Leno Told Similar Joke About Palin's Daughter

Alan Colmes (former co-host of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes) makes a great a catch regarding the current feud between David Letterman and Governor Sarah Palin. While Palin has been blasting Letterman all over the airwaves for joking about Yankees star Alex Rodriguez "knocking up" her daughter, Jay Leno told an extremely similar joke during the presidential campaign that resulted in no such uproar:

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

Is there a double standard being applied to Letterman? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

RELATED: NOW Joins Palin In Bashing Letterman

Comments

[chorl]

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." John McCain, 1998

[Rangergirl]

Pallin lashing out at Letterman was a purely political motive....She has to get the limelight on her as often as she can....She accepted his apology then went after him again by invoking the troops again...and the Constitution which she always quotes WRONG....We are protected from Government FREE SPEECH.

[PatriotHills]

I agree with everything you said except the first amendment thing. While you are correct that Palin has no clue what she's talking about with respect the the constitution, the fist amendment protects INDIVIDUALS from GOVERMNENT censorship of speech - it's that simple. In other words, the government cannot pnish you for speaking your mind. This right, though is not absolute - just remember the old example of yelling "fire" in a crowded theater.

[Clavis]

Carrie Prejean says something offensive to the left = "Hey, it's just her opinion. Don't liberals believe in free speech? Can't they tolerate opinions with which they disagree? Stop being so politically correct, you wimps!"

David Letterman says something offensive to the right = "FIRE DAVID LETTERMAN! HE'S EVIL! POOR SARAH PALIN CAN'T TAKE IT! HOW DISRESPECTFUL!!!"

Hypocrisy -- it's a way of life for Right-Wing Authoritarians!

[Cryostatic]

It's one thing to state your political views, quite another to sexually objectify women for the sake of humour.

Firing is rather extreme, an apology works. Too bad it didn't play out for Imus that way.

[Euthyphro]

I'd be most happy if women started to sexually objectify men. I'm a guy myself, btw. :)

[ShyShea]

I doubt Imus is crying since he's still making big money.

[wizegeye]

The fact that other "comedians" have told jokes about Palin's children is a red herring. President Obama has stated that children should be off limits. Generally, children don't have a choice regarding what their parents do. Sarah Palin, like all politicians, made the choice to seek public office. As a result, she will be the recipient of criticism, just like any other person in political office. However, the media and other commentators should not critique or make fun of the children of public servants. Don't we have better things to spend our time, such as figuring out how to get affordable healthcare to millions of uninsured Americans, how to improve the economy and reduce unemployment, and how to properly deal with terrorism and protect Americans? Too many people are focused on tabloid news, instead of real and important issues. If we spent as much time on the critical issues of the day as opposed to calling politicians and their families names, maybe we could solve some of these pressing issues.

[mamala4]

Everything you write is true...the only problem is that Palin uses her children as props (she thinks they are an advantage) and therefore, opens them up to scrutiny!

[Cryostatic]

Scrutiny? Sure. But making a sexually objectifying joke? No call for that.

[Lasnoe]

Palin didn't initiate the retaliation against Letterman ..... She was asked about the comments during an interview.... she commented on the spot....

What made this the spectacular it's become is the fact that Palin gets attacked constantly.... even when she or her family is the victim of a lame joke.... People on the right were compelled to expose the double standard..... if a conservative made a similar comment against anyone who wasn't a conservati­ve.....tha­t person's resignation would have been demanded..... case in point Don Imus....

We don't want Letterman to resign.... we're just curious where all those voices are that called for the resignation of Imus.....

I guess Letterman is going to apologize everyday now..... just for the ratings......

[chorl]

Palin was not asked about it during an interview. She was "asked" about it by her mouthpiece John Ziegler, who is hawking a pseudo documentary DVD about her. He has amounted to her lackey and they put out the statement. The reason she didn't make a big deal out of the Leno thing is that she was already in the spotlight at the time, running for VP and therefore did not need the extra publicity. She is setting up her run for 2012 and therefore needs a little face time. It was a well calculated ploy by herself and Mr. Ziegler.

[RedStateDem]

What's the line from Shakespeare..."Full of sound and fury and signifying nothing...?" (someone correct me)

Shannyn Moore wrote a list of at least ten similar statements from TV hosts about the children of Alaska's first Mommy. These jokes have been around for a while... because in humor there is always at least a grain of truth. And the truth is Sara Palin is a crappy mom.

That Hannity has made this incredible "Catch" of a Jay Leno joke, a couple of days after lists of similar jokes have been circulating on the Internet, speaks volumes about Hannity credibility and professionalism.

Sean, you handed in your assignment three days late and it was someone else's work. You're a tool.

[briyando]

i think the article is crediting Alan Colmes of the former Hannity and Colmes show for spotting Leno's similar joke about Palin's daughter not Sean, even though he is still a tool like you said.

[ReallyMe]

Sorry. The article stated that Colmes caught the Leno joke. (Wasn't that weak spined supposed counter to Hannity supposed to have been leaving the show? But, I digress...) Hannity would never have mentioned that...

[redsongia]

You mean the dictator of Alaskastan is using her power to punish only those she considers her political enemies? I'm shocked.

Someone please teach Alaskastan's Supreme Leader that the First Amendment still applies in the "lower 48" and state actors are not permitted to take step to abridge that right...like organizing boycotts.

[ssfahrer]

The difference is that Leno at least told the audience WHICH DAUGHTER was involved in said 'joke'. If David Letterman had done the same, there would have been no problem for Palin and her promoters to exploit....

[tube517]

Sorry, that doesn't cut it...Leno said the same thing and Bristol was 17 at the time so LENO was just as much in fault....so if you're going to bash Letterman, you need to bash the CHIN as well.

[minidriver]

Oh, but Leno is a Republican supporter and he bashed John Edwards so in the eyes of the screamers, it's OK.

[timmmahhhh]

First off Letterman has explained TWICE that he intended his joke to be toward the of-age Bristol. Anyone that understands humor doesn't give a rats petootie which daughter was actually there. And cons whine about libs being too politically correct??

Second note the date of Leno's joke - 9/2/08. Palin had plenty of attention back then and also did not speak to the media - one can argue whether that was her choice but still that was the case. Now that she craves the spotlight it is clearly obvious to any non FOX-bot that she took full advantage to garner attention, and as Olbermann correctly identified, took advantage of her kids AGAIN to get this attention.

[joycehelene]

Both Leno and Letterman were wrong to make such raunchy jokes, but Palin did ask for them when she brought 5 month pregnant teen age Bristol out along with her teen age lover Levi who wasn't never going to marry her, that certainly was not the right way to introduce your family to the American electorate if you want any sort of respect, you should know that all of you will become the butt of nasty jokes. What a mother that Sarah Palin is, she would do anything to be elected, including holding her family up for shame, it was as bad as if she had embroidered an A on Bristol's chest.

[Perceiver]

I don't see what Palin's uproar is all about. She should know that, if you behave like white trash, you can expect to be treated as such. She paraded her whole family, including the never-to-be prospective husband of her knocked up daughter, in front of the whole world like they were a prize to behold. She started this then. Granted that Letterman, a gentleman in most cases, went beyond the line and he has apologized more extensively than required. The matter is he did it in public, while who knows what people have been saying behind close doors about the Palin tribe since they became the flagbearers for the GOP's base. The media doesn't even need to fabricate stuff; the Palins provide the lowbrow news themselves. Now Palin is asking people to donate to a fund to pay for her defense lawyers in various cases against her. And with these antecedents, she still dreams about a run for the presidency!

[wizegeye]

Every politician who runs for Pres or VP is with their family on stage when they're are nominated. I saw the Obama girls several times on stage with Candidate Obama during the campaign. The fact that a politician has their family around during public events is a good thing. Most people want to know more about who these politicians really are, so seeing them with their families is important. Your rationalization for making negative comments about children is flawed, troubling, and just plain wrong.

[Szin]

Remind me.. which one of Obama's daughters was an unmarried teenage soon-to-be mother?

[dcrinaz]

Of course there is a double-standard being applied to David Letterman. It's revenge for his--right­ly--blasti­ng McCain and Palin during the elections. HuffPost blogger Naughtymonkey has provided a link to other late-night jokes about Bristol Palin many that are in the same vein as Letterman's: http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/2009/06/12/top-10-late-night-jokes-about-bristol-palin.htm.

It is also Palin's way to make sure she is in the public eye and to make a positive impression on all the idiots who will respond to her offended mother's fury without bothering to see that the fury is all made up and for political purposes. In any case, when Conan O'Brien said, "Saturday night, Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box." Where was the furious response?

Letterman did not know which daughter was with Palin. The joke was obviously about the daughter who had been knocked up. But the person really to blame for all this is Sarah Palin and her enormous ambition: this hypocrite is using another daughter for political gain. And that is what is truly reprehensible.

[bryan-a]

Letterman's a professional comedian if he didn't know which daughter was with Palin he needs to go back to doing the weather on the weekends - that's absolutely no excuse.

[elvez1975]

Did you just write "professional comedian"? Wow. Go back later and think about that one.

[dcrinaz]

I am a professional educator. I didn't know which daughter was with her. I just know a joke that has the words "Palin" and "knocked up" refer to Sarah Palin's oldest--and adult--daughter. Now mommy dearest Palin can use her second daughter, as she crassly and insensitively used her eldest daughter during the campaign, for her personal and political gain. The real creep here is Sarah Palin, not David Letterman.

[KayJay90]

A friend at "The Immoral Minority" blog contacted the ONE sponsor that Palinbot website Conservatives4Palin crowed triumphantly had withdrawn their ads from CBS to protest the Letterman Palin joke last week.

This is the response from the sponsor, Embassy Suites:

"Thanks for your email. Embassy Suites was never a sponsor or advertiser of the David Letterman show. Several online ads appeared on a series of web sites, including cbs.com, among many others. These ads are no longer in rotation on cbs.com as a normal course of our ad placement strategy. We sincerely appreciate your email.

Dawn Ray, Embassy Suites Hotels"

---------------

So, not only is Sarah Palin a LIAR about the whole "knocked up" joke -- lying about her daughter Willow being at the game, lying about "statutory rape", lying about David Letterman being a pedophile (an actionable offense by her, IMO) -- but now her Palinbots have LIED about the withdrawal of the sponsor.

THEY'RE ALL A BUNCH OF FRICKIN' LIARS!

So, despite reports from Palin-bots to the contrary, it does not appear that CBS has lost any advertising as a result of Letterman's joke.

[bkbzipper]

why are we spending so much time on this? it was a bad joke, most of those kind of jokes disappear into the ether... and no one talks about it, just FREE press here for both Palin and Letterman. Conan who?

[bryan-a]

this isn't even close to being the same (and believe me I'm no Leno fan, I much prefer Letterman), Without pointing out all the differences in grammar (eg Leno says pregnant, Dave says knocked-up) and syntax Dave is attacking the Palins whereas Leno is attacking Edwards. Big difference.

[StevenevetS]

"Leno says pregnant, Dave says knocked-up"

Palin says "rape".

There's your difference.

[mudkitten]

If Leno was attacking Edwards, then Letterman was attacking A-Rod.

[Ammie41]

Letterman's joke was in poor taste. So was Leno's. However, it may have been harder for Palin to speak up because she was ashamed of her 17 y/o's pregnancy. She would have brought more attention on her 17 y/o had she attacked Leno.

[chorl]

She didnt need the PR then like she does now. Clear and simple another case of her exploting her children for political gain.