Should Letterman Be Fired?

25 Responses to “Should Letterman Be Fired?”

1. TNVolunteer73 writes
   June 10th, 2009 9:34 am

   Naw he only insulted a white Christian Woman… that’s acceptable don’t you know that. :+\

2. dan writes
   June 10th, 2009 9:38 am

   Yes he should but for different reasons. Leno,Kimmel,Fallon and Conan are funnier than him. As for the political thing. Look its obscene but this is politics. Palin knows its a brutal game. To be fair look what happened yesterday in a special election for a state senate seat left vacant by Congressman Parker Griffith in Huntsville. A popular conservative radio talk show host put out a fake news release claiming only republicans were allowed to vote yesterday but democrats could go to today and vote. Well the GOP won the seat in a landslide and now the democrats are screaming all out bloody murder because their internal polls showed the democrat nominee winning in a landslide. Ah politic, its a nasty biz….

3. Jon writes
   June 10th, 2009 10:19 am

   I’m beginning to come to the conclusion that many conservatives are suffering from a genuine neurological disorder that impairs their ability to process the details of nuance and distinction that exist in any system as complex as reality. Something metaphorically similar to a combination of colorblindness and a depth-perception impairment, where the inumerable details of color, shade and depth are reduced in the person’s mind to a narrow band of two-dimensional gray.

   I don’t think there’s a cure, but I suggest we start expirementing with electroshock treatments.

4. dontcallmemikey writes
   June 10th, 2009 10:20 am

   I think those who have called Sotomayor a racist, wondered if her foot broke like a white man’s would, etc. should, well, kinda look in the mirror

5. Tom Paine writes
   June 10th, 2009 10:22 am

   Only one problem.

   Palin is a public figure. Slander/libel law assumes that when you run for public office you do so with the tacit understanding that you’re going to be the object of scorn by some segment of the populus. The Rutgers basketball players weren’t public figures, in fact, 99% of people couldn’t name a single one of them.

   Also, the First Amendment protects Letterman’s right to lampoon public figures just as much as it protects the right of conservative wing nuts to label Obama a Muslim or question his citizenship.

   It’s the price we pay for living in a democracy.

6. TNVolunteer73 writes
   June 10th, 2009 10:45 am

   Pain.. the Rutgers Basketball players are public figures, they sign a contract when they accept the contract they will publicly play the sport of Basket ball. They receive 50,000-100,000 for that privilage of a free education food and housing at the cost of the taxpayer.

7. dontcallmemikey writes
   June 10th, 2009 10:55 am

   they are also teenagers or early 20s. you are technically correct BUT Palin is an outspoken critic of the present administration, a former candidate for high office, a current governor - no comparison, really … you know better than that. And she should be rather used to ridicule by now, having actually participated in her own ridicule on SNL.

8. Jon writes
   June 10th, 2009 11:20 am

   while stating in advance that I thought firing Imus was overkill, he deserved to be called out on it but probably not fired –

   the big difference here is the contextual type of humor. Letterman was being deliberately absurdist. It’s comedy precisely because everyone knows those things aren’t actually true.

   On the other hand, whether Imus actually believed the players on that team were “nappy headed hos” is a much murkier question, and it is the combination of that question with the general insensitivity of an outsider attempting to use a culture’s internal slang without full appreciation for its power that got him in trouble.

   To say these situations are apples and oranges understates the actual differences between apples and oranges.

9. Anonymous writes
   June 10th, 2009 11:54 am

   Tom Paine, are you saying that because someone is a public figure their children are fair game? I’m not speaking in legal terms but simply as a matter of common decency. Doesnt that make the Obama daughters targets?

   I have no problem with Sarah Palin being lampooned since she is an adult and knew what she was getting into, but to do so with her 14 year old daughter is beyond the pale.

10. TNVolunteer73 writes
    June 10th, 2009 12:19 pm

    dontcallmemikey

    So is Sarah Palin’s Daughter.. and she is not a public figure.

    But hey.. she is white rual teenager. It is okay…

    How do you say it, Hypocritical.

11. Mark Rogers writes
    June 10th, 2009 12:24 pm

    Jon,

    I don’t remember a great deal of liberal nuance over ‘Barak the Magic Negro’ even though the song was a satire of Sharpton, Jackson and a particular line of criticism of the candidate rather than one of then-Senator Obama.

    Mikey,

    If Justice Alito had suggested that an Italian would make better decisions that someone of another ethnicity, would he have been given a pass by the Left ?

    TP,

    Your point about public figures is well taken. But if stating that a 14 year old girl is pregnant in order to humiliate her isn’t damaging to public discourse, then nothing on Conservative talk radio is open to criticism. Remember the hysteria over Limbaugh’s joke about Chelsea Clinton? And he apologized.

    If everyone would quit trying to have it both ways (my side is never wrong, your side is always wrong), we might actually repair public dialogue in the nation.

12. Tom Paine writes
    June 10th, 2009 12:26 pm

    Its not clear that he was specifically referring to 14 year old Willow Palin or 17 year old Bristol, who has already given birth. If the reference was to Bristol, who has already attempted to become a public figure by becoming a national spokesperson for an abstinence campaign, Mama Palin has less standing to complain.

    And please don’t try to suggest that comedians didn’t make fun of Chelsea Clinton when her father was president.

    The reality is that if Mama Palin has simply ignored the comment as a cheap joke by a late night comedian instead of professing outrage, we wouldn’t be discussing this now.

13. dontcallmemikey writes
    June 10th, 2009 12:30 pm

    “When I get a case about discrimination, I have to think about people in my own family who suffered discrimination because of their ethnic background or because of religion or because of gender. And I do take that into account.” = Samuel Alito

    “Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences,” she said, for jurists who are women and nonwhite, “our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.” - Judge Sotomayor

    Now, you strip away the ‘hope’ quote everyone focused on, and you tell me the difference between the two views.

14. dontcallmemikey writes
    June 10th, 2009 12:34 pm

    Oh, and on the daughter comment - Letterman & staff could have confused the two. Amy Carter is the only Carter daughter, I believe, and Chelsea is the Clinton’s only child. no confusion - direct hits from Limbaugh and associated. Perhaps Letterman will apologize as well … oh then, brother, will ye be pacified?

15. Jon writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:02 pm

    I don’t remember a great deal of liberal nuance over ‘Barak the Magic Negro’ even though the song was a satire of Sharpton, Jackson and a particular line of criticism of the candidate rather than one of then-Senator Obama.

    How does pointing out yet another case of whites making asses out of themselves with piss-poor use and lack of understanding of an African American inner-cultural concept help your argument exactly?

16. Mark Rogers writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:04 pm

    TP,

    I agree that she should have ignored the comment. My point is that both sides are hypocritical on this issue.

    Mikey,

    The ‘hope’ quote is far differnet from either of these comments. Especially in context of her position on the firefighters case.

    I don’t need to be pacified. Palin should never have made this an issue so she is getting what she deserves. Similarly, some of the points raised here from the Left are overblown.

17. dontcallmemikey writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:16 pm

    Well I do believe people - politicians and judges alike - would like to take back a word or two from time to time … the statement above, so similar to Alito’s, is the true baseline, no doubt about it. Mel Martinez, Republican senator from Florida, was quoted as saying he understands what she was getting at perfectly.

18. Mark Rogers writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:35 pm

    Mikey,

    I am far less bothered by a legislator that holds such opinions. Public policy benefits from diversity of opinions and experience. That is why we have too many lawyers and too few doctors or scientists or businessmen in legislatures.

    Judges are different. Judges are there to see that the law is correctly applied. If one dislikes a certain law, there is a process for having legislators change it. The idea that the law is different for different groups is something judges are there to prevent. To be sure, this is an oversimplification but the principle is sound.

19. dontcallmemikey writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:44 pm

    Mark -

    Then you should be happy with Sotomayor. Far from making new law, she upheld existing law in that firefighters case you mentioned. “Sotomayor’s rejection of a discrimination suit brought by white and Hispanic fire fighters in New Hampshire was the result of interpreting existing civil rights law … “One of three on a three-judge panel … see, no activism there. Judicially restrained to prior law.

20. Mark Rogers writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:49 pm

    Mikey,

    Excellent point.

    But will she practice such judicial restraint in other areas?

    And there are times when justices need to overturn predecent, Brown and Baker being my two favorite examples. Just as I am sure that there are times where you want a new justice to uphold precedent rather than making new law.

    It all depends too much on who’s ox is being gored. Or who’s business is being Gored.

21. dontcallmemikey writes
    June 10th, 2009 1:52 pm

    Well, we wont *until* she’s confirmed, any way than we ever know. Funny thing about lifetime appointments.

    Bush got surprised on Souter, and Sotomayor may surprise Obama …

22. christy writes
    June 10th, 2009 6:11 pm

    i don’t care what party one is with- making sexual jokes on a 14 year old is not funny. Letterman should get fired- he is no longer funny to me. Down Letterman!

23. Michael writes
    June 10th, 2009 10:47 pm

    Making a joke about a 14-year-old being raped is unacceptable. An NYC TV weatherman made a joke about rape and was fired less than a week later. And then Letterman makes no apology in his statement the following day. Extremely unprofessional. I’ve been fired over “style differences.” In the real world, he would already be gone. But since Palin is a conservative, forget about it.

24. Ed writes
    June 16th, 2009 7:54 am

    A joke about raping a 14 year old isn’t funny. And this bull about it being about the 18 year old is bull. His second so called apology proves that. What do you thing would happen if it was about obama’s kid.

25. Tom Jefferson writes
    July 15th, 2009 10:39 pm

    Tom Paine: You are a troll! Crawl back in your hole and stay there!