On David Letterman's new Netflix show first guest Barack Obama talks dad moves and taking Malia to college.

Courtesy of Time: 

As the inaugural guest on David Letterman’s new, six-episode Netflix series, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the Dad-in-chief divulged that, like most people, he sometimes has issues when it comes to assemble-yourself furniture. According to Obama, when he and the rest of the family moved in his daughter Malia into her new college digs (she’s currently a freshman at Harvard,) he was feeling pretty emotional about firstborn moving out, so Malia suggested that he help her put together a lamp that she had gotten for her desk. 

While the lamp initially appeared to be easy to put together, Obama ran into some challenges assembling it. 

“I was basically useless. Everyone had seen me crying and misting up for basically the previous three weeks, so Malia, who’s very thoughtful, she goes, ‘Dad, you know, I’ve got this lamp in this box, could you put the desk lamp together?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ It should have taken five minutes or three minutes and it had one of those little tools. It only had like four parts and I’m just sitting there, toiling at this thing for half an hour and meanwhile, Michelle has finished scrubbing and she’s organizing closets and I was just pretty pathetic.”

So I actually watched this show last night. 

I had not planned on it, but I had some free time before bed and I thought "Why not watch something pleasant before turning in?"

I'm really glad that I did.

After this year of Trump you almost forget just how charming, cool, and genuinely funny our former president was while in office.

Just hearing Obama's voice almost makes everything feel okay in the world.

Of course we know that it most certainly is not okay in the world, but he also reminds us that we have the power to correct that.

And in 2020, we most certainly will.

Bristol Palin's ghostwriter attempts to jump on the #MeToo train, misses and rolls into a ditch of stupidity instead.

The #MeToo campaign has taken down predators from both the Right and the Left, from both Hollywood and Washington DC, and both famous and infamous journalists as well.

However while Sarah Palin has been all too willing to jump onto stories about liberal Hollywood or media figures, she has been largely silent when it came to allegations concerning predators on the Right.

Now yesterday we had her ghostwriting stand in for Bristol attempt to attract a little of that sweet #MeToo attention their way by writing up a sad little blog post suggesting that the Palin family has also been the longtime victims of sexual harassment.

This of course is nothing new as the Palin family has been blowing their rape whistles virtually from the moment that they burst onto the scene.

Bristol even had a book written for her that suggested Levi raped her in a tent. (I actually asked him about that directly, and let's just say her version in no way matches what really took place.)

In that post yesterday Bristol's paid ghostwriter went to some rather amazing lengths to prove that the Palins are long suffering victims.

For instance she wrote that this comment by Chris Wallace, in which he was asked by Don Imus if Sarah Palin would be sitting on this lap during their first interview, was an example of sexual harassment. As you can see Wallace was called out for making a somewhat sexist remark by other Fox New hosts, and of course the interview that took place was purely professional, so to use this as an example of sexual harassment seems incredibly weak.

The Bristol ghostwriter then goes on to use the Letterman joke as a further example.

The actual joke, if you remember, was "Sarah Palin went to a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment during the seven minute stretch when her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

Of course Dave thought that the daughter she brought was the previously pregnant Bristol, and not Willow who was actually accompanying her mother and father to New York.

The joke may have been in poor taste (Made me laugh however.), but it was not a pro-rape joke which was the accusation made by the Palin family.

The next examples are Azeala Banks, who made some rather indefensible remarks about black men "running a train" on Sarah, and Mike Tyson suggesting that she needed a black man like Dennis Rodman to "push her guts up into her head," after learning that she had bedded the very gentlemanly Glen Rice.

Now yes it could be argued that these are tasteless comments, but this ghostwriter needs to remember that tasteless comments are constantly being made about public figures, and since they were not made directly to her that it is still a stretch to think of them as the same type of sexual harassment suffered by the victims of Matt Lauer, Bill O'Reilly, or Roy Moore.

However it is the last example that is truly remarkable in it tone deafness.

In this example Bristol's ghostwriter feigns outrage over the fact that former Fox and Friends couch warmer, Alisyn Camerota, asked Palin if she had had breast surgery after this photo started making the rounds.

 Since everybody by this time had come to realize that Palin was essentially flat as a board up on top, as illustrated by this photo,...

...this was not really such an outlandish question.

After all Palin had clearly wanted to draw attention to her chest which is why she wore what we now suspect was a water bra, with a tight white top.

And then when somebody noticed, and asked her about it, they are suddenly sexually harassing her?

At the end of this pathetic post the ghostwriter suggests that there is a double standard, and that liberal women's accusations are taken more seriously than those made by conservative women.

To that I would respond with the fact that the Roy Moore accusers have stated that they are lifelong conservatives, and some even admitted to voting for Trump. (Al Franken accuser Leann Tweeden has also been identified as a conservative.)

No this is NOT a partisan issue, and all accusers should be treated equally.

However if they, like Bristol's ghostwriter, are going to try and compare the terrible experiences of those who have suffered actual trauma to incidences like those listed above, they are likely going to find that they are laughed at and dismissed as simple attention seekers.

Did a Trump bodyguard once call an attorney and say "If You Keep Fucking With Mr. Trump We Know Where You Live?" Probably.

Trump on Letterman in 2009.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed:

When Donald Trump’s casino business went bankrupt in 2009, a lawyer whose clients stood to lose more than a billion dollars told police and the FBI that he got a menacing phone call from a man with a thick New York accent who threatened his family. 

“My name is Carmine. I don’t know why you’re fucking with Mr. Trump but if you keep fucking with Mr. Trump, we know where you live and we’re going to your house for your wife and kids,” the caller said, according to the account that the attorney, Kristopher Hansen, gave to the Holmdel police department in New Jersey. Hansen speculated that the caller was Trump’s bodyguard. 

According to FBI case notes, the phone call to Hansen was made at 2:05 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2009, from a New York City telephone booth located across the street from the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Trump was a guest that day on The Late Show With David Letterman. Three former employees of the show told BuzzFeed News that guests were asked to arrive in advance of the 4:30 taping, though accounts differ on just how far in advance.

The incident, which has never before been made public, came at a time when Trump’s signature mix of celebrity glamor and ruthless business tactics was on stark display. The implosion of his flagship casino company, Trump Entertainment Resorts, left many investors and contractors empty-handed. But Trump walked away from the wreckage, gilding his public image and largely denying responsibility. “I wasn’t involved at all in management,” Trump told Letterman. Trump had been chairman of the board until five days earlier, and his daughter Ivanka had also been on the board.

After receiving the phone call Mr. Hansen was so shaken that he notified both the police and the FBI.

Of course there is no definitive proof that the phone call was delivered by a Trump bodyguard, or associate.

But I think we all suspect that is most likely the case.

Remember that incident with the Rolling Stones promoter back in 1989? 

“One of two things is going to happen,” Cohl told Trump. “You’re going to leave the building and, at 6:40, The Rolling Stones are going to speak on CBS News, or you’re not going to leave the building and I’m going to go on and do an interview to explain to the world why the pay-per-view was canceled” 

Then, while literally telling Donald Trump “You’re fired,” Cohl noticed Trump’s “three shtarkers he’s with, in trench coats, two of them are putting on gloves and the other one is putting on brass knuckles.” 

Cohl signaled his head of security, who “got 40 of the crew with tire irons and hockey sticks and screwdrivers,” effectively sending off Trump and his goons.

As you see, there's a pattern.

Now do you understand by Trump feels such an affinity for thugs like Vladimir Putin and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte?

The Washington Post agrees with Bristol Palin's ghostwritten blogpost. Nancy French is very excited.

Okay so this Washington Post reporter (Not a very good reporter since she fails to recognize that Bristol Palin does not write her own blog.) posted an article that kind of agrees with Brancy's post from August 10th, in defense of Donald Trump.

In the article the reporter suggests that faux outrage never works and that Brancy's post was calling Erick Erickson out over using it: 

Whether or not we agree about the validity of the question, Bristol Palin’s got a point. This is not a winning strategy, and if you don’t grasp why, it’s because you misunderstand the whole reason the “outrage industry” works. 

One of the things I’ve been most struck by, whenever I find myself in rooms of people who all share the same beliefs (on whatever side of the aisle) is how ready they are to assume that the people who do not share those beliefs are being disingenuous. That beliefs you disagree with are somehow less genuine than those you share because No Intelligent Person Could Truly Believe Such A Thing or because They’re Just Claiming That They’re Offended To Shut Us Up — as though there were some big red Outrage Button that could be pressed, on cue, to achieve a desired political result. 

That would be too easy. 

And when you don’t assume sincerity on the part of your opponent, you wind up with fauxtrage.

This of course sent a thrill up the leg of Nancy French:

Well, this rarely happens. Thanks, Alexandra!

But here's the thing that this Washington Post reporter seems to have missed.

Fake outrage was EXACTLY what Nancy French was whipping up with her column.

She was attacking Erick Erickson's refusal to allow Donald Trump to attend his event, by bringing up sexist things that he himself had said in the past.  Including one incredibly overblown incident pertaining to Sarah's fake cleavage.

So not only did this reporter not realize that Bristol did not write a word of the blog post, but in her zeal to agree with a Palin she failed to realize she was congratulating Bristol for engaging in the exact same thing that she was condemning others for doing.

If she had taken even five minutes to do a little research she would have found that the Palins have made a cottage industry out of "fauxtrage" as she calls it.

From calling David Letterman a pervert for making a joke about her daughter, to suggesting that Joe McGinniss moved in next door to see in to Piper's bedroom, to taking every question about Trig Palin's bizarre birth story and framing it as an attack on a child with Down syndrome, Palin has refined this practice down to a fine art.

So once again ANOTHER ill informed reporter buys into the Palin mythology, and provides them with unearned credibility.

Well great now I feel outrage. And not "fauxtrage" either.

Did Bristol Palin interrupt her "get my crap back" road trip to launch an unprovoked attack on David Letterman?

So this appeared on the Twitter page for Bristol's blog:

David Letterman’s Respect for Women is the Real Joke https://t.co/IlrFSYc2u3 via @BristolsBlog

— Bristol Palin (@BristolsBlog) June 1, 2015

The link then takes you back to a two and half year old ghostwritten blog post: 

After I wrote my book, I had a conversation with my publisher about promotion. They tossed out ideas about various television shows we could do to get the word out about “Not Afraid of Life.” 

“What about David Letterman’s show?” my marketer asked. 

“No way,” I said, “I’ll never go on there.” 

“Why?” the marketer asked, apparently not aware of the rude “joke” he told about Willow. I didn’t refresh her memory during that conversation, but I stuck to my guns. “No Letterman.”

The post then went on to explain the joke that Letterman told way back in 2009, and to demonstrate the fact that the Palins never forget, and the Palins never forgive. 

Which is also very well illustrated by this tweet which comes across as a defensive reaction without a trigger. As far as I can tell there is nothing in the news about Letterman and women anywhere.

Besides that Letterman's last show was on May 20th.  So what took Bristol so long to get pissy with Dave?

You know what? I don't think she did.

Currently Bristol is on a road trip, and I seriously doubt she has given even the slightest bit of thought to her blog, her ghostwriter Nancy French, or David Letterman.

I think this is simply French responding to urgings from Palin to put SOMETHING up until her daughter comes to her senses and starts toeing the Palin party line.

Somewhere David Letterman is no doubt enjoying his well earned retirement, and not giving a single thought to Bristol and Sarah Palin. But it would undoubtedly give him a giggle to realize that he is still at the top of their shit list.

The Late Show's final Top Ten list. Delivered by well known celebrities and entitled "The Final 10 Things They Had Always Wanted to Tell Him."

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

10.Alec Baldwin: “Of all the talk shows, yours is most geographically convenient to my home.” 

9. Barbara Walters: “Did you know that you wear the same cologne as Muammar Gaddafi?” 

8. Steve Martin: “Your extensive plastic surgery was a necessity, and a mistake.” 

7. Jerry Seinfeld: “Dave, I have no idea what I’ll do when you go off the air. You know I just thought of something, I’ll be fine.” 

6. Jim Carrey: “Honestly, Dave, I’ve always found you to be a bit of an over-actor.” 

5. Chris Rock: “I’m just glad your show is being given to another white guy.” 

Letterman briefly cut in, telling Rock, “I had nothing to do with that.” 

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.” 

Letterman interjected here, too, saying he “had nothing to do with that, either.” 

3. Peyton Manning: “Dave, you are to comedy what I am to comedy.” 

2. Tina Fey: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.” 

1. Bill Murray: “Dave, I’ll never have the money I owe you.”

I stayed up well past my bedtime to watch this final episode even though I stopped being a devoted viewer probably about ten years ago or so. 

In my opinion the loss of sleep was well worth it to see the final episode of a show that has broken so many barriers, and impacted so many of the late night programs that we have enjoyed since Letterman first debuted on NBC back in 1982.

I also watched the last episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson back in 1992, and remember all too well how devastated Letterman was by the choosing of Jay Leno as Carson's successor and how that inspired him to move his show to CBS in August of 1993.

And now almost twenty two years later, we see another late night giant say his goodbyes.

Of course any sadness I might feel, is immediately assuaged by the knowledge that the great Stephen Colbert will take the "Late Show" reins on September 8 of this year.

David Letterman asks Bill O'Reilly what the difference is between his lies and those told by Brian Williams.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

Comparing O’Reilly’s alleged mischaracterizations of past reporting to Brian Williams‘ exaggerations about his time spent in Iraq, Letterman asked, “Is there a difference?” 

“Only if I did something that wasn’t true,” O’Reilly replied, maintaining his innocence. “What I said was accurate,” he insisted, despite evidence to the contrary put forward by organizations like Mother Jones and Media Matters, among others. “It worked out OK for me,” he said, noting that he got “even more viewers” out of the whole thing, a 20% increase. 

“20% up when people thought you were making stuff up?” Letterman asked, incredulously.

O'Reilly goes on to say that people did not think he was making stuff up because he went on the attack. He also claimed that he never knowingly "fibbed" on the air, and went on to say that his ratings prove that his viewers trust him.

He never fibbed on the air?

I think a visit to Politifact quickly demonstrates the falsehood of that claim.

The fact is that Brain Williams was suspended because NBC News considers itself a legitimate news source, and Bill O'Reilly was not because Fox News knows it is not.

During Rachel Maddow's recent visit to The Late Show she is asked her opinion about the 2016 election. Her response to Sarah Palin is worth the price of admission.

Rachel Maddow on Palin's presidential aspirations:

"She says she's very interested in running again."

Which was then immediately followed by this expression.

I think that pretty much tells you all you need to know about Rachel's opinion of her candidacy.

Nicolle Wallace on Late Night says that Sarah Palin's Iowa speech put on display all of the "gaps in her knowledge." Gee ya think?

In the last few minutes Wallace is once again infuriating in that she takes some of the blame for Palin's problems during the 2008 campaign, but then she follows it up with this:

"I think she had every right to blame her handlers, it's just as somebody who had worked in politics for over a decade I had never encountered somebody....like her."

I thought that was quite telling. And of course as somebody who has covered this lunatic for the last eight years, I concur.

I probably need to add to this last post of the day that despite the giant snowstorm dominating the news cycle, there are still plenty of articles, being written about Palin's speech this weekend.

The vast majority of them are far from flattering.

From the National Review: 

Some people contain within them a magical quality that leads their fans toward idol worship, and, for whatever reason, Palin appears to have it in spades. But, as she has discovered for herself of late, this can be a decidedly mixed blessing. On the upside, cults provide their beneficiaries with a ready-made army of apologists and sponsors — people, that is, who have primed themselves to push back hard against the most modest of slights and to exact a price from anyone who exhibits the temerity to criticize their focus. On the downside, cults can serve to inoculate their subjects from legitimate judgment and to ease their descent into inadvertent self-parody. Partly because the media has been reflexively unfair to her, and partly because they feel generally put upon by the culture at large, Palin’s fans have of late provided her mostly with the latter service. Last weekend’s speech was the direct result of that tendency.

Courtesy of CNN:

Her performance on Saturday dismayed key figures in conservative media, including some who thought she was unfairly put to the sword by the press in 2008.

And of course the Guardian:  

At this point, listening to a Sarah Palin speech is like being taped to a chair with conservative bumper stickers and having gimmick coffee mugs thrown at you. It is the natural conclusion of what would happen if a Big Dogs t-shirt became minimally self-aware and developed a politics. Catchphrases abound — some six-years-old and counting — held together only by the fact that Palin is saying them. Moose chili. Mama grizzlies. Don’t retreat, reload. Hopey-changey. Bill Ayers. Benghazi. Vladimir Putin. Lipstick on a pig. They’re laugh lines without thought, unlinked by a program or even syllogism.

There is of course more. Much more. But to be honest I am fairly gagging on Sarah Palin-isms today.

In fact I think I will skip her appearance on Hannity tonight and leave any write up until tomorrow.

I am sure that she will say something mind numbingly stupid and attempt to blame it on the President, because seriously what else could we expect?

You are welcome to treat this as an open thread for that appearance, and I will read all of your comments so that will have some idea as to the number of bodies left in the wake of the train wreck.

Now where is that bottle of wine?

Okay last week was pretty tough I'll give you that. But I defy you to suppress your smile as you behold "The Salmon Cannon."

Oh yeah, that hits the spot!

Breitbart editor compares Stephen Colbert's conservative character to a white person donning blackface.

Courtesy of Salon:  

As Thursday drew to a close, many could be forgiven for assuming that the right wing’s biggest freakouts over CBS’s hiring of Stephen Colbert had already occurred, and that essentially no one was going to be able to top Rush Limbaugh when it came to wild hyperbole on the matter. But then Breitbart editor Ben Shapiro posted a new article about Colbert at his media watchdog website Truth Revolt, and all that changed — forever. 

Shapiro has long distinguished himself for writing unhinged, idiotic and hateful things. He tried to smear Chuck Hagel by saying the former senator had a relationship with a group called Friends of Hamas, for example. Such a group did not, does not and likely will not exist. He’s urged Israel to engage in ethnic cleansing. He’s argued that there’s no discrimination against LGBT people in America today. The list goes on.

Yes Colbert's dead on characterization of a dimwitted, and overly ideological conservative, who have wielded power and influence power in this country for centuries, is JUST like a white person smearing shoe polish on their face in order to mock or denigrate a consistently oppressed minority in this country.

Of course this should not be surprising to anybody who has been watching the news, as the Right Wing is downright apoplectic over learning that Colbert will replace Letterman as the late night host.

You would literally think that they had named Richard Dawkins as the new Pope for how over the top this reaction has been.

In my opinion this can only bode well for Colbert, as he has clearly angered the idiots, and that is always a good sign the more rational among us.

Speaking of morons, this Ben Shapiro guy is also a favorite of Sarah Palin.

I know, least surprising part of this post, right?

It's official, Stephen Colbert will replace the retiring David Letterman on the Late Show. Update!

Courtesy of Politico:  

Stephen Colbert will replace David Letterman when he retires from "Late Show" next year, CBS Television announced on Thursday. 

Colbert, the host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," has signed a five-year deal with the network set to begin when Letterman steps down in 2015. 

“Stephen Colbert is one of the most inventive and respected forces on television,” CBS President Leslie Moonves said in a statement. “David Letterman’s legacy and accomplishments are an incredible source of pride for all of us here, and today’s announcement speaks to our commitment of upholding what he established for CBS in late night.” 

“Stephen is a multi-talented and respected host, writer, producer, satirist and comedian who blazes a trail of thought-provoking conversation, humor and innovation with everything he touches,” Nina Tassler, the Chairman of CBS Entertainment, said. ”He is a presence on every stage, with interests and notable accomplishments across a wide spectrum of entertainment, politics, publishing and music. We welcome Stephen to CBS with great pride and excitement, and look forward to introducing him to our network television viewers in late night.”

Okay I am a little torn here.

I read earlier that Colbert would be playing this straight, and appear on the show as himself, rather than in character.

That raises conflicted feelings in me.

Because while I really like Stephen Colbert, I really LOVE Stephen Colbert.

I mean Stephen Colbert is a gifted performer and quite entertaining, but Stephen Colbert is a genius.

I guess what I am saying is that I don't know if I can enjoy watching Stephen Colbert, while at the same time mourning the loss of Stephen Colbert.

Okay now I have a headache again.

Update: For any of you who are worried that Stephen will be bullied by CBS into being non-controversial or into watering down his comedy, I remind you that the man has the biggest set of balls in all of comedy.

Behold his 2006 appearance at the White House Correspondent's Dinner.

Last night's Top Ten, and yet another reason why I avoid "bucket food" restaurants.

I saw the original videos posted on Reddit the other day, and was so disgusted by them that I had a hard time eating my own dinner.

I hate places like the Golden Corral and simply refuse to go there regardless of what others in my family may want.

That WAS a funny Top Ten by Letterman however.

David Letterman nails it!

Totally true.

Hell I am pretty sure that Dick Cheney has him on speed dial.

Chris Christie demonstrates that he is a good sport on Late Night with David Letterman. Oh, and that he likes doughnuts.

Courtesy of CBS New York:

During the interview, Letterman remarked, “We’ve made jokes about you – not just one or two; not just ongoing; intermittent, but…” 

At that moment, Christie took out a doughnut and began eating it. 

“I didn’t know (the interview) was going to be this long,” Christie said. 

Christie has termed his girth “fair game” for comedians. Letterman asked him how he actually felt about the subject. 

“I only care if you’re funny,” Christie said. “From my perspective, if the joke is funny, I laugh – even if it’s about me. If it’s not funny, I don’t laugh. But I’ve never felt like it was anything that really bugged me all that much, no.” 

He pointed out two specific jokes of Letterman’s that he said he likes, despite the jokes being at his expense. 

“The first one was, ‘Celebrity birthday today – Chris Christie turns 50. He blew out the candles on his cake, and he wished for another cake,’” Christie said. 

“And I don’t know if this is one of your best ones, but I think it’s very topical given what went on [Super Bowl Sunday],” Christie continued. “‘A billion dollars will be spent on potato chips for Super Bowl Sunday, and that’s just at Gov. Christie’s house.”

You know if Hillary Clinton runs in 2016, Chirstie is not an issue.

However if she doesn't run then he just might have a legitimate shot at the White House.

He does often come off very well, to the point where I have to actively remind myself that he is just another Republican, who will actively attempt to undo muhc of what President Obama has done during his eight years in office.

Gotta admit he is funny though.

Handful of Sarah Palin defenders, and daughter, fuming that people who make jokes about her, or play her in movies they don't like, keep getting awards!

After Julianne Moore  and Game Change won their awards the other day, I was actually waiting for the Grizzled Mama to rear her road kill bewigged head and roar from the asylum on the dead lake, but, you know, nothing.

Instead what I found was a cupful of urine tossed their by the Sea O'Pee:

Can someone please give Moore and Harris a copy of “Undefeated”, Steve Bannon’s documentary (read: fact filled, historically based film)? Sadly, Moore still lives under the liberal rocks otherwise known as Hollywood and Manhattan: 

"In her acceptance speech, Moore thanked comedian Tina Fey and former CBS anchor Katie Couric for making “a significant difference in the 2008 election.” Fey famously mocked Palin on Saturday Night Live, and Couric won plaudits for an interview with Palin in which the vice presidential nominee seemed flustered and unprepared."

And then give her a copy of Governor Palin’s book, Going Rogue, and Chuck Heath Sr. and Chuck Heath Jr.’s book, Our Sarah. Perhaps then she will fully grasp the errors of her thinking.

Yes, what reliable reference materiel THAT would be.

The only person even vaguely connected to Palin these days to speak out publicly about the awards, was Palin's house boy and loyal butt sniffer Jason Recher. Who said this to CNN:

"It comes as no surprise that the Hollywood Foreign Press recognized another Hollywood group, HBO, for their work of fiction and awarded a prize for best fictional filmmaking,” Recher told CNN. “The reality was an original American story, not a screenplay by people who only imagined events to fit their fiction." 

"The media is reporting last night was Hollywood shining the light on and celebrating women,” he said. “It’s clear however they only celebrate women who fit their political ideology. Women who don’t conform to their liberal values are torn down in terribly harsh ways - a clear double standard which was awarded last night.” 

Yes Hollywood should cover for a person's incredible ignorance and lack of preparation in order to "celebrate" women on both sides of the political aisle. Good call that.

Now the only Palin family member to make a statement recently was Bristol, who was too distracted by the fact that HER nemesis, David Letterman, had told Oprah that he was not REALLY apologetic over a joke he tried to tell about Bristol that, appeared at least, to accidentally be about her sister Willow instead:

In other words, he only apologized so he could continue to make fun of my family. He didn’t mean to joke about Willow being raped, after all. He meant to joke about me being knocked up. Now, that’s a real knee-slapper. 

A notorious liberal, David Letterman’s lack of sorrow for his child rape “joke” shows just how pro-women his politics really are. 

Yes Bristol that was only FOUR years ago, so of course why would anybody expect you to get over it and move on? After all outrage over how the Palin clan is treated is your family's bread and butter.

Isn't that why everybody but Trig has written a book? To "set the record straight?"

Only it seems that every time we read one of these books we are left saying, "That's even worse than I thought!" or "Wait, so reality is only as a Palin family member defines it?"

Oh you Palin people, what WILL you do with yourselves when people finally stop making jokes about that family and nobody even remembers what a fucked up bunch of redneck hillbillies they were?

Update: I alluded to this in the headline but forgot to include it, but I also think that one of the reasons that Brancy brought up this whole David Letterman thing is because he was also recently honored at the Kennedy Center. (Probably didn't help that Tina Fey was the one who did his presentation.)

David Letterman confesses to Oprah that he only apologized to Sarah Palin so that he could continue to make fun of her.

OPRAH WINFREY: I saw the apology that you made to Sarah Palin’s daughter. It seemed that you were genuinely apologetic there. 

WINFREY NARRATION: After Sarah Palin attended a New York Yankees game with her 14-year-old daughter Willow, David cracked a sex joke about a baseball player and the young girl. Letterman says he thought Sarah Palin was with her oldest daughter, Bristol, who made headlines when she became pregnant at age 17. 

WINFREY TO LETTERMAN: Why did you apologize? 

LETTERMAN: I’ll tell you why I apologized. I felt like Sarah Palin was somebody I wanted to continue to be able to make fun of and I felt like if I don’t apologize, if I don’t sincerely express my regret, I will not be able to go forward making fun of her. And truly, I felt bad for the 14-year-old. You know, that was just like, oh nice going, you got the wrong daughter. That was just dumb, stupid joke that fell into dumb luck and got worse.

You know Sarah Palin, and the Right Wing noise machine. blew this WAY out of proportion when it happened to continue the meme that Sarah Palin was being unfairly attacked by the Left.

I always believed that pretty much everybody knew that he meant Bristol, simply because SHE was the one who had a child out of wedlock. It would only have been a funny joke if it was Bristol, and by the way it was pretty funny.

I remember yelling "NO" at the screen when i heard Letterman apologize because I KNEW that it fed into their victimization mythology and that it would set a bad precedent for others who wanted to make jokes about the family or expose the truth about who they really were.

As it turned out I kind of think that Letterman's apology emboldened them enough that they felt confident in threatening Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore with a lawsuit a month later, and then of course also came after me.

However in the interest of wanting to continue making fun of Sarah Palin one can hardly blame Letterman for doing what he felt he had to in order to get back to the jokes.

P.S. By the way at the end of this video Oprah asks Letterman if he ever felt bad about hurting someone's feelings with a joke, he replies that he has and that he has even called to apologize after ward a number of times.

I think we can say with some confidence that he NEVER called Sarah Palin. Because if he had it would have been broadcast ALL OVER Fox News.

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Must be seen: Top Ten Thoughts Going Through Paul Ryan's Mind at This Moment.

Just click that goofy picture to watch David Letterman hilariously eviscerate Paul Ryan.

I laughed so hard I almost cried.

By the way here is a picture of the President, Vice President, and Ryan directly after the debate.

President Obama on Late Night with David Letterman. Update!

This is only a short snippet of the entire interview, which had some pretty humorous moments.

I think that the President was pure class last night, and did not take the easy political shot offered by Letterman to trash Romney over those incredibly damaging YouTube videos, instead simply saying that people make mistakes.

I was also struck by how the President answered each question very honestly, never changing the subject or laying all of the blame simply on the Republicans (That's my job after all!), and that he spent considerable time laying out the problems and discussing what should be done about them.

Perhaps the most interesting thing for me was the President's cautious confidence that in his second term we might see an end to the political gridlock in Washington that has so hampered progress these last four years. Essentially the President pointed out that even though the Republicans came together (Essentially the night he was sworn in as President.) and decided to make sure he only held the office for one term, it makes no sense to continue on that path once he has successfully earned a second term.

It does make some sense in that these assholes will then need to start worrying about their OWN reelection, and simply bitching about a president that was chosen by a majority of the American people will make them appear petty and will not be enough to send them back to Washington. They are actually going to have to produce, and that means...gasp....having to compromise.

(You can see the entire interview on Late Night by clicking here.)

Update: It looks like the President's appearance gave the Late Show the old "Obama bump."  

In New York, on CBS Owned Station WCBS-TV, the LATE SHOW delivered 495,000 viewers and a 2.6 rating in adults 25-54, making it the most-watched episode of THE LATE SHOW in New York since Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2008 and highest-rated episode in adults 25-54 since Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006. 

In addition to New York, the LATE SHOW also ranked first in its time period in viewers on CBS Owned Stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Minneapolis, Sacramento, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

My understanding is that Mitt and Ann Romney's appearance the other day on "Live! with Kelly" has resulted in that show facing imminent cancellation, and that Kelly Ripa has now developed a significant drinking problem.

Okay I probably made that last part up.

Michelle Obama on the Late Show last night.

As usual the First Lady was poised, intelligent, and genuinely funny.

You can see parts two and three by clicking the links.

Get ready for a Sarah Palin....I mean Nancy French....I'm sorry, "Bristol Palin" attack on David Letterman, and condemnation for Michelle Obama for appearing on the Late Show in 3..2..1