Sarah Palin Accepts Apology, Supporters Protest [UPDATED]

Sarah Palin has accepted David Letterman’s apology given on last night’s show:

“Of course it’s accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve,” the statement read.

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction. And this is all thanks to our U.S. military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s right to free speech – in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.”

Palin is a smart politician and knows she has milked this for all it is worth. While she has excited her base with her attacks on Letterman, she is also becoming subject to jokes that if she is too dumb to understand Letterman’s joke (and believe the right wing smears that it was about Willow or about rape) then she is also too dumb to be president. It has become in Palin’s interest to end the over-reaction and faux-outrage. This also shows an improvement in Palin’s understanding of freedom of speech compared to previous comments she has made.

Palin did have a legitimate beef with regards to jokes about Bristol and sexist jokes. This controversy very well might reduce both of these in the future--from other comedians as well as Letterman.  Palin limited the victory she could have had if she had responded honestly. If she had criticized Letterman for the joke about Bristol, without repeating the nonsense that it was about Willow, and conceded that this is just one in a long string of jokes from many comedians which were wrong, her objection would have sounded even more genuine. If she approached it like that virtually everyone, left and right, would have sided with her on it. Instead, by overreacting and distorting the facts, it became another polarizing issue.

So far the right wing groups are planning to continue with their protests. That’s no surprise–they have been planning attacks on Letterman for quite a while. They just saw last week’s jokes as an opportunity to move ahead. First they tried with the “slutty flight attendant” joke but when they didn’t get anywhere with that they distorted the Bristol Palin joke. They also probably realize that Letterman is unlikely to give them any ammunition in the near future so if they want to continue to attack Letterman they have to stick with this.

The long term fall out of this will probably be minimal as, outside of the extreme right, few believe the distortions being made that Letterman  told a joke about a 14-year-old girl.  Television columnists seem to agree. Maureen Ryan wrote,   “To appear to have made an unfortunate remark about a 14-year old just seemed … not Letterman-esque. That’s not who he is.” Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote, “Letterman’s bedrock decency has prevailed over what he must know is Palin’s bedrock opportunism in prolonging the controversy.” Danny Gallagher wrote, “If Letterman is guilty of bad taste, that also means Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Bill Maher could be charged as accessories after the fact and should all share a cell in Comedy Jail. They have all made jokes about the Palin kids and how Bristol’s big underage mistake in the sack has made her an ‘easy’ target (pun intended) for every political and athletic horn-dog who is still roasting on a spit at the concession stand of public shame. That’s why it’s called ‘late night’ television. It’s like after dark cable TV but with less appealing boobs.”

Lastly, Kate Harding writes that Letterman and Palin are both jerks, but she felt compelled to defend Letterman (as I did) because he was the target of false accusations which went way beyond what he actually said. After summarizing what Letterman said and the distortions spread by Palin, Harding wrote:

She and her daughters do not deserve sexist attacks any more than Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem or your mom do, and she’s absolutely right that what Letterman said was out of line and indefensible. She’s absolutely right that jokes like that contribute to an oppressive culture for women and young girls. But on this rare occasion when she’s absolutely right about a couple of things, she can’t just stop there. She has to blow straight past reasonable outrage and into disingenuous, over-the-top accusations.

Earlier this week, a Palin spokesperson said in a statement, “It would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman.” When Lauer asked her about that, she said, “Hey, take it however you want to take it.” OK, here’s how I take it: You’re implying that Letterman’s a pedophile. Nice. See also: calling the jokes “sexually perverted,” which they weren’t, instead of “sexist and tasteless,” which they were. So now here I am, inspired to defend Letterman from spurious attacks on his character, when I should be reinforcing the accurate attacks on his character in response to his spurious and sexist attacks on yours and your oldest daughter’s. Why do you torment me so, Sarah Palin? Letterman said unequivocally offensive things, and he deserves to be condemned for them. But now, so have you, which complicates the matter of defending you as a fellow woman. Don’t get me wrong; I will always denounce anyone who calls you a slut, or any other misogynistic slur. You don’t deserve it, and that crap hurts all women. But if someone wants to call you a liar and a loon? You’re on your own, lady.

Although Palin accpeted Letterman's apology, unfortunately many Palin supporters have not, and went ahead with their planned protests against Letterman. How did they go?

Reuters reports on the anti-Letterman protests (emphasis mine):

Still, more than a dozen protesters held up banners outside Letterman’s Times Square studio as Tuesday’s show was being taped, but they were outnumbered by spectators and media.

Sounds like they are having trouble getting attention from anyone other than a handful of right wing kooks.

The New York Daily News places the count at about fifty. MTV estimates three dozen.

Update: Despite days of planning for the rally, promotions on right wing blogs, numerous RSVP’s, and months of preparing to go after Letterman by the right wing, the Fire Letterman Rally didn’t come off as planned. As indictated above, there were estimates of only 36 to 50 people who weren’t satisfied with Letterman’s apology showing up. The rally might have been a flop but  Letterman still was able to make numerous jokes about the attacks on him during the monologue tonight: The show started off with an announcement that CBS likes to apologize in advance to everyone he is going to insult tonight. That, he means well but is just an idiot. His monologue began with instructions for everyone in the audience to come forward when he calls their name to pick up their apology. He promised to get through this as quickly as possible so everyone could get to the Fire Dave Rally and he  said his son is telling everyone at school that his father is Conan. While the jokes were primarily directed at himself he did make some jokes about Sarah Palin saying that Palin accepted his apology and that she has also accepted a $500 gift certificate from Lens Crafters. He said he was nervous about the apology to Sarah Palin so to get his confidence up he rehearsed by apologizing to Tina Fey.

Letterman also presented the Top Ten Things Overheard  at The Fire David Letterman Rally:

10. “David who?”

9. “Well, it was nice of CBS to provide the catering.”

8. “We should have done this years ago.”

7. “What idiot turned Broadway into a pedestrian mall?”

6. “Isn’t there always a crowd demanding Letterman be fired?”

5. “March around the potholes, people.”

4. “Can we also get CBS to bring back ‘Gunsmoke’?”

3. “When does Cheney get here with the waterboarding gear?”

2. “He should apologize for that hairpiece.”

1. “Thanks for coming, Regis.”