Well blow me over with a feather. Wednesday afternoon I did a very rare Tweet ( @punditreview) asking a simple question,
What time is the N.O.W. press conference denouncing David Letterman for his jokes about Palin’s 14-year old daughter?
1:59 PM Jun 10th from web
Tounge in cheek as the silence was deafening and the double standard too obvious to ignore. Turns out, on this issue anyway, NOW is being intellectually honest about the situation. Here is a portion of the statement they released tonight,
NOW’s Media Hall of Shame: David Letterman
Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age.The sexualization of girls and women in the media is reaching new lows these days — it is exploitative and has a negative effect on how all women and girls are perceived and how they view themselves. Letterman also joked about what he called Palin’s “slutty flight attendant look” — yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician’s appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman’s stature, who appears on what used to be known as “the Tiffany Network” (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.
On that point, it’s important to note that when Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old she was the target of numerous insults based on her appearance. Rush Limbaugh even referred to her as the “White House dog.” NOW hopes that all the conservatives who are fired up about sexism in the media lately will join us in calling out sexism when it is directed at women who aren’t professed conservatives.
They proved me wrong and did the right thing. Good for them for speaking out. That said, I certainly think negative publicity and sustained anger over the comments played a role in their decision, not to mention Letterman’s weasly apology.
Ever the diplomat, ALLAHPUNDIT offers this grand compromise,
People on Twitter are grumbling about that last paragraph but (a) given how peeved the sisterhood will be that they’re defending Palin, surely you won’t begrudge NOW some sort of ass-covering knock on conservatives here, and (b) their point is, unfortunately, too often valid, as a scroll through righty blog comments about Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton (at least before 2008) will attest. A compromise, then: The right will join in calling out sexism directed at liberal women when the left stops treating conservative women as “inauthentic†or traitors to their gender because they happen to be pro-life. Deal?
Hat Tip: Kathryn Lopez, The Corner