Any politician or celebrity is fair game. Their families are not. I wonder how Mr Letterman would react to criticism of his young son for being the offspring of a wrinkled old fart who may be dead by the time the kid gets to College?

I don't know if this is a cultural difference, but I found it quite funny.
The Letterman show is broadcasted in a Danish tv-channel as well a week or two after it's US broadcast, and I do watch it from time to time. And I think he is quite funny. :yeah:
The show with Jay Leno was on air at some time too, but never caught the great audience here. He's just too boring...:down:

Should Letterman make fun with Palin's daughter? Well, sure... I think he and everybody else should make fun of anybody and anything. :yep:
Does anyone remember the Mohammed cartoon story from 2007? 12 Danish cartoonists made some sketches of Mohammed for a Danish newspaper, because an author was threatened not to bring images of the holy prophet. :nope:
Up theirs... Bring it on. Jokes about anything and anybody should be made, and as long as they are meant as jokes, I really can't see the harm...:shifty:

Letterman Blows.
He doesn't talk to his audience, he talks to that over-rated musician puppet of his. He's just looking for ratings to sell advertising space.
The entire world would be a better place if people would stop kissing hollywood @ss.

No, joking about a 14 year old and getting knocked up by a professional baseball player boarders on retarded and not really funny in my book. Although Letterman claims it was about Bristol Palin (age 18), Bristol was not in NY and certainly not attending a Yankees baseball game. The 14 year old Willow was. What Letteman does is lean very left and anyone on the right apparently is fair game inclusive of 14 year old girls enjoying a baseball game and underaged sex with an adult. That right there should raise an eyebrow. Really, it was an unecessary joke.

While I disagree with what Letterman did (I personally find the joke inappropriate), I would like to bring up an opposing viewpoint.

No where it is written that everyone must find every joke funny at all times.

For any joke told there will be people reacting differently. Comedy is, by its very nature, cruel. It is difficult to find any joke that absolutely inoffensive to everyone in all cultures at all times.

So, if Ms Palin finds the joke inappropriate, that's great. She is entitled to her opinion just as I am. However, neither Ms Palin nor myself have the authority to determine what "is funny" and what is "not funny" with respect to other people.

The instance of one person, or even a large group of people finding a specific joke "not funny" should not influence whether the joke is indeed funny (a very subjective concept) or "acceptable"

All that I can reasonably say is that this joke was unacceptable to ME. For every person who found Letterman's joke unacceptable, there are others who found it completely acceptable.

Who should have authority over Letterman on what jokes he chooses to tell on his TV show? Not I. Not Ms Palin. I suppose the sponsors do as they control the funding. But certanily not the public.

The public has the right to consider any joke unacceptable.
The public has the right to stop watching the performer/buying the sponsor's products
The public has the right to voice their opinion on the unacceptability of the joke

However, the public does not have the right to mandate what is and what is not funny.

Ok, so when is a joke about statutory rape funny?

Dunno. I would probably find any such joke unacceptable. But the point of my post is that I am not an authority on what is or is not acceptable humour.

Humor boundrys aside. I think this is just symptomatic of a much bigger picture.

But Platapus, I don't believe anyone is calling for legislation to make such jokes illegal. Why are you and others trying to imply that it is?

Yes, I believe that was the crux of his joke, whether one thinks it in good taste or not. Everything else is little more than politically-motivated hot air.

With respect to Mr. Letterman, he has not made his son a spectacle by including him as part of his program, as the Obama and Palin children were during the campaign, and the conventions in particular. I may be call callous for saying it, but I believe that if you make your family part of your 'brand', so to speak, they become fair game.

Here is the problem. What brand is Palins 14 year old daughter? She was visiting NY and went to a Yankees game. The campaign is over and there is no brand that I can think of. I do not see the Palins as fair game. She back in Alaska shooing the Russians off her porch. Not for nothing, every politician makes their family the brand. As I stated before in this thread, Obama said families are off limits even if they are part of the brand. I agree with Obama and most of the others in this thread. Poor taste, poor timing and poor joke. Letterman needs some new writers.

When did anyone mention or even imply legislation?

I believe that Letterman would probably counter by stating that Palin is still campaigning for a future position. After all, she is doing a tremendous amount of public speaking, and very little of it in Alaska.

Regarding Obama, I don't really see how you can have a teleconference with your daughter on the Jumbotron during the Democratic National Convention and still keep them from criticism or critique, either comic or serious. Personally, I would prefer to see all politicians leave their families aside. I'm voting for Barack, not Sasha; Sarah, not Bristol.

When it involves a clown.

To be honest, I do not know what Palin is doing now or in the future. Sadly, I do not this she does either. At any rate, the public is sold the whole package which includes the wife, kids and dog. It is the nature of the beast. I would have hoped that Obama stating family are off limits would have been enough to carry through ever after the election. We see it has not. It would not hurt Letterman man to mutter he is sorry.

Well you did for one.

That implies that somebody is trying to mandate it no?

When it is a funny joke

That says a lot about your character.

Most people wouldn't find any joke about rape funny, but alas, you might.

Quite telling.

Quite telling indeed , it tells us once again you that cannot read and comprehend Aramike.
Don't worry though as I am in a helpful mood today. So why don't see if you can find a responsible grown up to help you with understanding the following....
What is "rape"? What is "statuatory rape"?


Now for other people who can actually understand words and who might just think that the topic of underage sex isn't suitable material for a funny joke lets move it up a notch to see how quickly your point falls apart.
How about jokes about child sex abuse?
Outrageous, surely there is nothing funny about peadophiles abusing children is there.....so how many of you have laughed at the jokes about Michael Jackson or priests?

No, it would not. And he would have been better off if he never said it in the first place.