Sarah Palin's Lesson on Good and Bad Bitches

Dave Letterman sat on a wall. Dave Letterman had a great fall. But will all the media's horses and the court of public opinion put him back together again today?

The drama, of course, has been playing out for a week, ever since Letterman quipped last Monday that while in New York, Sarah Palin would undoubtedly stock up on makeup for her "slutty flight attendant" look. And that her daughter had been knocked up by A-Rod on a visit to Yankee Stadium.

Letterman apologized last Wednesday to laughter and applause. "Were the jokes in bad taste?" he asked. "Of course they were."

But his classic Letterman smart-alecky semi-apology was greeted with increased media carpet bombing by the Palin party. Palin's attacks included calling Letterman "sexually-perverted," calling the Today Show's Matt Lauer "naïve" for defending Letterman in any way, accusing Letterman of inciting statutory rape, and asking people to "rise up" against him. A site called Fire David Letterman even started up, and there was an anti-Letterman protest outside the TV studio on Tuesday morning.

The saga continued on Monday night when Letterman started the show by saying even his mom called and said she was siding with the governor. Then he moved past his self-deprecating quips to do what all comedians hate to do: "explain the joke."

Letterman said he thought it was Bristol who was attending the baseball game, and he checked to make sure she was 18 before making the joke. He says he was slow to understand why people even thought he would make a crude joke about 14-year-old girl, given that he's never done anything like that in 30 years of comedy, but has come to see it's perception not intent that matters. Here's part of the transcript:

"And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer Newshour -- this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent.' It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. And I'm certainly -- " (audience applause) " -- thank you. Well, my responsibility -- I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault. That it was misunderstood." (audience applauds) "Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much." (audience applause)

Then this morning, for the big Fire David Letterman rally, um, 15 protesters and twice as many media showed up. And the protesters' behavior wasn't exactly exemplary.

Look, it's hard to defend Sarah Palin, the Heidi Montag of politics.

Palin is a class-A hypocrite. She's such a champion of teen girls' rights that she has them pay for their own rape kits back home in Alaska. And just "like a modern-day Susan B. Anthony" makes sure they're forced to carry the perpetrator's baby to term. She also helps them have as many babies as possible in their teen years by denying them of all but abstinence-only education.

She's also clearly shallow and vengeful. Dozens of comedians made jokes about her daughters over the last year. Like Jay Leno who made 15 jokes about Palin by mid-March, to Conan O'Brien's 20. Saturday Night Live and plenty of other shows ripped her daughters, to no response from the Palin crew. Sure this might have been the straw that broke the grizzly bear's back, but it seems much more like a personal vendetta against Letterman.

And speaking of whom, it's hard not to sympathize with Dave because I, and millions of others, really like and respect him. And like other feminists, I find that my adoration is hard to shake even in the face of misogyny.

But I'm part of the small pack that's defending at least some of her behavior.

Like some others, I'd be pretty upset if anyone slagged Michelle Obama or her daughters off for being sluts. Really, really upset. So as much as I'd like to throw mud at Sarah Palin's taxpayer-funded wardrobe, I'm instead going to join the outcry against sexist jokes. I agree with Palin that it's just not cool to insult her daughter. Ugly sexism is still ugly and sexist when it's directed at conservative women. The outcry would have been louder and swifter had anyone taken a swipe at Pelosi or Rachel Maddow or Obama, and that's not OK.

And as Amanda Fortini pointed out in Salon, it seems especially relevant to take a stand on this now given that Playboy last week ran (then ran away from and un-posted) something called a "Hate Fuck" story, listing the conservative women who deserve that kind of treatment.

As obnoxious as Amy Siskind's recent article about fourth-wave feminism is, she's right that we have to watch out for daughters and granddaughters as much or more than grown ups, to make sure sexism never gets a foot hold, even though I don't agree with Siskind that Palin is at the poster-woman of the new wave.

So last week when Dave apologized (the first time), I was pleased.

But what this incident shows isn't so much that women are now more likely to win in public opinion wars generally. But that they're more likely to win when they play the newly defined role of "good bitch," and lose when they step over the line into what people consider to be a bad bitch. There are plenty of examples in politics and on the screen.

Sarah Palin stood up, flexed her power, and (rightly) got her way. The last week shows that there's increasing public approval for women doing just that. Her behavior, which would undoubtedly have been termed "bitchy" in a negative way even recently -- attacking a very popular, powerful, older white man - was in fact supported by many liberals and conservatives, by men and women.

Palin's recent appearance on the media stage shows that the role of bitch has shifted. Twenty years ago, women may have stood their ground against powerful men, but they weren't winning in the court of public opinion (anyone remember when Hillary Clinton was first lady?) They were called feminazis, and that was a kind one.

But then Palin kept attacking. And it started to seem to me and many others that what she wanted wasn't an apology but empty political points. That she wanted not justice but power and attention. That she wanted not rights for women but evisceration. She had the upper hand and was using it to smack Dave down rather than help him up again like a graceful victor should.

It's right that Letterman's apology should be sincere and deep. But last night, as he gave the second apology, he was clearly humiliated, defeated. And public opinion has now started to switch back to him.

As one commenter put it, "I think Letterman initially went over the line, but when Palin insinuated that Letterman was some kind of child molester she became the monster.

Wanting power for its own sake, wanting just humiliation, are still traits of the "bad" bitch.

Ratings have spiked for Letterman. Some people are saying that though Palin would be "horrified" at the idea, this bru-ha-ha could be the equivalent of Jay Leno's Hugh Grant moment. Grant was so contrite on Leno that public opinion shifted to his side and Leno's viewership went up.

The final numbers won't be in until later this week, but there's a strong chance that Letterman could get more viewers than the Tonight Show, which hasn't happened since 2005. And given all the programming changes in late night TV right now, with fans looking for new viewing habits, Letterman could end up keeping them.

I'm not saying I agree with the lesson. But Palin versus Letterman shows that a bad bitch can win the battle but lose the war.

Comments

[o4tuna]

Vanessa,
Why should there be a "good bitch" model and a "bad bitch" model? Bitch is as bitch does. I will agree that call ing Palin "slutty" was overboard. Flirty tart is probably a more acurate description. But, the joke, moreover, the punchline, was specifically about Bristol and her behavior. And, lets not forget poor A-Rod. He was much maligned in this joke as Bristol was. Yet, I don't see anyone who is complaining about sexist jokes defending him.

The point is, that at some point in all this sparring between Palin and Letterman, you bought into something that Palin said. At some level, your reality matched the reality that Palin was suggesting. Which that Dave made an offensive joke about all women. This wasn't a "Dumb Blond" joke. This wasn't about "women drivers". It was a joke about three people, Sarah, Bristol, and A-Rod.

If you wish to stop men from telling jokes that include a woman, simply because she is a woman, then I suggest you do the honorable thing and tell women to stop "bad mouthing" men. After all, a sexist remark is a sexist remark regardless of style.

[indy girl]

"Saturday Night Live and plenty of other shows ripped her daughters, to no response from the Palin crew. Sure this might have been the straw that broke the grizzly bear's back, but it seems much more like a personal vendetta against Letterman."

Those other times were back when she was getting plenty of attention during the VP campaign. Now she's working 24/7 to keep her name in the news by whatever means possible--babbling on about an abstinence campaign by her already-a teenaged-mother-kid (yeah, right), jumping into inane controversies like Miss California's homophobia, even fighting with Alaskan bloggers, for gods sake. Next thing you know she'll make a media statement about Jon and Kate or American Idol. The woman is desperate not to lose America's attention, and it is really transparent...and pathetic.

[CharlesLewis]

I'm an Alaska resident of 40+ years. I'm a little disturbed at the idea that Ms Sarah maybe doesn't fit in as Presidential or even VP material. Judging by the field the GOP has mucking about she fits in perfectly.

[larry278]

A woman who can't be bitchy when she wants to be bitchy is as useless a man who doesn't have any balls. I don't support Gov Pailin but I support her right to be bitchy. Well behaved women never make history.

[indy girl]

B!tchy women can certainly make history, but I can't think of a single one who succeeded without above average intelligence. Think about some famous b!tchy women: Leona Helmsley...Jane Fonda....M­adonna....­Hillary Clinton....Betty Friedan.....Molly Ivins......Bella Abzug, etc. They could all definitely be B's, but they were well-educated, knew how to communicate well, and had common sense.

Palin can certainly try to make it with b!tchiness alone, but it is much more likely that she will be hearing slamming doors for years to come. The overwhelming response in this area to her garbled ideas and Pro-American, Rabid Patriotism Lite is laughter--and I'm in a red state.

[Maddhaus]

I am continually chagrined to see the term "sexist" diluted to such a degree.

Telling a joke about a female is not necessarily sexist anymore than telling a joke about a person of colour is necessarily racist.

Making a joke about Palin being unqualified because she's a woman is sexist.

Making a joke about how Palin's adult daughter Bristol was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez isn't sexist.

She (Bristol) is a public figure who has gained notoriety for being laughably presented as a spokesperson for the "merits" of abstinence-only education despite being an unwed teem mother. Regardless of one's opinions about the quality (or lack thereof) of the joke, the fact remains that as an adult public figure, she is fair game for satire.

No, Letterman's joke was not about Willow Palin, but that points to faulty research and the resulting spurious and manufactured 'outrage' on the part of Palin & Company. Letterman copped to the mistake and apologized. Anything beyond that just further illustrates how ridiculous this whole affair has become.

Characterizing his statements as sexist is just as ridiculous.

[peacethinker]

"slutty flight attendant" look ... haha ... I don't like her so much, but that thought kinda amuses me and more :)

[power1]

I didn't like the fact that Palin played the victim card since Liberals usually employ that tactic.

[VermontGirl]

"it's hard to defend Sarah Palin, the Heidi Montag of politics."

I have nothing, repeat, nothing nice to say about Palin. Her lack of intellectual curiosity, leadership ability and professionalism is a total embarrassment - it's continually in our faces - shown by her actions and, basically, every time she opens her mouth.

That said, "the Heidi Montag of politics" will be forever etched in my brain !!!!
Thanks Vanessa for the great humor.

[luckynewman13]

jebus! it was a joke...let it go

[dsmyre]

They're organizing another protest rally in Texas on Saturday.
Yes, seriously.
Fire David Letterman Texas Rally
"Apology Accepted -- But Time for Full Accountability!"

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=89166617947

They just won't let it go.

[noaxe397]

Palin's sense of entitlement and agrievement since the day she was introduced to the nation has been on display for all to see. Unfortunately, many Repcons believe they are entitled (want government to do a lot of things while simultaneously bashing government and bitching about paying taxes,) and agrieved (complaining about little things Obama does, like use a teleprompter.)

So, Palin fits right in with the mainstream (not the extreme) of her party.

I see Palin's complaints about what Letterman said consistent with 40 years of Repcon bashing of the media, ever since Agnew described them as nattering nabobs of negativism. Big leaguers go after media on more substantial issues ( Rove took out Dan Rather over the Bush NG story,) there is a DEEP resentment of the media by Repcons on cultural issues, and this is where Palin can and will score big time.

She is learning how to calibrate, when to pile on for the benefit of the base (like mentioning the troops , which had nothing to do with the Letterman thing,) and how to ratchet up that sense of entitlement (she's owed the apology,) and agrievement (the hyperbole about statutory rape of daughter.)

If she gets this media manipulation down, and that should be easy for a woman in proportion to her physical attractiveness ( much of media is visual and people like to look at pretty things,) she could ride it and cultural resentment of Hollywood liberals, into WH in 2012.

[dsmyre]

Dream on. Palin will be lucky to keep the job she already has.

[spiritpony1]

whole thing----MUCH ado about zilch (tho I think his comments were tacky) ----I detest Palin, by the way. Having said this, I am somewhat shocked that the stewardess's union didn't call him to task on the "slutty stewardess" comment-----which was misogynistic and sexist-----(and, yes, I also like Letterman)------

[thebirdstheword]

pretty sure they're called flight attendants these days. watch it, or you may be called to task as well.

[mychagal]

I am sorry. I can't agree with anything Palin does or says. Letterman should never have apologized, but he was forced to, or he could have risked losing his job. Fair enough. I think he did a spectacular job.

All this vengeance and hate Palin keeps putting out, is going to turn back onto her and I can't wait to see it when it happens.

[fedupinfla]

I don't know why some think it was an "offensive comment" to women in general. I think a lot of people don't realize that most women DIDN"T find it offensive. Tasteless & unfunny maybe but NOT offensive. You forget, we hear this stuff everyday. Sexist jokes are nothing new to us. I've told plenty of male impotence jokes too. Big deal. To say something is OFFENSIVE means that the moment you hear it, you recoil in disgust and it hits you in your moral soul. Now I'm sorry, but if THIS joke did THAT to you, I hope you never come in my my bar because I'm not picking you off the floor!!!

[2008CaliforniaFan]

" Governor Grifter " is back at it again. Can someone Pleeeeease call the IRS..?

She would rather NOT disclose what she has received in ' gifts ' (Shocking... huh..)

Good story. Read it.
http://www.themudflats.net/2009/06/18/palin-wont-release-amount-of-gifts-because-its-a-secret-shhhhh/

[Chitownfool]

Oh yea one more thing...Jimmy Falon sucks!