Todd" just effortlessly drips with contempt. They probably had to send in PAs with towels to wipe off the desk in the commercial break.
Let's keep doing this! Dave is at his best when defending his corner.