David Letterman's Shame

This story pains me because 30 years or so ago David Letterman was a fresh young comedian who I and other guys my age gravitated toward. He was edgy, off-beat, and most importantly, funny.

He was not a Carson-clone by any stretch but he was like Carson in one vital respect: He was A-Political. He made fun of conservatives and liberals alike and his overall demeanor and commentary gave no (or at least very little) clue to his personal ideological leanings.

When Johnny Carson left the Tonight Show in 1992 I was a firm Letterman supporter who thought he should have been the next host. Jay Leno was and is a comedian who has limited interview ability. For all of his hilarity Johnny Carson could be an incisive interviewer and Letterman owns some of those same skills.

As the years ran into decades Letterman, bitter at having lost out to Leno, seemed to become increasingly angry in his attempts at humor until what had been funny in a smart-mouth nephew sort of way started feeling mean and hostile like a cranky uncle who you suspect might occasionally smack your aunt around.

Throughout the presidency of George W. Bush, Letterman steadily moved left-ward in his commentary until finally turning his show into a late night hate fest of all things Republican. Now he has gone totally berserk by making sick jokes at the expense of a 14 year-old girl.

Ask yourself a simple question: Would Letterman have made that joke about the young daughter of any person in the world other than Sarah Palin?

This is a sick little episode that demonstrates how far the political left in this country has degraded our public discourse. People of good intention can either speak out and condemn these perverted antics or stand silent and watch as our society moves farther along the way to anything goes chaos.

Very interesting post today from DJ Drummond at Stolen Thunder.

DJ is providing some much needed perspective on the various polls this year.

I remain unconvinced that the polls showing Obama up by 3 to 8 points are valid. Pollsters this year seem to have all gone off the tracks to one extent or another. I suspect that they all believe that Obama should be ahead and thus they are to an extent cooking the polls to bring that about.

There are two distinct groups of polls. First there are the media polls done by the networks and major newspapers. These are almost always suspect and I ignore them as useless.

Then there are the other polls done by Rasmussen, Gallup, IBD, Zogby, Battleground, etc, which are from a technical standpoint highly accurate. The problem comes in the various weighting standards that are being used. When Gallup releases not one, not two, but THREE different polling models with large differences in the results, then how sure can anyone be that any of the polling is accurate?

Barack Obama is clearly the most radical major party nominee ever. Sarah Palin is drawing huge crowds, and John McCain keeps fighting. This race is not over yet.