Jay Leno on Friday made an oral sex joke about Delaware Republican senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell.
His "Tonight Show" guest was "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, who last week himself made a sexual comment about O'Donnell on HBO's "Real Time" as NewsBusters previously reported.
Leno brought this up with MacFarlane who joked, "I think the second she opened her mouth, it would probably ruin everything."
The "Tonight Show" host responded, "Or make it really good" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JAY LENO, HOST: Now, I know you're a very opinionated guy. I see you on my friend Bill Maher's show and all that stuff, and you were talking about this Christine O'Donnell, you know, the anti-masturbation woman who is running for senate, and you were talking, and you said you would enjoy having sexual relations with this woman?
SETH MACFARLANE: You know, that was a little joke. He showed a clip from her, and I think it was like 1998, and she had the poofy '80s hair, and it made her look like Kelly Kapowski from "Saved by the Bell"...
LENO: Wow.
MACFARLANE: ...who we all had crushes on in high school
LENO: So you had a thing -- who was the actor? That was --
MACFARLANE: That was Tiffani-Amber Thiessen.
LENO: Okay, well, show Christine O'Donnell. Let's see, and show Amber Thiessen. Let's see. Yeah -- that could work.
MACFARLANE: Wow, that got nothing.
[ Laughter ]
MACFARLANE: We'll pitch on that.
LENO: Now, why -- why do you find -- does the fact that she's the anti-masturbation candidate --
MACFARLANE: I think the second she opened her mouth, it would probably ruin everything.
[ Laughter ]
LENO: Really?
MACFARLANE: Yes, yes -- once we got into --
LENO: Or make it really good.
[ Laughter ]
LENO: I don't know. Depends which way you go.
MACFARLANE: Man -- 11:30.
LENO: That's right. It's 11:30 at night.
Much as what happened when Sarah Palin first broke on the scene, sexual jokes about conservative women are completely acceptable on television.
Yet, imagine for a moment if the subject of this exchange was Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or any female Democrat. The National Organization for Women would already have made a statement demanding Leno's apology.
Of course, it also seems quite unlikely that "Today" show host Meredith Vieira, who was sitting on the couch to MacFarlane's right, would have found that the slightest bit amusing.
But off-color humor is all the rage when conservatives are involved.
I guess it's just another media double standard folks on the right have to live with.
