Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Covered Lightly By Late-Night Hosts

NEW YORK — Late-night comics tread lightly when referring to the pregnancy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's unwed daughter.

CBS' "Late Show" host David Letterman made the pregnancy the subject of only his fifth and last joke about the selection of the Alaska governor as John McCain's running mate.

"Here's good news, ladies and gentlemen," Letterman said. "The Palin family crisis that we were talking about on Sunday and Monday, that has been solved now and, today, the baby is being adopted by Angelina Jolie."

WATCH:

Three of the comics made Democrat John Edwards the butt of their jokes. Edwards, the former presidential candidate, admitted this summer to an affair after first denying it.

"Gov. Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months' pregnant," Jay Leno said near the top of his NBC "Tonight" show monologue Tuesday. "And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it."

Both Craig Ferguson and Conan O'Brien, who compete against each other in the early morning hours, went down the same road.

"I don't think that a young lady getting pregnant should even be news," said Ferguson of CBS' "Late Late Show." "Unless John Edwards is the father. Then that is kinda news."

O'Brien joked on his NBC "Late Night" show that Palin said that "we should never have introduced her to John Edwards."

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" kept his lacerating wit away from the topic. There was only one allusion to it in a Samantha Bee weather forecast skit, when a cloud in the shape of a pregnant woman floated by.

Comments

[Mildmannered]

imagine how hannity, limbaugh, etc. would be going crazy if a democratic vp nominees unmarried minor daughter were pregnant

but then also imagine how they would be going crazy if the democratic vp nominee had the minimal experience as Palin has and the zero foreign policy experience and also the zero foreign policy knowledge (as far as we know, as any serious reporter interviewed her)? she may not even know the different between warring factions in Iraq or know which countries border which countries.

[Alessan]

I really don't understand the double standard for the teen daughter of Ms.Palin, after all aren't teen
considered adults when committing crimes and end up in most states being tryed as adults and
end up in jail. Ms.B. is beyond the age of reason, 7 years., if after her mother telling her to keep
her legs crossed she refused, she deserves to be pregnant and bear a child. And now a public
figure deserves to be riduculed just as many other teens from lower class backgrounds are.

[Dlukes]

Republican women are angry that the media is targeting Gov. Palin's family. Gov. Palin's decision to become her party's VP makes her fair ground. She must of known that the rest of the country is not like Alaska. In the lower 48's the media is all over you. The National Media will eat you alive, if you let them. The reason why Obama is a media darling-because he handles himself well. He did not get emotinal like Hillary Clinton-and blame the media for his rise or fall in politics. Sorry, this is the 21st century, the information age rules. Gov. Palin and her supporters need to get real, and start playing with media, and not against them.

[Entropi]

The thing is, repiglicans would have splooged themselves over an angle like this. Imagine if Biden had a pregnant teen daughter, I can hear the pundits now.
'Just goes to show you that them Dems don't have real family values (whatever TF those are)'
But Obama showed real class by not going there, and that's the big difference between the candidates. He's far too dignified to stoop to the level of, say, choosing a VP just to pick up a voter demographic.
What a cheap, manipulative stunt, propping up this Hillary imposter. As if being used as a tool to sway voters somehow EMPOWERS women.
I am hopeful for the Obama campaign, because he avoids cheap tricks like this. His campaign is subtler, more powerful, and has shown a deep understanding of how our culture thinks and moves.

[linzy]

Question. If they were "going to be married" why in Heaven's name have they waited for 5 months? Could it be that they only just recently decided it would be more convenient and politically correct to take this step after mom accepted the VP slot? I am not saying this to dismiss Bristol's right to privacy but more to point out that it smacks too much of a convenient way out of a possibly damaging situation for the Republican Party. Most girls I know, even those waaay back in the day, got married asap. Hm.....

[johnnygoodwud]

wouldn't a real family values mom, put family first? wouldn't she decide, right now my family comes first, my 17 yrs. old daughter, my 5 month old son needs me. she could run again in 4 yrs. why did it have to be this time? is her ego that big?

[MMJones]

Poor Bristol. Her mom really did throw her under the Squirmy Talk Bus. What did she expect??? I, a former Republican am incensed. I worked hard to make sure my girl is educated AND responsible. (Thank you, straight talk and Planned Parenthood­.) Consequently, she is degreed, prepared for motherhood when it comes, and we don't have to be raising a grandchild!!

[Maggie Van Ostrand - Huffpost Blogger]

Why should they leave Palin alone? They creamed John Edwards for allegedly fathering an illegitimate baby.

Are we supposed to ignore Palin because she's a woman?

C'mon. Let's keep things equal.

[retreadite]

The idea of HuffPo bloggers responding like this is welcomed and appreciated. But the difference is Edwards lied and tried to belittle the National Enquirer (hiding in a bathroom, calling the report trash), not to mention the wife having cancer at the time. You use the term "allegedly". Edwards claimed he will take a paternity test. One call to Rielle could settle this.


Palins sex has nothing to do w/ it, adultery while your wife has cancer has something to do with it.

[retreadite]

The difference is Edwards lied and belittled the National Enquirer

Plus he was messin' around when his wife had cancer

[whsmith]

I agree, and if Jamie Lynn Spears wasn't off limits for late night comics (or Bill O'reilly), why should Bristol Palin be any different? Seems to me that Sarah Palin is using her whole family has political pawns: to be paraded in front of the camera when convenient - but to be vengefully defended with false outrage when it suits her.

[Hadok]

Why should they leave Palin alone?

To which Palin do you refer? This article is about Bristol Palin. Bristol Palin is not running for President as was John Edwards. Bristol Palin is not a sitting president receiving oral sex from a female staffer in the White House. Bristol Palin never dared the press corps to "Follow me around. I don't care. I'm serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They'll be very bored."

[Hadok]

Why should they leave Palin alone? This article is about - and the jokes are being directed toward - Bristol Palin. Unlike John Edwards, Bristol has never been a candidate for President.

I'm sitting here trying to find the words to frame an argument as to why such jokes about a candidate's children are inappropriate. It is rather like trying to explain why scratching your crotch or picking your nose in public are uncouth. There are some people who just don't get it, and it is a waste of time trying to explain it to them. As they say, Never argue with a pig. It just frustrates you and irritates the pig.

[LemonMeringue]

Shame on the mother for throwing her daughter into the hot kitchen.

Bristol doesn't deserve this.

[Roxanna]

PALIN CARES MORE ABOUT HER POLITICAL AMBITIONS THAN HER FAMILY.

After all why would she put her "YOUNG FAMILY" Through this.

[lioness39]

Leave the girl alone, mad comics - but give the mother h***!

[piper1233]

from what i hear the daughter is giving the mother hell for us. The grand plan was for her to marry and announce the pregnancy after the convention, but she refused to take part in the deception. when the National Enquire got a hold of the story Sarah Palin was forced to disclose it. This was not something they just found out about or planned to release at that specific time.

[wellinformed08]

They are all OWNED and now we know by whom. If it was Obama's daughters, there would be blood. It is all kind of weird. If Palin didn't want her kids on display, she should have declined the nomination or told the truth about it and exposed how her mothering skills rebut her political and religious views. This shotgun wedding isn't helping. Imagine if she had talked to her daughter about sex and given her birth control pilss, we wouldn't be having this discussion would we?

I bet Meg and Bridget McCain take birth control.

[kellygrrrl]

so with all the Smears against the Dems we were told

"Got to keep your sense of humor"
"Stop Whining"

and now ...

[drewtom]

I reealize Juno Palin can't help that her mother is being used by the McCain camp, but just like Bill Clintons personal life, Ms. Palins personal life is fair game. Especially knowing her opposition to sex ed and birth control, one has to ask if her parties failed policies are working?

[DaOne]

Late night comics....­chickens

[mojojanglesjoe]

So true. Give me some Kimbell at least he made the Terminator nervous