Conservative Columnist Blames Obama For Letterman's Palin Joke

During a discussion of David Letterman's joke about Sarah Palin on "Hannity" on Thursday night, conservative columnist S.E. Cupp blamed Obama.

Cupp and Sean Hannity didn't accept Letterman's explanation of his joke, in which he regretted the comments, and slammed the lack of outrage in the mainstream media about the jokes in which Letterman referred to Palin's "slutty-flight-attendant look" and quipped that her daughter got "knocked up by [NY Yankee] Alex Rodriguez"

Cupp, who is a contributor to the Washington Post and Politico, fumed:

"This is the enduring legacy of the Obama campaign. I'm not saying this to be inflammatory, I blame Barack Obama because he allowed his surrogates in the media and Hollywood and everyone else on the left to do this dirty talking for him."

Cupp called on Obama to condemn the comments.

Hannity agreed with Cupp, adding "It's like a Sista Souljah moment," referring to the infamous scandal in which then-candidate Bill Clinton repudiated the rapper's comments, outraging free-speech advocates but helping him win the votes of conservative Democrats.

Watch the exchange:

Comments

[brijit]

Never miss a chance to whine about Obama.

[Shookones]

Uh... This woman, S.E. Cupp doesn't know what she's talking about. Perhaps someone should point out that she needs to know the facts before she speaks and makes inflammatory comments. Actually, Obama during the campaign did speak out in favor of Palin when the attacks started coming out about Palin's daughter. He said:
"I have heard some of the news on this and so let me be as clear as possible. I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics, it has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18. And how family deals with issues and teenage children that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that is off limits..."

[chitown8]

Hannity Palin ain't no where near Sistah Soulja!

Palin can dish it but can't take it.

[dianhow]

Comments about kids and teens are off limits- it's the only decent thing to do.

[Willow207]

Like the ones made about Chelsea Clint...by none other than John McCain, Palin's running mate......­and other equally offensive ones made by GOP?

Yep, the GOP a Party of Liars and Hypocrites!!!!!

[RevRayGreen]

BOOOOOOYYY­YYYAAAAAAH­HHHHHH!!!!­!!!

Gov. Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it. -- "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," 9/2/08

[katielady]

HA HA HA HA HA HA ETC... just ROFLOL !!!! WHAT PLANET DO THEY LIVE ON ???...

[MizLiz]

Oh dear. The righties are all in a dither because Obama's surrogates enabled Letterman? What about McCain's surrogates egging on FAUX news itself? Whose surrogates are stronger now? Does anybody care?

[dagnome27]

Faux Noise = rage against nothing substantive (i.e. much ado about nuttin')

[QuietLightTraveler]

This is laughable. Hannity spends all the time on his show trying to think of everything under the sun to blame on Barack Obama. I never heard a show host who was so one dimensional. It shows his limitations. Then he had to dig up some other right wingnut to say the same thing. We heard you the first time Shaun Hannity. In fact everything, all your Reganesque dogma, which is pile of nonsense anyway, could be summed up in a couple of lines that we have all heard before. So go away.

[GIRfan]

Not falling for it!

[kyleet12]

Fake outrage and outright phoniness. Obama said during the campaign that family was off limits when the news of Gov. Palins daughter became an issue. What is it about this guy that he would think that no one would remember that? Since when did David Letterman become the administration's spokesperson? This is becoming cartoonish and Hannity who believes he is helping the conservative cause, is actually harming it.

[FormerReaganite]

Dang, it's raining today. Must be Obama's fault.

[jackbutler5555]

Letterman's a funny man, but he was wrong to say what he said. Obama supporters here and left-wing pundits around the country are wrong in rationalizing it. The switch Letterman pulled in defending himself was also wrong. It was the 14-year-old daughter who attended the Yankee game with Sarah, not the 18-year-old. It was wrong to make nasty remarks about fight attendants and A-Rod. And, it was wrong to call any woman a slut. This one isn't about politics. This is a set of nasty remarks about several people who didn't have it coming.

[chameleon59]

The joke was in poor taste, but let's get real. Until La Palin opened her mouth, no one in the country thought he meant Willow - in fact ,most of us forget she HAS a 14 year old. He also didn't call anyone a slut - as someone who has pointed out to a friend that her makeup is slu-tty-looking, I can appreciate the distinction between the two. My biggest issue with Letterman's jokes is the one thing that almost no one is talking about - no comedian would have made the same kind of comment or cast the same kind of aspersion about the appearance of a male politician and that's purely sexist.

[RobinM]

People who watch Letterman got the joke and knew he was talking about Bristol and not the 14 year old daughter.
But more importantly, with all that is going on in this country; this is what Fox is having discussions about? Seriously?!?!
How about the 2 recent terrorists attacks against a Doctor and the Holocaust Museum where a guard was murdered. Why aren't they talking about the inappropriate speech from Bill O'Rielly that perhaps led to Dr. Tiller's death; not to mention the countless other remarks from the Right that I feel are completely inappropriate and hateful.
Oh wait, I forgot, these are covered by free speech. David Letterman said something against one of their own and Free Speech doesn't apply here.

[FormerReaganite]

To hear Faucks News tell it, Tiller's death might have been from a fiction novel. O'Reilly never stopped the emphasis on "those 60,000 murdered" at least out of respect for the doctor's death.

[axollot]

OMG - They are so outraged that they have nothing *real* to be outraged about. Dear lord, bless the people watching 24hr faux news. How outraged they must be about *everything*!

Coming up Next: Someone sneezed and Obama didn't say bless you, is Obama *really* Christian?

The conservative "columnist" took the cake, looking a little "low" cut in the front and questionable to call someone out, especially sitting in the studio of such a hostile place.

[bertha112]

Didn't they already invoke the "he's not a Christian" angle when they had recently had one of those "Christian" foundation representatives on Fox and Friends saying that when Obama invoked the name of "Christ" and the Christian Church in recent speeches (see Notre Dame), that he still hasn't earned that right.

[ladyvader]

My biggest problem with Palin and this bad joke it, she didn't get it.

Letterman was not talking about the 14yo, but the 18yo. I think everyone got that but Palin

If Palin is so concerned about her kids being the butt of late night joke, then maybe she should not parade them to the media. Once your in the spotlight, your fair game.

[Dweezle]

This is the most rational reply I have seen on this topic yet! (well I have issues with calling children "Kids" kid=baby goat) I really laughed when I saw them trying to bring Obama in on it.

[Willow207]

Someone took her coloring book and crayons, so she was unable to decipher!