The “FIRE DAVID LETTERMAN” campaign is making for some very strange bedfellows, indeed, what with the post yesterday by Rick Moran over at Rightwing Nuthouse praising my determination to GET DAVID LETTERMAN FIRED NOW!!!
I have to take my 93-year-old father to the doctor — relax, just to get some moles that are bugging him removed — so I have to make this quick. I made a comment at Rick’s and wondered what his peeps had to say about it. Turns out one of them — probably more — can’t figure out what Letterman did that was bullying.
Oh. My. God!
Here’s what I wrote:
Rick,
Thanks for blogrolling me! I cheered when I saw it! Re pissing me off tomorrow — right back atcha, my dear, right back atcha! XOXOXO!
#35: Ridicule on its face is a type of bullying. I’m shocked I have to explain to anyone that what Letterman did is bullying. ALL of it was bullying, except for the hostage-taking explained below.
Michelle Malkin’s piece on Letterman (search her site, linked on mine) included Letterman’s long rant developing the “slutty flight attendant” theme — THAT was bullying. And you know, I just realized, another thing that makes what Letterman did bullying is that Gov. Palin — and all of his other targets, this isn’t a victim rant — are powerless to stop him and do not have the access he has to create a mob and sic them on everyone he hates. So — now that I think about it — Letterman’s behavior is bullying, mobbing (Google it, it’s a word) AND hostage-taking. You read it here, first, folks (and I’ve put so much time into this I’m copying it to post on my blog).
Going after someone’s children flies past bullying into hostage taking, as I point out at my blog. It is notice to anyone courageous enough to take the battering that goes with public life that it will extend to their family members, too. For most people, the thought of exposing their children to attacks is horrifying. And that is the intent of the people like Letterman who do this: to destroy their enemies and drive them out of the political marketplace. It is an extremely effective technique. I got run out of the lesbian community in the 1990’s, as I mention in a recent post, because Margaret was assaulted at a conference when I was 15 or 20 feet away from her and couldn’t move fast enough to intervene. The reporter from a Baltimore gay newspaper thought nothing of the assault and did not — actually, refused — to report it. Margaret, my late life partner, was quadriplegic due to multiple sclerosis. So there isn’t anyone these loons are above attacking.
We must fight back. We must stop the bullying. We must start with Letterman. We must win. Instructions are posted on my blog.
Cynthia
As a conservative I am sure we differ on many subjects, but in this one, you are right. we need to take back the culture by setting boundaries and this is a way to do that. Late night comedy has been ridiculing conservatives unmercifully. When we recognize the truth behind the joke we also laugh at the joke. But there was nothing funning about the sexist humor here and Bill Maher picked up the meme.
Just to advise you that I saw tha Olive Gardern fropped ads on Lettermen so you are having a great sucess. I am glad I found you and hope that we can share other battles. I have been a conservative since a kid and recognized the incipient fascist overtones of liberalism. Since then my views have been validated.
I made many calls to the sponsors per the info at Hillbuzz. Congratulations Cynthia!
Friends like you are worth much more than sycophantic “conservatives” like Frum and Conor Friesderdorf.
Sorry about the typos, I am typing in the dark. I am glad to hear that your father is still there for you. I put you on my favorites today.
Double standard alert: the press will harp on how much the McCain campaign allegedly spent for Gov. Palin’s clothes during the Presidential campaign. But the press is unconcerned about the $800,000 in federal funds pocketed by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson (Sacramento).
Did any of that money go for settlement payments to victims of his “[s]exual assault and harassment allegations”? See here:
Mayor Kevin Johnson’s “[s]exual assault and harassment allegations”
And here:
Report to Congress citing Mayor Kevin Johnson’s “[s]exual assault and harassment allegations”
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is a Democrat – who was a “distinguished speaker” at the California Democratic Convention held in Sacramento in April 2009.
Wooohooo! Olive Garden has pulled their ads! That’s sponsor #3!
Keep it up gang! It seems to me the best sponsors to go after first are those that are food/food product oriented. I think they would be more likely to yank their ads as women and mother’s are the main food shoppers. They were the group that were targeted and offended, disgusted and repulsed the most.
No doubt other sponsors will react but when the overwhelming majority of your customers are women and they are the ones controlling the food pusre strings-they are the ones you want to keep happy. There are not alot of food buying fish in the sea that are not women and mothers. Wouldn’t they be the most likely to give in to a boycott quickly? I think they would
High Five Cynthia!
Olive Garden dumped Letterman. They actually advertised during the show on a nightly basis. Not any more!
.-= Chris Wysocki´s last blog ..Letterman loses another sponsor! =-.
The plot thickens. Now Olive Garden is saying they didn’t bow to pressure and haven’t decided but had not planned to advertise with him next year anyway. As if the liberal MSM would actually let a story get out that it was working. They want this to go away quietly.
Seems Olive Garden wants it both ways.
Cynthia
Thank you. Without both you and Sabastian at Hillbuzz I never would have written a letter about David Letterman, I just would have bi*ched online. My letters were part of getting a big sponsor like Olive Garden to drop David Letterman – I’m still shocked that it works. Thank you again — off to mail today’s letters.
Letterman is at it again!
.-= richard mcenroe´s last blog ..Rule 5-1/2 =-.
On hostage taking… it’s been my experience that if you bring children to a political rally, the “progressives” will ALWAYS try to confront or abuse the children. Every. Single. Time.
.-= richard mcenroe´s last blog ..Rule 5-1/2 =-.
Why does bullying from the left bother you so… yet you “laugh out loud” along with the bullies from the right? (Ann C.) Don’t you think a comedian is free to express his/her opinion? They are the court jesters of today. They’re the ones who poke fun at the kings (AND, in this case, the demagogues). The left has their comedians, the right has their pundits. Sometimes both are equally unfunny.
Letterman a bully? Not really. But he does have a bully pulpit. There is a slight difference. He has a national platform and an opinion–give those two things to a comedian, and you’ll get just what you’d expect. And with that comes an occasional foot in the mouth.
I have a feeling your axe grinding with Letterman predates any Sarah Palin comments made over the past year. I get the feeling ypu’ve never thought much of his humor. (Plus, I bet the recent increased attention to this Blog helps fuel that fire… pehaps just a tad? Wouldn’t you agree? 😉
I guess there’s something to be said for following through on an endeavor, even a Quixotic one.
-JC
Justin Case,
Wow — anything to make it not about what it is, huh?
If you think Ann Coulter is a bully, you are quite the delicate little flower. The distinction is that, with very few exceptions, Ann does her homework and addresses the issues. Letterman does neither. His remarks were cruel and while they were not intimidating to Gov. Palin, I think there are other people who decided not to seek public office because they just couldn’t expose their families to the brutal attacks.
The “you’re just doing this to get attention” invalidation ploy always has struck me as particularly crazy when it is directed at people whose vocation or avocation absolutely requires requires reaching as large an audience as possible. It is such a wicked way of trying to manipulate people out of the marketplace of ideas — very comparable to the old dunking test for witches, where the only way to prove you were a witch and escape execution was to drown. So, with this manipulation, I am supposed to prove my disinterested virtue by shutting up. No sale.
I notice you have a blog but my plugin for linking your last post didn’t kick in. Is your RSS feed working?
Cynthia
Re: RSS Feed — Nah, haven’t done much in the way of setting things up yet. I’ll work on it.
.-= Justin Case´s last blog ..Torture & Interrogation =-.
Oh, there it is — NM.
.-= Justin Case´s last blog ..Torture & Interrogation =-.
Well, I don’t think Ann Coulter is really a bully, but I do think folks like her, Rush, Hannity and O’Reilly go after people pretty visciously sometimes. Sometimes very unfairly so. Take O’Reilly for example. Lynne Spears was a bad mother in his eyes because she is a person in the public eye and had no excuse by not stopping her child Jaime Lynn from getting pregnant. Yet, he applauds Gov. Palin for similar parenting challenges? And Rush, in 1993, who made a joke about the Clinton’s White House Dog and held up a photo of Chelsea. I believe she was 13 at the time. Real sweet natured folks. As for Ann C., she just says outlandish things sometimes (I think) to get a rise out of people.
As for grandstanding on an retired issue for more attention: Well, I see the point you are trying to make about drawing people to your blog. Yes, Bloggo’s need readers. We want people to come read what we have to say. But to continue beating a drum after the parade has ended is, well, a tad self serving… dontcha think? Yes, you should speak your mind. Drawing attention is great. (I wish I were as good at it as you. I have read a lot of your site. I find parts of it quite moving, an interesting and touching story. And parts that make me want to pull out my hair. Like it or not, that is good writing.) But to continue the “Fire Letterman” campaign after Gov. Palin already accepted his apology… well, that ship has sailed. Even the famous band on the Titanic eventually had to stop playing. And trust me, the Letterman debate is taking on water fast.
My $0.02,
-JC
.-= Justin Case´s last blog ..Torture & Interrogation =-.
Justin, the parade hasn’t ended. It’s just getting started, much to the liberals dismay. They want it dropped by any means and it’s not going to happen.
Tell me, do you have children? How would you feel if someone made a crack about raping them? Or your wife/girlfriend/mother or sister? I have no doubt the pedophiles, predators and sexual deviants like Letterman and his defenders would be the first ones to say ” she brought it on herself and got what she deserved”. You seem to be missing that.
This is not about Gov. Palin. Every woman and mother was insulted, disgusted and repulsed. You’ll never get that though.