Remember Malia and Sasha

[question everything]

Yes, they will come after them. Not in the next year, or so. They are still little girls. But they will, certainly in 2012 and beyond. After all, it was McCain with the crude "joke" about Chelsea Clinton. And this was before "viral videos" the Internet, blogs and YouTube.

So, yes, they will come. But now they will have a "free hand" - the jokes from Letterman. Yes, he apologized, yes, he did not mean it and, sadly, many on DU still cheer him.

First, children of politicians should be off limits. Period. Yes, even Bristol who, as far as we know, is not a "slut" - to use his other offensive term - but behaved like a normal teenager who did not know any better.

Second, it was Palin's 14 year old - Willow - who came with her to New York, who came with her to Yankee stadium. That Letterman did not "know" and did not "mean it" is irrelevant. He gave them a powerful propaganda piece that will play well into 2016.

And, sadly, on DU, too many do not wince, even, when terms like b***ch, c**t, and now "slutty" are used on women politicians.* They are offensive because they are used only on women. They are used when whoever uses them cannot find any real concepts to debate and/or attack them. We saw it with Hillary Clinton here, on DU, we saw them, still, apparently, see them on Palin, we even saw them on Miss California.

I would like to think that many DUers who cherish in such "jokes" and attacks are simply too young to have gone through life with themselves, or someone dear to them being the recipient of such comments. I hope that they do not use them themselves again, like McCain did on his wife. Just shows his age, I would think.

The debate about Letterman will go on until something else comes around. That Palin milks it for as long as she can - why shouldn't she?

My spouse wonder whether, like Imus, Letterman will have to resign and I tried to explain the difference, mainly that Imus was already on hot coals.


* Exception for Katherin Harris who clearly relished pushing her sexuality.

[sui generis]

1. wouldn't be rich of one of them turned out to be fonder

of women than of men.

Daddy can I have the car keys and permission to get civilunioned? Oh, and I'm joining the Marines, but sssssh our secret, don't tell.

[Hanse]

2. Won't somebody please think of the children?

:crazy:

[Rage for Order]

3. According to many here, they will be fair game

After all, Obama put them out there in the campaign, bringing them out on stage after campaign events and speeches, having them tag along on parts of the campaign trail. Obama put them into the political arena, so they will be fair game once they become teenagers.

I'm sure plenty of people will be along shortly to explain how, for whatever reason, the situation is different for Obama's children.

[question everything]

8. He did not exactly put them on the campaign

They stayed home, at school, except for several family vacations which, of course, were covered, and at the night of the victory.

It was not like the Edwards who actually took the young kids with them, were "home schooled" while on the campaign.

Of course, Michele had her mother, taking care of the girls.

[Matariki]

4. Indeed. Right about the time girls hit puberty and become sexual beings

is when they become open game for ridicule, jokes and mockery. About their looks, about their morality, about their sexuality.

(edited for my dyslexia)

[WeDidIt]

5. Bristol Palin is FAIR GAME, she's an ADULT

So your bullshit don't play.

[dancingme]

10. and she poses for magazines with the baby for profit

and goes on TV shows with the baby for publicity and profit. Bristol is no better than the Jon & Kate parents - using her kid to make money.

[Toucano]

27. AND, she is being PAID to advocate a particular public policy.

What is so hard for people to understand about this?

[CreekDog]

6. You know why you're wrong?

Because *fair* has never been a standard when it comes to right wing attacks on our leaders and their families.

[Captain Hilts]

12. We're the good guys and I hold us to higher standards. I don't want to be like they are. nt

[rufus dog]

19. Exactly

How fucking Pollyanna to think that the Obama kids won't be targets regardless of what David Letterman did.

Do you think any Democratic candidate could have made it through any primary with an oldest kid who vandalized public assets, putting young children in danger, had an underaged daughter who was pregnant, and the father lived with a proven drug dealer, dropped out of HS and had drug issues himself. Give me a fucking break and spare me the outrage.

[TahitiNut]

7. I didn't know Malia was pregnant. Fancy that.

:eyes:

[question everything]

24. Neither is Willow Palin (nt)

[Sebastian Doyle]

29. And it was Moosealini and her worthless piece of shit husband who brought Willow into this.

Letterman never mentioned her.

[TahitiNut]

30. Nobody suggested she was.

NOBODY. :shrug:

[MarjorieG]

9. Trotted out, pregnant, while a photographed as a poster girl for abstinence, Bristol's mom is more

than the exploiter here.


sp

[Captain Hilts]

13. She's young and stupid and has been exploited by her parents. nt

[TahitiNut]

14. It's like some bizarre Reality Show: "Sarah and Tawd Pimp Their Kids"

:puke: :puke:

[Captain Hilts]

11. Thank you. Let's leave the kids out of it. Not Bristol's fault her mother is a hypocrite and has

used her as a prop.

[Raineyb]

28. No it's her fault for going along with it.

This woman has a gig (no doubt via a hook-up through her mother) for an abstinence only program. To point out the hyporcisy of her trotting around the country with her child advocating for seomthing that clearly doesn't work, as evidenced by the child she's trotting around with, isn't unfairly targeting a child it's a bloody public service.

You cannot be the national spokesperson for an abstinence program and expect the fact that you're an unwed teenage mother to be overlooked.

Bristol is no victim here she put herself out there. She's fair game.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. *

*You think Sarah did NOT relish pushing her sexuality? What do YOU think of a woman who gets up on a stage 8 feet above the audience wearing a mini-skirt?

I call it 'slutty'.

[kath]

17. And all the winking and flirtatious behavior, and she a married woman?

And the shoes - high "f*ck-me" heels?

[question everything]

18. High heels

Funny, someone on the right was criticizing Sotomayor for still wearing a high heel shoe on one foot while the other was in a cast.

Funny thing, it was Letterman, and others, who were making jokes of Clinton's pant suits. Women cannot win. If they wear skirt and high heels, they are "slutty," if they wear "sensible shoes" and below the knee full skirt, they are "dowdy," if they wear flat shoes and pant suits.. there were other jokes.

Not to mention all the attention - as we saw with Clinton here, on DU - on cleavage, and thick calves (Carl Bernstein) and makeup and hair do.

[kiva]

25. Exactly.

To many people women seem to come in two types: unattractive and sexy, and both can be criticized.

[MiniMe]

21. Sarah is fair game. The kids are not.

Yes, the kids were used by Sarah. I doubt they had much say in the matter. I think that Sarah accepting the nomination knowing that Bristol was pregnant showed a remarkable lack of common sense and selfishness on her part. I also think that picking a fight with a comedian is a big mistake. She would have been better off just letting it die.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. Bristol is fair game. She is getting paid to push abstinence. Letterman or his staff

thought their target was Bristol.

http://content.usatoday.com/topics/post/Bristol+Palin/66472929.blog/1

[Bucky]

20. What a silly post. Sarah Palin's nomination ended all sexism just like Obama's ended racism and...

... just like Ferraro's ended sexism.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. "Not in the next year, or so. They are still little girls." You give them WAY too much credit. -nt

[chrisa]

23. For god's sakes. It's late night comedy.

Get over it.

[Blasphemer]

26. There are clearly no absolutes

given that you made sure to make an exception for Katherine Harris. In that case, it's not a matter of negative things being said about the children of politicians - it's more a matter of what is said, how it is said and what the intent is. In the case of the Letterman joke, I think it was a matter of ridiculing the entire sideshow that is known as "Sarah Palin" and, not incidentally, also ridiculing the acts of known philanderers (namely Alex Rodriguez and Eliot Spitzer). I'm not really seeing the sexism there. As for the point about sexist vocabulary and sexism against female politicians, that is definitely a problem and not just here on DU. I don't like that very real issue being mixed up with this Sarah Palin nonsense. It's akin to taking her bait and has no place in a serious discussion about sexist language and it's evolution in a patriarchal society. I would also say that sexist words or phrases can be re-contextualized. I don't see a problem with a sexist word being used to create a particular mental image - i.e. playing on a stereotype in a comedic environment which is quite common. It's not as black and white as that, particularly where comedy (true comedy not zealots hiding hate in so called "jokes) is concerned. In fact, comedy is an important tool in reshaping language as society progresses. If we can't see our own ridiculousness we end up making the same mistakes over and over again.