“Well, President Clinton has gotten himself a new dog. You know, I think it’s changing his life, kind of brightening him up. He’s teaching the dog to sit up, to beg, to roll-over, you know, just like he did with the interns.”

via Letterman Haunted by the Ghosts of Monica Lewinsky Jokes Past – Bill Clinton – Gawker.

Now that Letterman has his confessed his own intern f*cking issues to stem any speculation due to his grand jury testimony against and the successful apprehension of his would be extortionist, the decade plus of Clinton/Lewinsky jokes like the ones chronicled by Gawker are laughably hypocritical.

Thankfully Letterman took 10 minutes to lay it all out there,  and his trysts should be fair game for other comedians, but outside of Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler or Jimmy Kimmel, I doubt any of the other late night hosts would take it there. He also gets somewhat of a pass from many folks because all this came out in the context of Letterman being victimized. The bigger worry for Letterman, now that his extortionist has been caught, is probably concerning sexual harassment claims that may be filed as a result of his behavior with these woman during, before and after his affairs with them.

UPDATE:
"Leno, Fallon, and Maher Take Shots at Letterman's Sex Scandal - David Letterman - Gawker" target="_new">Leno and Fallon got some quick jabs in. Maher wasn’t as derisive, but he had a few jokes as well. Shows what I know.

Also, Letterman’s current employees were not aware he was going to confess to TV land.

“Only the show’s producers knew what was about to go down,” adding that many “Late Show” staffers learned of the situation watching off-stage monitors in real time as Letterman weaved his tale. So the routine in which the audience was prepped, which usually involves a heavy emphasis on laughing and applauding often and loudly, was not altered in any way.

via Sources: ‘Late Show’ staffers were unaware of Letterman’s bombshell – Yahoo! News.

Former President Clinton arrived in North Korea today in a dramatic bid to negotiate the release of two American TV journalists sentenced to 12 years in prison for illegally entering the secretive nation earlier this year.

via Bill Clinton visits North Korea in bid to free journalists – Los Angeles Times.

Good luck to WJC.

Outside of sexual pursuit of minors and prostitution, the real problem the GOP has with these committing these vices is that they hold themselves up as paragons of virtue when another succumbs to these vices. The latest case, Gov. Mark Sanford, is a prime example. Damn what the hell he says now. Of course he is contrite, he got caught. Over and Over again. In the Appalachians hiking? No. Driving down the shore in Buenos Aires? Doesn’t seem quite possible to those who have seen the area. He likes solitude? What does Maria [Redacted] have to say about that?

What did he say just over 10 years ago, in 1998? He wasn’t so empathetic to former President Bill Clinton (as Sanford was a strong supporter of the failed bid to impeach) or Bob Livingston (R-SC). Livingston, then slated to be the incoming house speaker had to hear this from Sanford, his fellow Republican:

“We as a party want to hold ourselves to high standards, period,”

and on CNN’s Crossfire:

“The bottom line is Livingston lied,” Sanford said. “He lied to his wife.”

Sanford had a tendency to equate the violation as wedding vows as a tacit admission that an adulturous official would violate their oath of office.

Sanford was quoted as saying, “We ought to ask questions … rather than circle the wagons for one of our tribe”

Of Clinton:

“Very damaging stuff. This one’s pretty cut and dried.” Calling the overall situation messy, he added: “I think it would be much better for the country and for him personally [to resign].”

But the thing is, this social scold also knew that the legislative workloads, fundraising, long times of seperation and distance from D.C. to home districts and states could take its toll on a marriage. While discussing the high divorce rate of his fellow 1994 freshman congressmen he was quoted in CNN’s AllPolitics in 1998 as saying::

“Just look at the divorce rate of our class,” South Carolina’s Mark Sanford said with a sigh. “We’re not exactly bettering the national average.”

In November, Sanford gave his party some advice on how the GOP should make a comeback in his editorial for Politco.com called “Back to Basics”:

“First, let’s go back to the principle of saying what you mean and meaning what you say.”

Well, let’s wait and see if Gov Sanford is sticking to his avowed principles.

Update: Sanford talks about oaths:

“Gov. Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. And you thought John Edwards was in trouble before! Now he has really done it.” — “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Now compare that with this joke, David Letterman told about 18 year old Bristol Palin, who now is a public advocate on behalf of abstinence only training as the only birth control method:

“One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game,” Letterman said, “during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.” – David Letterman, Late Show with Dave Letterman

As Letterman asserted in his apology for being misunderstood or misconstrued it was about the 18 year old, teenage mother, Bristol Palin. Not the underage Willow Palin. Even though it was Willow Palin at the game with Sarah & Todd Palin, the joke would not make sense if it was about Willow: she wasn’t the pregnant one. If you are worried about sexism, yes its sexist. Many jokes are. There are some other comedians who don’t dabble in this. Wayne Brady? Ellen Degeneres? But this is Late Night television. Its for adults. Often I wish they could go back to smoking cigarettes and drinking hard liquor neat on these shows so that it would be painfully obvious to purity zealots.

Since the Presidential election of 1992 Bill Clinton’s marital infidelity was used as a tacit admission (in the press as well as the media) that his wife Hillary was a frigid, sexless, woman in a marriage of only political convenience. Jokes about the Clinton’s sex lives were and are late night television and stand up comedy standards. You could always tie something about sex to Bill Clinton and get some cheap laughs.

Now Palin has decided to reject Letterman’s comedic explanation and apology for being misunderstood and move on, or say agree to appear on Letterman as long as some sum of money would go to some kind of charity focused on woman’s issues. Palin turns around and said this in an interview on the today show with Matt Lauer:

Here’s the problem, Matt – the double standard that has been applied here. One, let’s talk politically, the double standard. First, remember in the campaign, Barack Obama said the family’s off-limits – you don’t talk about my family. And the candidate who must be obeyed – everybody adhered to that and left his family. They haven’t done that on the other side of the ticket, and it has continued to this day. So that’s a political double standard.

This is ridiculous on a variety of levels. Obama consistently chided his crowds for booing any other political figures. He publicly defended Palin’s family by firmly saying they were off limits. So yes, people didn’t obey Obama. Obama explained his position regarding personal matters, asked for fairness, demanded it from his own campaign and the press by and large adhered to that standard. Comedians aren’t bound by that rule. She apparently thinks Letterman is a White House spokesperson or Obama’s chief advisor before Axelrod. In addition, we are all guaranteed the right to say offensive jokes by the 1st amendment. Palinites want to boycott Letterman? Now the politician based in a state far removed from the rest of the country, who has to forcefully push herself into the national spot light wants make the guy who millions watch every night her adversary. Good luck with that.