The headlines are blaring that David Letterman (finally) made a "full apology" regarding the crude joke he made about Sarah Palin's daughter being raped and impregnated at a baseball game.But a "full apology" it was far, far from being.
Sarah Palin has accepted Letterman's second go-round at an apology, even though it was only another exercise in the comedian's disingenuous self-serving. That's cool -- in her place, she almost has to.
But I don't. Not until there's an authentic apology with appropriate reparation.
Let's break it down. I print below some of Letterman's remarks from last night's show and then follow with a brief analysis.
Letterman: "All right, here — I've been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week — it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don't know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There's no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can't be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They're angry at me because they said, 'How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?' And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the Governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani...And I really should have made the joke about Rudy." (Audience applauds)
"But I didn't, and now people are getting angry and they're saying, 'Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who's completely innocent, minding her own business,' and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she's now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I'm wondering, 'Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?' I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.
And, but still, I'm wondering, 'Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?' I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.
"And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer News Hour — this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent.' It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. And I'm certainly — " (Audience applause.) "— thank you. Well, my responsibility — I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault. That it was misunderstood." (Audience applauds.) "Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much." (Audience applause.)
Okay. What are the problems here?
1) It has taken a week! Why this remarkable delay to do the right thing -- the thing that everybody knew was the right thing as soon as it happened? Everybody, I guess, but the arrogant David Letterman.
2) By his own admission, what finally drove him to the apology was seeing the negative reaction by liberal political commentator Mark Shields on PBS' news program. But Shields' perception was exactly what everyone else had perceived the very night the joke fell flat. Letterman, in his first non-apology, openly admitted that fact. So again it must be asked, why wait another week?
3) The answer is that it was someone like Mark Shields on PBS that was still disgusted by Letterman's outrageously mean and dirty joke. Letterman didn't care about the opinions of the Todd & Sarah Palin family, not Fox News, not conservative bloggers, but only about negative feelings emerging from his own camp. And, though we'll probably never know for sure, his own camp could well have included CBS and some of the Late Show sponsors. Indeed, I think it quite likely that Letterman was informed by the powers that be that the after-effects of his scandalous behavior were becoming unacceptable.
4) The "apology" (especially if one reads the full transcript of his monologue last night) shows Letterman still treating this scandal as entertainment. He is, of course, in a ratings race with another late-night TV program and he's tried to make as much hay as he can out of the controversy. Last night was no exception and I'm sure he's quite pleased with himself this morning. ("Hey. More headlines and I didn't really cop to anything!")
5) Letterman let slip that the raunchy attack on the Palin family was carefully premeditated. It wasn't a mere slip of the tongue. He had himself checked before the program to ascertain that the Palin daughter that was to be the subject of his cruel and despicable joke was 18 years old. That makes it all right? Comedians now have an open season on "rape jokes" as long as the woman is 18 or older? This was Letterman's first excuse and, by golly, he's sticking to it. And that is what clearly confirms that a) he's not sorry for anything except being called out and b) he's still a lout with a very twisted view of women. Feminists would do well to boycott the Late Show and its sponsors until Letterman apologizes for "making fun" of rape -- period.
6) Letterman never addresses the venom he has long displayed toward the Palin family. As I quoted the LA Times in this previous post about the issue, "David Letterman has never been shy about airing his contempt for former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin." A genuine apology would have spoken to that matter as well.
6) Finally, at its core, last night's non-apology employs the standard strategy of the arrogant -- "I did nothing at all wrong except underestimate the stupidity of my audience. You see, it was your perception that made it a problem. If you hadn't have been so dim, if you would only have trusted my sterling character ("I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years"), there would have been no scandal at all. But, because I seem to be in a spot of trouble over this thing, I'll be the noble one and apologize...even though I'll do so in a way in which I defend myself at every turn. Really, it's your fault for misunderstanding me. But, wonderful guy that I am, I'll apologize anyhow. Now, are things okey-dokey? Do you love me again? In fact, don't you love me even more for being so doggone 'umble?"
Sorry, Dave. Not me.
