Dear Mr. Letterman:
This whole Sarah Palin thing has really gotten out of hand. Did you read the absolutely reprehensible piece written in the Chicago Sun-Times that equated your joke-insults to the anti-Semitic hate-speech of Rev. Jeremiah Wright? The atmosphere has become not merely ludicrous, but in cases like this, poisonous.
So here’s my advice, as you begin a week of new shows (and the nice thing about writing a letter of advice to a guy like you is that I’m pretty sure you’ll do whatever the hell you want to do anyway, so I can speak freely):
Clam up.
Don’t give Gov. Palin any more material to react to. From her Today Show interview alone, it was obvious that no matter how much Matt Lauer tried to raise serious questions about various overreactions to your jokes, she’s glowingly happy to be in the national spotlight again and doesn’t want to give it up any time soon.
Don’t give the TV cable news analysis shows, whether they lean right, left, or “objective,” any more fodder for what has been, for the most part, an ever-higher tower of Babel-babble without any useful insight.
Where the first few days of this controversy probably helped you in the ratings, I can’t believe that you, a tough but fair competitor, want to win against the Tonight Show on the back of this kind of controversy.
Have a good week. Oh, and on Friday, be sure to ask Michael Cera about the possible Arrested Development movie, will ya?
Best,
Ken Tucker
For more on the Letterman-Palin controversy:
Palin attacks Letterman again
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Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Letterman is a rude and sick person who cracks jokes on raping of other’s daughter and all the liberal idiots who support him have no morals / ethics
Good advice Ken. Well said.
Sarah is trying every which way to eke her 15 minutes of fame out into 20. If it goes to 30, kiss the GOP definitively good-bye.
An open letter to Ken Tucker. I know you don’t care, but
Sarah Palin has EVERY RIGHT to be pissed! And if you are
married and your marriage have female children attached
to it, you SHOULD BE PISSED too. Letterman went miles
passed what was acceptable as a joke, and IF he were a
marginally smart man, he would apologize to Palin. The loser!!!
Very disappointing to see Ken Tucker act as if the villain here is Palin. We all know if this were, say, Obama’s kids this wouldn’t even be a discussion.
Incidentally, Letterman’s been attacking Palin since last October. These latest attacks just happened to be over the line.
An open letter to ihatebrangelina:
You are enraged and hateful over a six-second joke with A-Rod as the target that someone else wrote for Letterman to read on TV in the middle of the night. You and the other Palinbots have been OUTRAGED for over a week about this joke. Do you have *any idea* how stupid this makes you look to thinking people? Guess not.
And by the way, what kind of person uses “hate” right in their screen name? Never mind, I think I already know.
PS. “Sav”: It was not an “attack”, no matter how much you love playing the victim. It. Was. A. Joke. Do wingnuts have *no* sense of humor whatsoever? Never mind, I think I already know.
Sarah Palin! I dunno dawg, for me for you, that was just over the top. I mean, I get the whole protective mom bit, but I’m just not buyin’ it. The time to be protective is BEFORE your daughter gets knocked up.
And by the way, didn’t you run for office with John McCain, the guy who made a joke about a gorilla raping a woman and Chelsea being ugly because her father was Janet Reno?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPnfnB7fRek
Obama is President. Palin is not. They are not on any equal, level playing field because he is much more important.
The only person to drag her 14 year old daughter into this is Sarah Palin herself. She is creating this controversy to try and remain relevant. How many of you actually even would have heard of this joke if she didn’t bring it up?
Also, Obama’s kids weren’t pregnant while underage during his campaign, so comparing the two makes absolutely no sense.
Maybe she should have worried more about her underage daughter (but technically legal age of consent) was actually having sex in her house than someone joking about it.
It’s interesting how Letterboy’s attack on Palin and her daughter came just 2 days after Gov. Palin drew 20,000+ people to a non-political event in Auburn NY, just 1 day after Palin received a warm reception by 12,000 people at the Autism walk on Long Island, and received an award from Independent Group Home Living Foundation, and on the same day that Palin alerted the media to a big announcement regarding the gas pipeline she’s been pushing since she became governor. It looks to me that Letterboy just wanted to change the subject. I don’t think he was counting on the National Organization for Women (NOW), speaking up for the first time about the attacks on Palin and her family. The more the media hammers her, the stronger Palin gets, by 2012 she’ll be like fine tempered steel forged on the anval of the medias own making.
Greg, you are delusional. The only one benefiting from all of this is Dave.
How idiot can someone be, to transform this episode in such a huge hunt over a frekking joke ???????? Bad taste joke ? Yes, but for this kind of reaction ?? Get a life !!!
I’d almost like Palin to run against Obama in 2012, assuming he runs again. It would be pretty awesome to see her get trounced debating him. I mean, if Joe Biden can out-debate her, think how it would be if Obama was up there responding to her “you betcha”s.
The people who are supporting Sarah Palin in this non-issue kerfuffle will not be swayed by any explainations, rationalizations or facts. Please remember: Sarah Palin was caught in dozens of lies during the 2008 campaign and her right-wing supporters did not care; she was proven to be a rambling fool who had no idea what was going on in the world by Katie Couric (of all people) and her right-wing supporters did not care; she ran all over the country preaching “good, solid Christian values” while her daughter was pregnant with a bastard child and her her right-wing supporters did not care, AND FINALLY, she ran all across the country extolling her down-to-earth, average person sensibilities after purchasing $150 000 worth of clothes and her right-wing supporters DID NOT CARE!
Yup — time for this story to go away — please! But just one last look at the Palin/Letterman poll on the blog. PS — thanks to all who participated. Poll results here:
http://movies-tv-entertainment.blogspot.com/
If a so-called comedian had made a comment like Letterman did about Chelsea during the horror that was the Clinton administration, the Hildebeast (Hillary) would have had a nuclear melt down. If a so-called comedian had made a comment like this about Chelsea during President Bush’s administration, all Heck would have broken loose by all the liberals and it would all have been President Bush’s fault because everything bad that happened during the Bush administration was all his fault no matter if he had any control over it or not. Sarah Palin has every right to be horrified by what that idiot Letterman said about her 14 year old daughter. Governor Palin deserves the same respect for her daughters and other family members as that idiot Obama has asked and gotten for his family.
Gee, sis, I don’t remember Hillary melting down when Rush called Chelsea the family dog, or when John McCain said that Janet Reno was Chelsea’s father.
Mr. Letterman,
I am writing to let you know how disgusted I am with your recent diatribe relating to Ms Palin and her daughters.
I have a daughter. She graduated Ball State with a T-Com Degree. We were always proud to brag that she was one of those chosen to receive a ‘David Letterman Scholarship’ during her Senior year.
No more Mr. Letterman!
You have fallen to the depths of the morally bankrupt. Your name should no longer have a place on my daughter’s resume, as well it should not. You, of all people, should know that deprecating words and thoughts directed towards a 14-year old could have a detrimental effect on that person. Your willingness to read the script is indicative of not only your poor taste but reflects as well the gutter from which you evidently draw your material. You cannot stand apart from your words, Mr. Letterman – you are that lost soul of a person.
Mr Tucker: You are an Anal Cancer
Overreacting? Yes. Distasteful? Definitely!
But I do believe that all politician’s children should be off limits to the media. How can you respect Obama’s pleas, yet ignore Palin’s? Palin is just protecting her young, as any mother would do.
Double standards annoy the **** out of me.
It’s Letterman who is keeping Palin in the limelight. He needs to find someone else to make jokes about.
Mr Tucker I would say it is people like you who wont let it die. you are blaming Letterman for Palins behavior??? For other media outlets. Follow your own advice and STFU.
two things shown by the controversy:
1) comedians stick their feet in their mouths now and then.
2) right wingers are scarily full of bile and bitterness.
Hey! David. Most flight attendants are much classier than Palin so don’t degrade them. Palin dresses more like she is running for President of Coyote. As for the other comment, don’t degrade A-Rod. If you want to view a slutty picture of Sarah in a very short skirt google 10 pictures Sarah Palin doesn’t want you to see. That is one slutty picture.
when did Letterman ever mention the name of a 14 year lod. NEVER. It was dirested to that slutttt Bristol, who’s family values were just like mama’s.
This is an AWESOME performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHwpDeu6aS4&feature=related
Saying that Palin’s kids are “untouchables” because of Pres Obama’s request to lay of his is absurd. Palin paraded her knocked up kid on stage all through the election process. She still gleams on the cover of trash mags. Palin is a fool and everytine she opens her mouth she proves it more. Give Palin a real break, keep her off the stage and let her pass on in politics when she loses the re-election for Gov of Alaska.
Have either of them even mentioned it since the last Today show interview last week? Which makes Ken the only person still talking about it. I’ll bet Dave has already dropped it – if he is smart that is. An open letter to Ken Tucker: you clam up.