Late Show

David Letterman for at least the second time in eight days mocked Barack Obama for spending so much time on R&R

During his "Late Show" opening monologue, the host quipped, "The President's been busy, he redecorated the Oval Office and then he took another two week vacation." 

Moments later, Letterman talked about Obama's address to the nation the previous day before presenting a video of the speech. 

As you'll see from this doctored clip, the President wasn't wearing attire at all suitable for the occasion (video follows with commentary):

David Letterman on Tuesday took quite a swipe at Barack Obama.

During the opening monologue of CBS's "Late Show," the host asked the audience, "You know who else is on vacation?"

Letterman answered, "President Barack Obama. And this is his, since he's been in office, this is his sixth vacation."

Then came the marvelous and surprising punch line (video follows with transcript and commentary, file photo): 

Appearing on the Late Show on Monday night to plug his Friday night Dateline on the 5th anniversary of Katrina, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams bizarrely asserted “we're still enjoying the fruits really of the Clinton economy,” claimed Tea Party activists who say “we want our country back” want it back “from the Trilateral Commission” and ridiculed their presumed hypocrisy as he insisted “you see a lot of signs, ‘Federal Government Out of My Social Security,’ ‘Federal Government Out of My Medicare and Medicaid.’ But for the federal government, of course, those programs would not exist.”

Plus, he passed along how “I'm hearing a few people say” that President Barack Obama won’t run for re-election because he “wants to somehow transcend the presidency,” citing a British columnist who contends he was “never supposed to be an ordinary President.” Williams considered the possibility Obama could be as consequential as Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton: “Jimmy Carter converted the post-presidency, redesigned the idea of an ex-President. Solving diseases and bad elections around the world. Bill Clinton with the Clinton Global Initiative trying to do the same thing.”

Bret Baier on Thursday rebutted Rachel Maddow's claim to David Letterman that Fox News intentionally tries to show images of "scary black people" in order to frighten white folks into voting for conservatives.

As NewsBusters previously reported, the MSNBC host was a guest of the CBS "Late Show" Tuesday, and made some pretty disgusting comments about a competing cable news network. 

Speaking with WOR radio's Steve Malzberg, the host of FNC's "Special Report" countered that because Fox addresses stories that other outlets don't, that "doesn't mean that there's political motivation behind covering actual news."

This, of course, is a huge factor in liberal media bias, and is what folks that analyze news reports refer to as bias by omission (transcript follows with commentary, audio available here with relevant section at 10:00): 

Confirming her membership in Manhattan’s liberal elite, Katie Couric boasted on Tuesday’s Late Show that she plans to follow Tom Friedman’s admonition, that in refusing to move away from oil “we have met the enemy and he is us,” and so she’s realized she “should” buy a Toyota Prius, the favorite of conspicuously superior liberals, or at least a hybrid. Couric recounted how her daughter told her “‘we should turn in the car we have’ and ‘get a Prius or a hybrid.’ And I said, ‘you know, Ellie, we should do that.’ And we're going to look into it.”

(“Prius owners act as if for every mile they drive, they prevent a coral reef from turning into a tidal wave that will hit Manhattan,” Joel Stein quipped in Time back in February.)

“I think Tom Friedman had a great column,” Couric touted, on how “we are responsible for creating this problem” in the Gulf of Mexico “and we have to start contemplating our choices in terms of energy,” so “hopefully something like this will really force people to reconsider their choices.”

Appearing as a guest on Friday’s Late Show with David Letterman on CBS, left-wing comedian Robert Klein suggested that it was bad that Rush Limbaugh turned out to be in good health after his hospital visit in Hawaii, inspiring laughter from Letterman. Klein: "You lose some, you win some." After Letterman brought up the birther conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in America, Klein, who is known for attacking conservatives in his comedy act over sex scandals while being softer on liberals, changed the subject to Limbaugh’s fourth marriage to suggest that Limbaugh is hypocritical for opposing same-sex marriage, and then joked about the possibility of the conservative talker having health problems. Klein:

What's his name, Rush Limbaugh, who believes so much in the sanctity of marriage he's done it four times now, you know, but, you know, not if he, doesn't approve of marriage if both the husband and wife are circumcised, you know, that's out of the questions. I think a lot of that came from him, and, you know, he was in the hospital couple of months ago in Hawaii. Turned out to be nothing. See? You lose some, you win some. But anyway.

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Friday, June 11, Late Show with David Letterman:

Commenting on the new health care law, on Wednesday’s Late Show with David Letterman, comedian/actor Chris Rock cracked: “I feel sorry for the people that were against it” since “that's going to be a tough one to explain to your grand kids.”

Rock, on to promote his new movie, Death at a Funeral, barbed that ObamaCare opponents remind him of those against civil rights in the 1960s who years later had to answer, “grand daddy, is this your ‘I Hate Martin Luther King’ hat?”

Audio: MP3 clip.

A couple of the lines from Rock on the April 7 show, delivered as jokes but clearly conveying his true feelings:

Here's a headline I'm sure you never dreamed of seeing: "David Letterman Gives the Tea Party the Best Showcase it's Ever Had."

So wrote Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker Wednesday about the previous evening's interview of Sandpoint, Idaho, Tea Party President Pam Stout on CBS's "Late Show."

Tucker went on to call the segment "quietly remarkable" which seems an understatement not only given Letterman's nonconfrontational approach with Stout, but also because at one point, he even said there were "many things about this [Tea Party] movement that I admire" (videos in three parts embedded below the fold with commentary, h/t Hot Air):

With the help of the MRC's talented Bob Parks, the Culture and Media Institute produced a video based on its report, "Sex, Violence and Hate: the Top 10 Most Disgusting Attacks on Conservative Women."

From Playboy magazine's "hate f---" list to comparing Sarah Palin to a case of "herpes," the media took every opportunity to tear down conservative women, not based on what they had to say or the values they promoted, but by commenting on their looks and perceived sexual behavior in incredibly misogynic ways.

Be sure to visit the MRC's video sharing Web site, Eyeblast, for more examples of liberal bias.  

In a clear sign liberal media elites are growing weary of the White House, comedian David Letterman went after President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Tuesday evening.

During the "Top Ten" segment of the "Late Show," Letterman counted down the signs that Emanuel is nuts.

Before beginning the list, Letterman explained with shocking detail that this was precipitated by Rep. Eric Massa's (D-N.Y.) assertion that Emanuel once cornered him in the Congressional shower room wearing nothing but an evil grimace.

Maybe most surprising, Letterman managed to lampoon the COS without once referencing to Sarah Palin (video embedded below the fold with transcribed list, h/t Story Balloon):

March is Women's History Month, in which we acknowledge the accomplishments and contributions of women in history and in society today.

But for a select group of women - conservative women - their accomplishments and contributions are rarely celebrated but often demeaned and mocked in sexist - and crassly sexual - ways.

The Culture & Media Insitute looked back at what the media had to say over the past year about some of today's most prominent conservative women, including Michelle Malkin, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Sarah Palin and Liz Cheney, and compiled a list of the 10 worst attacks on these women who dare to speak out in favor of conservative values.

Much of the criticism was the worst sort of misogyny with a dose of violence and disgusting adolescent sex references thrown in for good measure. The media outlets in question ranged from Playboy magazine to MSNBC to Sirius XM radio and included comments from both men and women.

The message that rang through loud and clear was that perspectives from conservative women were not appreciated or welcomed, and if a woman stepped out of line, she deserved whatever treatment she received.

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Letterman also took a swipe at Palin during his opening monologue.

David Letterman just can't keep his mind off Sarah Palin.

On Monday, the "Late Show" host used his Top Ten list to disparage the former governor of Alaska claiming that George Washington would roll over in his grave if Palin were elected president.

Never mind that she hasn't announced her candidacy or that the presidential election is more than two and a half years away.

Such inconvenient truths don't phase Letterman for in a list of the "Top Ten Things George Washington Would Say If He Were Alive Today," a woman the "Late Show" host probably never heard of two years ago actually came in second (video embedded below the fold with complete list, h/t Story Balloon):

Is it now acceptable for a woman to grab her breasts on broadcast television?

The question is raised by the appearance of "Desperate Housewives" star Teri Hatcher on CBS's "Late Show" Friday evening.

Chatting with host David Letterman, the woman who rose to stardom after her appearance in a "Seinfeld" episode largely about her breasts seemed to do everything within her power to touch them on the air.

At one point she commented while holding one, "I injured my rib under my breast here. Just a reason to touch myself on TV."

Oddly, this wasn't the last time she would be so immodest (video embedded below the fold):

The folks at CBS's "Late Show" took a shot at Keith Olbermann Thursday with the help of cartoon character Homer Simpson.

Commemorating 20 years of "The Simpsons" being on air, Homer was asked to give Thursday's Top Ten list.

The topic: "Top Ten Things I've Learned From The Last 20 Years of Television."

At number seven was "Widesceen televisions were invented to accommodate Keith Olbermann's enormous head" (video embedded below the fold with complete list, h/t Story Balloon):

On Tuesday night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC, during an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, when Maddow recounted a recent incident in which a man unsuccessfully threw a tomato at Sarah Palin at a public event at a mall, Fallon joked that it was "awful" because the thrower "didn’t come close" to hitting Palin. Fallon: "Didn’t hit her at all? Didn’t come close? Awful."

Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the late Tuesday/early Wednesday, December 8th/9th Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on NBC:

Some vindication for Sarah Palin in the midst of non-stop media hostility. On Monday night's Late Show with David Letterman, guest Seth Myers, the head writer for Saturday Night Live who also anchors the comedy show's 'Weekend Update' fake newscast, noted how in her new book she asserts that during her guest appearance on the NBC show, just before the election, “that we had taken her mantra, 'drill baby drill,' and tried to make a rude double-entendre about it.”

Myers offered his verdict on the allegation, quipping: “I just want to come here tonight on the record and say that's one hundred percent true.” He recited the original proposed line for a rap: “When we're in Wassila it's chill baby chilla; In the bedroom with Todd it's drill baby drilla.”

Audio: MP3 clip

This ought to get the folks at the left-wing noise machine all wound up.

Fox News host Glenn Beck on his Oct. 14 show, after being a regular recipient of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" on his "Countdown" program, decided to have a little fun by mocking Olbermann and his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews.

Beck mocked Olbermann's "Shakespearean" performance he puts on nightly on his "Countdown" program and also mocked Chris Matthews for his February 2008 "Obama gave me a thrill up my leg" comments.

"Now, the President has an entire network devoted to singing his praises," Beck said. "There is a guy at night I love, he's like Shakespearean, he is waxing poetic about his oratory skills, writing soliloquies - got another one I must say about the greatness of Obama's speaking ability. And then another guy is like, ‘I got a thrill is going up my leg' when they just hear him speak. It is incredible."

For the second time in four months, the National Organization for Women has come down on CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman, this time for his extra-marital affairs with staffers.

Readers should remember NOW putting Letterman in its Media Hall of Shame back in June for his disgusting remarks about former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her daughter. 

Yet, despite their concern this incident raises "serious issues about the abuse of power leading to an inappropriate, if not hostile, workplace environment for women and employees," the women's organization asked for no specific actions to be taken against Letterman by his employer (h/t NBer QueenMum):

There's nothing like a sex scandal to attract television viewers, and David Letterman's mea culpas concerning his extra-marital affairs with staffers have been a ratings bonanza for the "Late Show" host. 

In fact, more people saw Letterman's bizarre apology to his wife, his staff, and former Governor Sarah Palin on Monday "than watched anything on NBC in prime-time" that night.

As reported by the Associated Press Tuesday:

David Letterman's "Forgive Me For I Have Sinned" tour took an interesting turn Monday evening when the "Late Show" host spent part of his program making fun of the controversy surrounding his extra-marital affairs while also apologizing to his wife, the female staffers involved, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

In his opening monologue, Letterman joked:

There's a possibility that I'll be the first talk show host impeached. It's Fall here in New York City, and I spent the whole weekend raking my hate mail.

Later, he awkwardly tried to explain his predicament while apologizing to those he's hurt...oddly including Palin (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):

Despite David Letterman's on air admission of sexual encounters with staffers being all the rage last week, CBS apparently has done everything in its power to eliminate the record of his Thursday evening mea culpa from the popular video website YouTube.

It appears the host of CBS's "Late Show" might have been at the heart of the decision.

Such was reported by the New York Times Sunday:

Radio's Don Imus on Friday attacked a litany of present and former CBS personalities including Katie Couric, David Letterman, and Dan Rather.

In an interview with Fox News's Neil Cavuto, Imus called CBS "Evening News" anchor Couric "a little rodent," the "Late Show's" Letterman an "angry, mean-spirited jerk," and former "Evening News" anchor Rather "crazy."

The outspoken shock jock also said the thought of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin becoming the Republican nominee for president is "horrifying" because "she's a dope."

Imus also had some very interesting things to say about his own controversy with CBS surrounding the Rutgers women's basketball team and "nappy-headed hos" (videos in several parts embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

Just to be ... fair to David Letterman, I figured it'd be only just to treat him to his very own Top Ten list dedicated to his current ... "situation." (The list was sent in by a loyal NB reader who didn't want attribution.) So, here it is -- "Top Ten Things About Letterman's Trysts With Staffers":

10. Learned everything he knows about interns from Bill Clinton.
9. Was jealous of A-Rod, if you know what I mean.
8. Well on the way to becoming the next ex-governor of New York.    
7. Makes Mark Sanford look like a rank amateur.
6. Because he’s a liberal, endorsement from NOW was never in jeopardy.
5. Didn’t care about the book, but wanted the movie rights to ‘The
Scarlet Letterman.’
4. Is so glad he didn’t have a ‘morals’ clause in his contract.
3. Has great story for his support group, ‘Philanderer’s Anonymous.’
2. If he had to do it over again, he’d collect cars like Jay Leno.
1. Gives company name “Worldwide Pants” a whole new meaning.

 

On Thursday's Late Show, David Letterman recounted how he testified before a Manhattan grand jury earlier in the day about how a man, whom he did not identify, left a package in his car three weeks ago and subsequently demanded $2 million or he would write a screenplay and book detailing, in Letterman's words, “all the terrible things that I do” – specifically, “that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. Now, my response to that is: Yes I have.” (In March, Letterman married the mother of his five-year-old son.)

Just before midnight EDT, TMZ.com posted:

TMZ has learned the identity of the alleged extortionist who was arrested today for attempted grand larceny in the first degree. His name is Robert Halderman. He's 51 years old and lives in Norwalk, CT. Halderman has a business in Manhattan, where he was arrested today. CBS just issued a statement saying the suspect is an employee of "48 Hours." Halderman has been suspended pending results of the investigation.

Radar Online, in “EXCLUSIVE: Man Arrested For Extortion Lived With Woman Who Slept With Letterman,” reported: “An NYPD source has told RadarOnline.com that the suspect under arrest in the David Letterman extortion case was a producer for CBS’s 48 Hours, Robert Halderman. Halderman often went by his middle name Joe...”

UPDATE: New York Daily News article for Friday's paper: “David Letterman reveals $2M extortion plot; CBS News producer busted in scheme to reveal sex secrets.”

David Letterman is not just wearing his political views on his sleeve, as a one of his shows production executives recently pointed out. Now he's allowing his show to be used as a platform for leading Democrats to advocate action on liberal causes.

On Sept. 21, President Barack Obama appeared on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman" and used his show to promote his health care/health insurance reform initiatives. But the very next night on Sept. 22, he had former President Bill Clinton on to publicize the efforts of the Clinton Global Initiative, one of which is to give aid to nations with rampant poverty.

Letterman set up Clinton to make a point about global warming. The "Late Show" host said he didn't understand how in this day and age people can still not have access to clean drinking water.

David Letterman, who still regularly ridicules former President George W. Bush – and has even accused him of committing “war crimes” and lacking “humanity” – didn't hide his affinity for Barack Obama during his Monday night Late Show interview of the President, while remaining unable to contain his disgust for Bush. “I can't tell you how satisfying it is to watch you work,” a beaming Letterman gushed to Obama at the conclusion of the program.

When Obama, who took two weeks of vacation in late August and early September, displayed some jealously as he quipped that his two daughters “basically just goofed off all summer, which I couldn't do,” Letterman interjected, in an obvious jab at Bush which delighted the audience: “Others have.”

In case you hadn't gotten enough of Barack Obama plugging ObamaCare on any of the five Sunday talk shows yesterday, your eyes can continue to glaze over tonight when the President appears on David Letterman tonight to continue his seemingly endless shill routine. And if you think Letterman somehow bowed to White House pressure to allow Obama on to continue talking about a subject that many are already growing weary about, think again. This was actually Dave's idea according a story in the New York Times:

Mr. Obama, of course, famously was the first sitting president to visit any late-night entertainment show when he dropped by “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” in March. The Letterman bookers have been diligent ever since in arguing for some fair play — and equal booking — for their guy.

Here we go again. 

During his opening monologue on ‘Real Time’ Friday night, Bill Maher, couldn’t resist piling on to the David Letterman controversy and the sex jokes made by him earlier in the week regarding Sarah Palin’s daughter.

In defending his friend, Maher thought Republicans had over reacted and this was just a case of ‘fake’ outrage. Much ado about nothing. He then went on talking about how Letterman had invited Sarah Palin and her young daughter, Willow, to appear as guests on his show but the Governor declined because she thought it would be wise to keep her daughter away from him. Said Maher, “…that’s right, he’s 62 years old, he’s gonna f*** her right there on stage…it would be very wise to keep her, very wise, yes. You know, I’d worry a little more about the 18-year old hockey players who knock up your daughters.” To which his audience of trained seals laughed and clapped and had a good old time. 

I sat there stunned. Much like his pal Letterman, as far as I was concerned, Maher had crossed the line. Big Time. What is it with these guys? 

Last night's "apology" to Gov. Palin by comedian David Letterman "is slippery and Clintonian" but Gov. Sarah Palin "was right to rise above it and accept it," Media Research Center President Brent Bozell noted in a statement released today. 

While the CBS "Late Show" host issued what many are calling a full and complete apology to Gov. Palin, Mr. Bozell argued it is far from an unequivocal apology:

Letterman's ‘apology' is slippery and Clintonian. He talked about the ‘perception' of his joke three times in his statement. He then goes on to say twice that he was ‘misunderstood.'

There's no perception, no misunderstanding. The public understood exactly what he said - joking about statutory rape - and was outraged. It was David Letterman who misunderstood who was in the audience, as if making a degrading joke about an 18-year-old girl is much more acceptable than taking the cheap shot at her 14-year-old sister. 

“David Letterman is making a full-throated apology for his controversial joke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter,” TV Week reported a short while ago. “During a taping of tonight's [Monday 6/15] edition of his CBS Late Show, Letterman went much further than his last explanation of the joke, in which he quipped that a baseball player had 'knocked up' Palin's daughter,” Josef Adalian wrote.

Though Palin and conservatives were outraged and demanded an apology and retraction for a “joke” seemed aimed at the 14-year-old daughter though Letterman said he was referring to the 18-year-old daughter, it took the liberal columnist Mark Shields on PBS to convince Letterman he had a problem. Letterman will explain (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript):