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Letterman, Palin and media double standards
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Helped by Letterman?
Sarah Palin was on NBC's Today Show this morning.
She spoke about her plan for a new Alaskan oil pipeline, her future role in the Republican Party and, of course, the blowback from David Letterman's "jokes" about her trip to New York. You know, the one's about her dressing like a "slutty stewardess" and her daughter having sex with Alex Rodriguez at Yankee Stadium.
Now, regarding the latter joke, Letterman's defense is that he wasn't talking about Palin's 14-year-old (underage) daughter Willow, who actually accompanied her to the stadium, but her 18-year-old single and pregnant daugher Bristol.
Oh. As defenses go, not exactly on my top ten list.
The incident, however ugly, is a good opportunity to reflect a little bit on media double standards -- particularly as applied to conservative women.
You can't help but think if Letterman made a similar joke about the Rutgers women's basketball team, he'd be dealing with Al Sharpton and racing his contrite behind up to a sensitivity summit in Albany.
So, do I think Letterman should be fired for this? No. Maybe for his low ratings but not for this.
But the issue of double standards doesn't stop with the Letterman-Palin dust up .
Exhibit B.
Miss California was just fired for supposedly failing to live up to her contract and keep her scheduled appearances. Now, if that's true, firing her is appropriate. I, of course, have no way of knowing but can't help but suspect that it's not.
We all know that Carrie Prejean, the now-former Miss California, has been embroiled in controversy ever since she answered a question put to her during the Miss USA pageant about gay marriage. She replied, almost apologetically, that she believed marriage to be an institution between a man and a woman. Not being Barack Obama, who prior to winning the White House expressed a similar opinion, her statement was treated by some as if it bordered on hate speech (or, indeed, crossed the border).
But why did the controversy focus on her? When Perez Hilton, the pageant judge who asked the question, quickly turned around and called her a "dumb b....ch" in his blog. Now, I would submit to you, that if Prejean had supported gay marriage and and the judge in question was -- I don't know, say -- Glenn Beck he would be the one taking fire.
But Donald Trump says he'd be happy to have Hilton back as a judge next year. Really? So, it's okay -- not even questionable -- for a pageant judge to use vile and degrading language to describe a contestant whose answer he does not like?
Exhibit C.
A Playboy Magazine writer's list of conservative women he'd like to "hate f...k." I think that kinda sound like rape. One thing's certain. The article is a long way from John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and other notable authors whose work has appeared in the magazine.
And, if there's been a Today Show segment asking its editors to defend the piece, I missed it.
Speaking, of The Today Show, back to that Sarah Palin interview. Unedited, she was articulate and bright and millions of Americans saw that.
So, perhaps, Letterman actually helped Palin with his crude humor.
P.S.
My fellow Faith & Media Examiner Adrianne Murchison has another perspective on this topic.
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