Comments on: Top Ten Highlights of Sarah Palin’s Trip to New York

By: Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin’s “Outrage” is Misplaced and A Little Late… - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:29:16 +0000

[...] and certainly nothing to do with jokes about Palin’s children. The right wing blogs were attacking Letterman over a Sarah Palin joke after Monday’s show before they realized they could attract more [...]

By: Sarah Palin Continues To Drag Daughter Through Mud For Political Gain - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 03:01:41 +0000

[...] controversy over the poor taste of a few of David Letterman’s recent jokes continues to receive attention in the media and blogosphere, but the actual jokes have become [...]

By: Sarah Palin Jokes About Willow While Rejecting Letterman Offer - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:58:25 +0000

[...] Palin has responded to David Letterman’s response to the uproar over his jokes about Sarah and Bristol Palin on Monday night’s show. Despite the smears being spread about him by right wing bloggers, [...]

By: David Letterman Responds To Right Wing Smears - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 03:23:12 +0000

[...] On Monday’s show David Letterman made jokes about Sarah Palin and made jokes about her pregnant daughter. The joke was clearly about Bristol Palin–the daughter who had been pregant and had recently been in New York publically discussing the topic. Right wingers have been spreading outright lies about what Letterman said, claiming the joke was both about rape and about Willow Palin when there is no basis for either claim. More on the topic here. [...]

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:13:51 +0000

I should also add to the first paragraph that there are also still some conservatives around who are strong supporters of civil liberties. They also tend to be the same ones who are uncomfortable with the anti-intellectualism of the Sarah Palin/Joe the Plumber wing of the GOP.

I sort of like the classification used by Richard Posner in the interview with The Economist which I had a post on. He distinguishes between his brand of conservatism and “idiot conservatism.”

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:11:02 +0000

The problem with the right’s attacks based upon political correctness is that it is an issue where a minority back political correctness while many more liberals are more concerned with freedom of speech. It comes down to the problem of attributing a view to all liberals (or to all conservatives) when there is such a vast range of people who might fall under one label.

Coulter’s claims of a lack of humor might have been made against feminists at some time, but she has also made the charge against all liberals when liberals have complained about things she has said. I don’t know if anything specific was intended by the commenter above, but some of the blogs have been using the example of Coulter calling John Edwards a faggot, and then saying liberals had no sense of humor when they objected.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 22:03:50 +0000

I don’t find the political correctness claims be be “nonsense”. But certainly conservatives are as quick to censor as liberals.

And it’s feminists who don’t have a sense of humor, not liberals.

By: White Supremacist Kills Guard At U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum - Liberal Values - Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:17:13 +0000

[...] retrospect, nutty right wingers who express their frustration by spreading lies about what David Letterman said on his show are far preferable to this more violent [...]

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:58:05 +0000

It is also curious that the right wingers come up with a lot of charges claiming liberals oppose freedom of speech with nonsense claims about political correctness but they are always the ones who get so upset about what someone says. When Ann Coulter says something far worse than anything David Letterman said she laughs it off as a joke and claims that liberals have no sense of humor.

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:38:10 +0000

No, there is nothing to their story. I haven’t seen anything which says for certain who actually was at the game, and it is sure doubtful that there was anything on this before the joke was written. If Willow was there we don’t know if Letterman knew it, and he was clearly joking about Bristol. As I said before, who was really at the game with Sarah Palin is irrelevant. It is simply a formula for a joke this week to joke about someone who was at the game with her, as he did Tuesday with Rudy Giuliani, who may or may not have been there. Letterman’s jokes typically contain some degree of both fact and fiction when talking about current events.

Strange that the conservative bloggers who say Monday’s joke couldn’t be about Bristol (as if a joke about a pregnant daughter of Sarah Palin would be about anyone else) because Bristol wasn’t there aren’t bothered by Tuesday’s joke about Giuliani, who wasn’t there.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:32:54 +0000

All talk about Willow makes zero sense. We don’t even know if Willow was at the game. The news report cited by the wingnuts only say that Willow was with Sarah Palin at another event on this trip.

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:15:16 +0000

She is definitely a “candidate” at this early stage and is looking towards a run in 2012. Whether she turns into a serious candidate remains to be seen. She both has a real base of support and a lot of serious negatives.

If Obama is still popular in 2012 and looks unbeatable, I also wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of other Republicans sit back and allow her to be a sacrificial lamb.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:49:28 +0000

Palin is definitely a good target for cheap jokes. I wonder to what extent she is being primed (and by whom) to be a serious contender for the 2012 GOP nomination.

By: Ron Chusid

Ron Chusid — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:51:34 +0000

Brent,

Yes, we have seen such attacks based upon similar distortions so many times in the past.

It is a common practice in blogs for trolls to claim to be a liberal to promote right wing talking points as well as to make liberal arguments look weaker by presenting them from a warped right wing perspective.

To be fair I’ve heard complaints from conservative bloggers of being subjected to the same from liberals, and I don’t doubt they are right. Basically there are lots of nuts on the internet from both left and right. That’s why blogs have a moderation function so we don’t have to waste our time on their nonsense and can concentrate more on serious discussion. I am certainly not going to waste time with arguments which come down to claims someone said something different from what they actually said (other than perhaps an initial response to clarify the facts) or waste time with people who try to argue with me by saying I’m saying something different from what I have posted here.

By: Brent

Brent — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:46:10 +0000

This is a transparent attempt to deflect criticism from Palin’s ridiculous statements on government policy by turning this into an attack on Letterman. Nobody supports joking about a 14 year old kid and rape or prostitution. By raising such outlandish charges they give the illusion of being on the side of reason.

Such twisting of others words is a common tactic from wingnuts. This reminds me a lot of how they twisted a joke by Kerry before the 2008 primaries.

Teddy_J is clearly a troll claiming to be a liberal while repeating right wing smears, thinking that he fools people by calling himself a liberal while giving the smears more credibility.