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Women Who Enable
Zipping around reading here and there as I do every morning I ran across this from a creature named Tina Brown over at a cesspool called the Daily Beast. She had posted a piece telling Sarah Palin to shut up.
I never thought much about Tina Brown although I've read a few things here and there from her and saw her a time or two on television. Never thought much because I don't think she is much. Her piece of crap acticle telling Sarah Palin to STFU took me from not thinking much about her to loathing her as I would some vile sluggish thing that crawled out form under a rock.
This morning she's put me into such a rage that I can hardly type. And the women, not the men, the women that commented on her article are the most disgusting pieces of trash I have ever read.
Evidently women must STFU when some foul-mouthed old man makes sexual remarks about their teenage daughters. Hey, he apologized, move on and STFU. Except he didn't really apologize. Liar, liar, Tina. But then the enabling kind usually is.
Just look at Hillary says the cretinous Brown, she's working for the man that trashed her and her husband. Now there's an example we can all applaud. That's class ladies and gentlemen.
I'm sorry, no I damn well am NOT sorry, but I don't see it that way. Hillary Clinton is a politician which means she has to have the hide of an elephant just to get through a day. She's had a lot more practice at that then Governor Palin has had. But she protested the remarks of David Shuster about her child too if I remember correctly. Shame on her. Women are supposed to just STFU when dirty old men talk about their daughters sexually. It's the classy thing to do.
Not to me it isn't. And Tina Brown wouldn't know class if it hit her on top of her empty head. She's part of the problem. She and all her ilk are the enablers that make it impossible for women to ever stop the kinds of disgusting talk that comes from the likes of Letterman and his mirror image Keith Olbermann. (Well, okay, Lettermann has much better ratings than Olbermann so he's not an absolute mirror image. But then so does Greta Van Susteren and she's just another woman who has the audacity to protest Letterman's action.
Didn't you get the new feminist manifesto Greta? STFU. After all it's just a joke about someone having sex with the elder of Governor Palin's two teenage daughters. The 18 year old not the 14 year old so that's just dandy. And so what if he called the Governor of Alaska a slut. Many commenters seemed to believe that she is a slut. And a dumb one at that. Why? Because she's a damn Conservative Republican, that's why!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-s....h-palin/?cid=bs:archive4
STFU Governor Palin. Take it like a real woman. That means they get to insult you, insult and demean your family and talk about someone having sex with your children.
STFU ladies. Just lay back and enjoy it. Tina Brown is telling you to do just that.
- kenoshaMarge's blog
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Love a great rant, kenoshaMarge! And it's really just too true.
Fabulous rant Marge! You always call 'em like you see 'em. Letterman is an angry old schmuck, and his brand of humor is disgusting. I would love for him to have to face Sarah Palin and her daughters and have to grovel at their feet, but it won't ever happen. Heck, I remember that horrid comment that Shuster made about the Clintons "pimping" out Chelsea. He was taken off the air for what, a few weeks, and then he was right back on MSNBO like nothing ever happend.
Righteous rant, Marge!
I see no parallel in Hillary deciding to go to work in Obama's administration with the Letterman/Palin situation. Hillary did not go to work for Schuster, just as Palin is not considering a job at Letterman's show. And I am really tired of this piling on Palin because she chose to respond to Letterman's digusting remarks. She is free to do that however she sees fit. And the acusations that she is using this for political gain? WTF? Did she ask Letterman to make the comments? Is she free to use this as an opportunity to discuss the wider effects of sexism and sexist language in society? You-fuckin-betcha!
Please. I love your rants Marge.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
that they come at their own time, at their own place and pace and I never know when something is gonna set me off.
Why Tina Brown did I don't know. I've read enough bullexcrement from women over this issue to fertilize most of the midwest. Just today and just that post set me off like a roman candle.
Glad to know I still had it in me because I have been so down with all the crap lately I was about to just hang up my keyboard.
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
I'm a from the heart type of writer and I think you are too. I can't just pick a topic and write, I have to feel it in my gut.
In those times when nothing is begging to jump out of my fingers, I launch an open thread so others can fill the void.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
This is one reason I go so long between blogs; something must catch my fancy in order to really set me off, and then I write about it (as with the GM/Chrysler thing I just wrote a few days ago).
Kenosha Marge, I'm very glad you said this before I could get to it, because this really angered me and although I know many people have come out against it, I was looking for some particularly good invective -- some way to vent my spleen that wouldn't be like everyone else.
Now, I don't have to do so because you've already done it for me.
Seriously, it is absolutely wrong to go after Willow Palin. I don't like the nonsense about Sarah Palin, either, and think it's disgraceful and insulting, but at least she's an adult and a public figure -- thus, in most people's minds, she's fair game. But in what person's mind is a fourteen-year-old fair game for anyone? (And how can I collectively wash their minds out with lye-based soap, if so?)
Letterman should apologize much more deeply, graciously and personally. Otherwise, get the Hell off the TV. Now.
There's no excuse for this, DNC. You screwed the pooch; time to pay the piper.
...just closes her eyes and "thinks of England."
"Right wing sledge hammers never, ever help us." Pacific John
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
I had to look it up. It was worth the effort.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie_back_and_think_of_England
GONE FISHING
is that they can't seem to understand that it isn't about the "who", it's about the "what". If you only are outraged about outrages against people you like then you have no real outrage about the issue just about someone picking on your pal, candidate, spouse, sister, friend, whatever.
I don't care which woman is being treated the way that Letterman and Olbermann treats women. I don't care if she's right-wing, left-wing or hasn't a wing to her name. I don't care if it's Hillary child or Sarah's child or your child. No damn 62 year old "comic" has the right to suggest anything sexual about these young girls. 14? 18? 48? What the hell difference does it make?
It is all about the what and not about the who. And until these {{{shudder}}} women realize that they are just enablers for the egregious acts and the attitude towards women and girls that exist in our sick culture.
I don't give men a pass either. I just find it inexcusable in a woman because then she is enabling against her own gender. Her daughters, sisters, mother, and all her BFFs.
Grr, I'm getting myself all wound up again. I have 7 granddaughters. And if any, any, man ever talked about any of them, and that includes the Obot whom I have banned from my house, well, he better be wearing a stainless steel cup or be prepared to sing soprano. (Yes I can still kick crotch high.)
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
I mean I live with an Obot and I can't kick her out of the house. Of course the deed is 50% in her name.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
I mean I live with an Obot and I can't kick her out of the house. Of course the deed is 50% in her name.
My granddaughter called me a racist and I warned her not to do it again. A week or so later, she did it again. Then I warned her that the third time she would be out on strikes. Since I have been her port in a storm when her family cannot abide her drama anymore I guess she thought I would not follow through. She is obviously not as smart as she thought she was.
In our family you might as well call someone a pedophile as call them a racist. My two BFF and I are called the 3 Amigas by our 3 families and we are Barb, a Latina, Dee, an AA and me A fair skinned mutt. (Irish, Danish and French Canadian). Barb and Dee and their families have been around my house, and me around theirs, for well over 25 years.
For someone to call me a racist suggests that I somehow believe that I am better than Barb and Dee. That is unforgiveable. Granddaughter knew that. She crossed the line.
I will not forgive and I will not forgive. Perhaps because my Lovely Latina Barb, my pal of over 1/4 century is dying of cancer. I will not forgive. I will not forget.
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
I'll remember to not pee you off.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
I would might be dumb enough to forgive. In which case she will once again feel free to run her mouth and call names whenever she feels like it. Lessons need to be learned. You cannot just call people names. Granted I throw the terms "dimwit" and "nincompoop" around a lot. But are they hurtful or really harmful?
Calling me a racist hurt me deeply. It is something we take very seriously in our family so she knew what she was doing.
I am the kind of person that feels things deeply. I am a very good friend. I don't want to be anyone's enemy. When I have nothing in common with people or when I feel about them as I do about people like Letterman, Olberman, Margaret Carlson and Tina Brown I usually just ignore them. They don't exist to me.
The running their mouths, like the running of the bulls in Pamplona is something I usually just ignore. But when they choose to combine "humor" and "sexual innuendo" with teenage girls I stopped ignoring and start ranting. And when women make excuses for them because of who the woman or which woman's children it is I also stop ignoring.
Having lost my only daughter when she was 16 in an automobile accident and being blessed with 7 granddaughters and 2 great-granddaughters I am just a tad sensitive about dirty old men making sexual remarks about young girls/children. What's next for Letterman, flashing children in a school yard and it being thought all right so long as it happens in a "red" state. It wouldn't surprise me.
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
Oh Marge, I'm so sorry that you lost your daughter when she was so young. She never had a chance to be the person she was meant to be. My grandparents lost my uncle Warren when he was nine in a drowning accident. I know from watching them all my life, that the grief and pain from the loss of a child never fades and is always just below the surface all the time.
There's something about the death of someone before they have had a chance to run their race that seems to make it impossible to completely accept. Years go by and you're still not at peace with it. You never get past the unfairness and you never totally let go.
Marge, my heart goes out to you. And my hat is off to you for holding firm on the "racist" nonsense from your granddaughter.
GONE FISHING
My daughter was the joy of both her father's and my life. Her two older brothers doted on her too.
I have never made my peace with her death. She was so vital, vibrant, and just so much better than either of us were. I remember seeing Helen Hayes interviewed many years ago and she had a painting of her daughter who had been deceased for many years hanging in the room. She said something about it being a pain that never went away. I didn't know then that I would someday look at a photograph of my daughter, also gone nearly 30 years and think the same thing.
When my daughter was 13 a neighbor boy , he was 23, made advances to her and she was very upset. I asked if he'd touched her and she said yes bowing her head in shame. I let her know that "she" had nothing to feel ashamed about.
I marched down the road to his house and picked up a brick that was edging a flower bed and threw it through the windshield of his beloved Camaro.
I yelled in front of an open window that if he ever came anywhere near my daughter again the brick would go through the side of his head. Later that evening when my husband got home from work he was ready to go after the young man and my oldest son told him that Darryl had left home and was staying with his grandmother in town. "Ma scared the bejeebers out of him", my son said proudly.
Perhaps I have mellowed enough that I wouldn't throw that brick these days. But anyone messing with my granddaughters just might find out. One of the things I respect about Sarah Palin is that she stood up for her girls. What would they think if she didn't?
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
I've had a philosophy in how to treat Obots.
Forgive them for they know not what they do.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
Still, I agree with the suggestion made that the 'joke' was not about rape. It was the very thought of a old man like Letterman making a joke about the sexual conduct of a very young girl (14 or 18 makes NO difference). He was making a joke putting the image of a young girl into the minds of his audience. Whether the young girl was a willing participant because he wanted his audience to assume she was a slut like her mom, or was an unwilling participant because she was too dumb to know what A-Rod was doing to her is not the point. It was disgusting. Letterman is old enough to have granddaughters the age of Palin's daughters. It is disgusting to think of him thinking of girls that age as sexual beings at all.
Come to think of it, that same 'joke' would not have been any less tasteless or disgusting if a young comic or a woman comic had said it. It was not a "joke." It was a mean, political comment. It was a tasteless, unfunny 'joke' that had it's roots in misogyny and political hatred.
I understand jokes about politicians have been meat and potatoes for the late night, lame-ass old men for a long time, but I have a hard time picturing a 'joke' like that coming out of Johhny Carson's mouth.
Totally dumb, tasteless and enabling of those who prey on young girls.
But
I think their real purpose was the joke on A-Roid and the Palin daughter was an available "straight man" for the joke. Letterman and the producers should have realized how the joke would be heard and never let it out.
Then again. Dave is loving the PR during Conan's first week and the whole disgusting thing may have been planned.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
And I agree with Marge ... it doesn't matter what age the woman, it was an offensive remark - period!
This crap promotes violence against women, it is wrong, offensive, shoddy, sordid and absolutely disgusting.
I'm tired of all these idiots getting a pass; it started with those idiots who were from the Obama campaign (stealth idiots?) with their "iron my shirt!" nonsense, and then went on with Jon "the Groper" Favreau, who leered at and groped at HRC's breast on a cardboard cutout. (Jon "the Groper" Favreau still chaps my hide; that guy, where'd he learn his manners, anyway? The back of the bus?)
I have words for these a-holes:
Not acceptable.
Not tolerated.
Not on my watch.
There's no excuse for this, DNC. You screwed the pooch; time to pay the piper.
I do heart it when you get going. I agree with everything you wrote. Please don't ever change.
I strongly agree with Marge consistently! Can't think of a time when I haven't.
I was hoping a PUMA would cover this! You and PUMAPac covered it.
Tina Brown said Palin should act cheerful instead of speaking up against sexism.
The left is dead.
Welcome back by the way.
I think the true left dissapeared sometime in the 90's. What we get now are psuedo lefties who want their natural foods served alongside their $3 Latte.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
It does Sarah Palin no good to engage in a week-long spat with a late night talk show host. Future world leaders don't engage in media wars with David Letterman, of all people. All this scuffle has done is reinfoced her image as more of a celebrity than a serious politician. The Palins should have issued a simple, to-the-point statement in response to Letterman's odious remarks, and moved on. This ongoing battle does her no good.
at least that is the story according to Reuters' reporters Christine Kearney and Alex Dobuzinskis in their article "David Palin Apologizes for Flawed Palin Joke":
David Letterman apologized on Monday for making a sexually charged joke about one of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughters, as a group of Palin supporters planned a rally demanding the late-night TV show host be fired. "I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception" of the joke by viewers, he said during Monday's taping of "Late Night with David Letterman," according to a transcript given to Reuters. "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," he said. "It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault."
"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," he said.
(http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE55F0E320090616)
must have worried Letterman and CBS. As an apology it's pretty sad, he was misunderstood don't you know. What crap!
He isn't really sorry and he won't do better. He'll just be more careful. No man of integrity or character would have said what he said in the first place. No decent man would have make sexual comments about teenage girls to get a cheap laugh. Even most comedians have more character than that.
He thought that enough of his audience hated Sarah Palin for the crime of being a Governor and daring to run for VP that he could make sexual remarks about her children and call her a slut and the dimwitted amongst us would find it funny. Obviously the dimwits in his audience that laughed did.
He and his writers underestimated the rage of women and good men in this country about the constant attacks on women and female children.
Decent people know that it isn't about who it was about what. And they are outraged. Others find excuses. And that tells us all we need to know about who and what they are. At least it tells me.
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb has called on CBS to fire Letterman. And before you tar and feather Kolb with your usual scathing epithet "right wing neocon" I'll save you the effort and point out that he's a Republican.
Layla, you're coming dangerously close to blaming the victim (again). Letterman's joke was repulsive and his convoluted "apology" is no apology at all.
A true apology goes like this: "I was wrong. I'm sorry. I'll try not to do that again."
Note there is no "but" anywhere in there. No equivocating. No explaining. No qualifying. No hedging, quibbling, pussyfooting or waffling. No shucking and jiving. It's a simple "I'm sorry."
Apology, my aunt's grandmother.
As for politicians acting like celebrities, I wouldn't know where to start on that one.
GONE FISHING
Like we'd ever elect a rock star president.
Civil Discourse - ERA - A Mother President - Women's Rights - Primary Reform
At what point did I claim that Letterman should not be criticized for his disgusting "jokes"? Oh, right ,NEVER.
Sarah Palin has to be bigger than David Letterman. That's simply a fact of political viability and survival. Politicians take unfair heat, criticism, slander all the time. Every day. How they deal with it is what counts. Do you see Obama getting into verbal fisticuffs with the insane birther movement every day?
Sarah Palin has to be bigger than David Letterman, not stoop to his level. Her willingness to drag this out for a week highlights her poor instincts. She seems to think there's no such thing as bad media. She's probably getting bad advice from John Coale. It wouldn't be the first time.
I'll tell that one to PUMA-anointed "rock star" Bill Clinton.
Well then, I'm confused. You characterize Letterman's jokes as "disgusting" but don't believe the target of them has the right to protest loudly? I'm sorry, but I fail to see the logic there.
You know something, Layla? I have a feeling Palin cares less about her "political viability and survival" than she does about her family. That's why she's raising hell. We saw it with her sister's abusive husband. Palin was not afraid to risk her office to defend her sister.
Given your demonstrated antipathy toward Palin, I'd be disinclined to trust your advice for her continued success.
One of the things about Palin that makes her so appealing (besides having an actual political record) is that she is not afraid to speak out against offensive behavior, unlike some politicians. Silence can do more damage than speaking up.
I can see why you'd like her to shut up, though. The last approval rating I saw for Palin was neck-and-neck with the president's.
GONE FISHING
No, again, you are mischaracterizing. I never said she did not have "the right" to "protest loudly". By all means, she has the right. Who says she doesn't have the right? What I said was that it was not helpful to her image to get baited into an ongoing one-on-one with a late night comedian/talk show host. She should be debating policies, not David Letterman. It adds to her well-entrenched image as more of a celebrity than a serious politician.
That may be the case, but in addition to "risking her office", she also willfully abused it in pursuit of punishing her onetime brother-in-law.
That's your prerogative. But I don't think it's crazy for me to suggest that Sarah Palin be spoken of more on the Sunday morning shows, and spoken of less on the daily late night shows. I think she would find a lot more support for her future candidacy.
I haven't seen the poll you're referencing. But here is the latest poll of who folks believe leads the Republican Party. Sarah Palin doesn't even register.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-09-poll-parties_N.htm
voicing my concern about Letterman's "jokes". Here it is. Oh and I did change the name to kenoshamarge.
A Dishonest/Biased Media Is A Crime Against Democracy!
letters/ emails when I get ticked.
Some people are bringing up Harry Truman and his response to a music critic in their discussions of this issue. I think it's appropriate, because Truman loved, protected, and defended his family. In December of 1950, the critic Paul Hume wrote a review about Harry Truman's daughter, Margaret, and her singing in a performance at Constitutiion Hall.
In his review of her, Hume wrote:
"Miss Truman is a unique American phenomenon with a pleasant voice of little size and fair quality … (she) cannot sing very well … is flat a good deal of the time—more last night than at any time we have heard her in past years … has not improved in the years we have heard her … (and) still cannot sing with anything approaching professional finish."
Harry Truman responded with a note from the WH, which I have copied from the Truman Library site and pasting here:
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Dec. 6, 1950
Mr. Hume:
I've just read your lousy review of Margaret's concert. I've come to the conclusion that you are an "eight ulcer man on four ulcer pay."
It seems to me that you are a frustrated old man who wishes he could have been successful. When you write such poppy-cock as was in the back section of the paper you work for it shows conclusively that you're off the beam and at least four of your ulcers are at work.
Some day I hope to meet you. When that happens you'll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below!
Pegler, a gutter snipe, is a gentleman alongside you. I hope you'll accept that statement as a worse insult than a reflection on your ancestry.
H.S.T.
(The site says that Bill Clinton had a copy of this letter framed and on the wall in the Oval Office.)
Way to get an answer!
I'm very glad the Olive Garden wrote you a letter back regarding this issue; it shows they are aware and that many people have complained.
Once again, way to go!
There's no excuse for this, DNC. You screwed the pooch; time to pay the piper.