Letterman throws like a girl who doesn't know how to throw

With the recent scrutiny of Sarah Palin and her book tour, her following exchange with late night comedian David Letterman comes to mind:

“Effectively accusing David Letterman of being a dirty old man, Sarah Palin yesterday ripped the CBS late night host for making crude jokes about her 14-year-old daughter”

In a written response, Palin was quoted as saying:

"Concerning Letterman's comments about my young daughter: 'Laughter incited by sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity aimed at a 14-year-old girl is not only disgusting, but it reminds us some Hollywood/NY entertainers have a long way to go in understanding what the rest of America understands - that acceptance of inappropriate sexual comments about an underage girl, who could be anyone's daughter, contributes to the atrociously high rate of sexual exploitation of minors by older men who use and abuse others.”

I would phrase that a direct, well worded and penetrating statement. Some might phrase it a common sense statement which a husband and a father would not need reminding of. But I digress.

Letterman responded:

"I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl. I mean, look at my record."

Well, the young woman accompanying Ms. Palin at the game Dave referenced was, in fact, none other than her fourteen year old daughter, Willow. Perhaps we should have taken him up on his offer right then and there.

Four months later, the extortion plot against Mr. Letterman was brought to light, and the joke was suddenly on Dave. The laughter became rather awkward now. It also brought opportunity to examine the record he spoke of. Subsequently, it was learned that Mr. Letterman had engaged in sex with quite a number of people, all involved with his show, and shall we say, under Mr. Letterman in one way or another. Reports of an extortion plot brought a bit of irony to his earlier statement, and resulted in Mr. Letterman arriving at a new found insight, as seen here:

"My response to that is, yes, I have. Would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps it would," he explained on the show. "I feel like I need to protect these people. I need to certainly protect my family."

and here:

“I was worried for myself, I was worried for my family," he said. "I felt menaced by this, and I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I had done."

The list of sexual partners did not include Biff Henderson or Larry "Bud" Melman.

Ted Casablanca, the E! Online columnist added this valuable insight:

"He's a rebel, but even rebels have to treat women kindly. You just get the sense that he is so cavalier about it, that he thinks this is OK because it's him."

Regarding Regina Lasko, Letterman's wife, Casablanca had the following to say:

"Absolutely [Lasko] knew. You don't get in bed with Letterman in any sense, romantically or professionally, without knowing it's going to be a different set of rules."

In light of the response to the Polanski case, it appears that is a widely held attitude among the elites of the arts and entertainment crowd, making Ms. Palin's quote listed above ...

right on the money.