Letterman let off

Sarah Palin, political flash-in-the-pan, moose-murderer and inspiration to countless Hallowe'en drag costumes, has finally come down from her ivory tower (no doubt hand-carved from actual tusks) to forgive David Letterman.

In case you haven't been following this gripping drama, Letterman mentioned the fact that Palin was in town and went to a Yankees game. He joked that their enjoyment of the game was marred when Palin Jr was "knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

Given that Letterman never mentioned the daughter by name, it's clear that he was referencing Bristol Palin, whose illegitimate pregnancy caused headaches for the McCain/Palin team last November. Especially since they were advocating teenage abstinence.

Unfortunately, Sarah was actually with middle daughter Willow, aged 14. And that's when the schtick hit the fan. Palin accused Letterman of making jokes about her under-age daughter, and the right-wing commentators were quick to jump into the fray shouting 'statutory rape' (carefully dropping the word 'statutory' along the way for extra emphasis).

Ignoring the fact that Letterman's humour was quite clearly targeting the hypocrisy of 'do as I say, not as I do' moralists, the gap-toothed talk-show host was suddenly a dirty old man accused of making sexually perverted jokes about a 14-year old girl. He even tried to apologise and invited the Palins onto the show, but this was promptly rejected.

Fanning the flames of righteous indignation with further inflammatory rhetoric, Palin suggested "It would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman." When asked whether it was appropriate to insinuate that he was a danger to young girls, Caribou Barbie simply said "Take it however you want to take it. It's a comment that came from the heart." Understandable, given that she's not used to speaking from the brain.

After a week of milking the victimhood for all it's worth, Palin has finally accepted Letterman's sincere apology, with a strangely worded statement: "Of course it's accepted on behalf of young women, like my daughters, who hope men who 'joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve." Aside from being unsure as to what a 'public display of sexual exploitation' is, I'm partularly surprised that Palin puts her faith in a scientific process that she doesn't actually believe in.

So, is Sarah Palin a mealy-mouthed opportunist who'll use any means necessary to score political points, irrespective of matters like consistency or integrity? You Betcha!