When a joke isn’t just a joke

David Letterman's apology to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters last night was the inevitable consequence of the flap that has ensued since he first told a joke last week. So much heat and noise had been expended and it threatened to distract what Letterman, a television icon in a way that Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel or Craig Ferguson could never be, had or would accomplish going forward. Already, there were comparisons to radio host Don Imus, and there's supposedly a protest planned today in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Letterman tapes his show each day.

But should Letterman have apologized?

I've always believed that a person should always only say what they mean and feel, so as to attach the maximum value to their words. As I watched Letterman's apology last night, which followed a rather ham-handed attempt at an explanation last week, I thought I was watching a guy who truly meant what he said, but was also confused by how much of an issue this has become.

I'm not. In the current polarized political climate, where vultures on both sides of the aisle hover over the landscape waiting to pounce on whatever dead meat might be left in the desert, Letterman, who made sport of Palin during the campaign and since, was bound to be prey if/once he made a misstep. We've reached the point now when activist groups of all sides just move from topic to topic, subject to subject, hoping to pick up publicity and money off the backs from someone who has said or done something stupid.

To wit, you have the ridiculous specter of the National Organization for Women placing Letterman in its Hall of Shame for his initial joke as well as joking reference to Palin having a "slutty flight attendant look." That's right; NOW took the side of an avowed anti-choice political figure over a comic. I'll wait for a moment while you chew that one over.

As I said last week, the joke probably shouldn't have been told, but I am still waiting for Palin and NOW and all the other conservative commentators and the tea-baggers to heap the same scorn on Leno and O'Brien for telling essentially the same joke Letterman did during the presidential campaign. In fact, O'Brien, whom I actually like, is guilty of far worse, using the standard being applied to Letterman, for telling this joke:
"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."

The daughter O'Brien was referring to was an eight-year-old, who accompanied the governor to a Philadelphia Flyers game. The silent outrage for O'Brien is deafening.

One last thing: I have an apology to make. I apologize to myself for having a Hilton Honors frequent traveler's card. Embassy Suites, my favorite hotel chain and a part of the Hilton corporate family, announced Monday that they would pull advertising on CBS' website as a response to the calls they were getting over the Letterman flap. I didn't call them then, but I will call them today to tell them that I will be moving my points and my corporate loyalty to another brand, though I will miss that free Embassy Suites breakfast.