FWIW #3: Palin' In Comparison

        "For What It's Worth" 

    By [e-mail]

      I've never been all that much
of a David Letterman fan. In fact,
having started my workday fairly
early in the morning for most of
my life, I've never really been
much of a late-night talk-show
enthusiast period as I always
found the desire for a decent
night's sleep to overwhelm any
desire I might have for a few
laughs. As a matter of fact, I
can't really say I've been imp-
ressed with any of them for that
matter, at least not since Johnny
Carson. Carson was, after all,
the master of his craft who set
the standard for late night talk-
show hosts with a penchant for
ad-libbing and his classic "dead-
pan" expression. Perhaps Johnny
Carson's best attribute, however,
was the fact that he recognized
early on that it really wasn't the
content of the joke as much as it
was the manner in which the joke
was delivered.
      This is my roundabout way of
arriving at today's topic: David
Letterman. More specifically, the
controversy surrounding a joke
Letterman told that was aimed at
one of Sarah Palin's daughters.
      First of all, at this point I want
to make it clear that I am not a
Sarah Palin advocate nor a de-
tractor. In fact, I think she had
pretty much faded from political
view until Mr. Letterman opened
up. And even though I feel it my
obligation to try and stress the
fact that I am not writing this to
push a political agenda, I'm well
aware that that will mean "zilch"
to those who disagree with me.
(For what it's worth, I have such
little respect and/or regard for
either party that I look at any
politician with either a (D) or a
(R) after their name as in all
likelihood already corrupt bey-
ond redemption anyway, but
I'll save that rant for another day). 
      Let's get back to Letterman,
if we may. There are a couple of
things that bug me about this. In
the first place, Letterman told a
joke that involved sex between
baseball star Alex Rodriguez and
either Palin's 18-year-old daughter
Bristol (bad taste) or Palin's 14-
year-old, Willow (really, really bad
taste). I am well aware that when
somebody enters the political
arena, they, as well as their family,
immediately become targets of the
opposition. But has it really come
to the point where a late night
comic has to go after teen daught-
ers - not just of Palin - but of any-
body? Letterman was even quoted
later as saying: "...I checked to
make sure, in fact, that she is of
legal age, 18." Well, next time, Dave,
how about considering that if the
teen in question is young enough
that you even find it necessary to
check the teen's age, perhaps that
just might be a bit too young? Plus,
I don't even buy his assertion that it
wasn't aimed at 14-year-old Willow,
anyway. Add to the fact that it just
never was a funny joke, anyway, and
what you get is a 62-year-old who
was just proclaimed "King-of-the-Hill"
of the late night talk (by default) when
Jay Leno moved to prime time, who
apparently can't handle a hint of pros-
perity.
      The other thing that gets my BP
on the upswing is when (and this
can be any comedian - not just David
Letterman) a comic takes an obviously
politically-motivated shot at somebody
and then hides behind the "I'm-just-a-
comic-doing-my-job" smokescreen
(and that usually works, by the way)!
It seems to me that in recent years the
use of "comedy" as a front for pushing
a political agenda has become much
more commonplace (and, yes, both
sides are using/abusing this strategy).
Hey...That gives me an idea: What do
you think about one of the late night
comics standing up and proclaiming
that, as of that very moment, they
were no longer going to do politically-
motivated comedy and were just going
to try to be funny based upon their own
talent and not at the expense of others?
      The audience would find it so implaus-
ible, it would "bring down the house!"
      What do you think?