David Letterman - Darlene Love's 'Christmas' (video)

CBS, video (03:23):

Check out this clip featuring all of Darlene's performances of 'Christmas (Baby Please Come)' from the Late Show with David Letterman.

"Obama On Letterman: Talks Afghanistan, Race And Heart-Shaped Potatoes" (video)

AP with video from CBS-The Late Show (04:41):

By the time Barack Obama came on stage to the taping of the "Late Show" on Monday, host David Letterman had offered up 10 reasons why in the world the president had agreed to do it.

Among Letterman's theories: Obama said yes without thinking about it, or as Letterman put it, "Like Bush did with Iraq."

But Obama had other ideas. It turns out he was listening when Letterman had bantered with a woman in the audience who brought -- yes -- a potato in the shape of a heart to the show.

Obama told Letterman: "The main reason I'm here? I want to see that heart-shaped potato."

The woman tossed the potato to Letterman.

She agreed to let Obama keep it. Said the president: "This is remarkable."

Obama also had his most irreverent answer yet on the question of whether some of the vitriolic reaction to his health care plan is driven at least partly by racism.

"First of all, I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election," Obama said to huge laughs from Letterman and the audience.

Responded Letterman: "How long have you been a black man?"

Letterman covered a number of topics with Obama -- many of them serious -- in a taping that ran about 40 minutes. The show will be broadcast on CBS on Monday evening.

On the economy, Obama offered a sober prediction as the country deals with 9.7 percent unemployment, the worst level since 1983. He said he expects unemployment will be a "big problem" for at least another year. But he also said the economy will rebound even stronger.

As for the war in Afghanistan, Obama said he knows some people want him to bring troops home, and others are calling for him to increase U.S. force levels to combat the insurgency. The top U.S. commander there is warning the war could be lost without more troops.

Obama said he won't make a decision on sending in more troops, though, until he completes a comprehensive review of the war effort and settles on his next strategy.

"I'm going to be asking some very hard questions," Obama said.

Obama's visit made him the first sitting president to appear on Letterman's program. He had been on Letterman's show five times before, though, most recently in September 2008.

The White House said it was a good way for him to reach yet another audience as Obama wraps up a blitz of TV appearances, trying mainly to build support for his health care plan.

As president, Obama also went on NBC's "Tonight" show when it was hosted by Jay Leno.

After the taping, the president returned to his midtown Manhattan hotel and quietly emerged a while later in gym clothes and a baseball cap. His destination: the church across the street for some basketball with his aides.

Tomorrow starts Obama's main mission in New York: His participation in the United Nations General Assembly.

"Bill Maher Discusses Obama, Letterman And Palin On CNN" (video)

Nicholas Graham (HuffPo) with video (06:57):

Bill Maher, who aired his displeasure with the pace at which President Obama is accomplishing his policy objectives on his HBO show Friday night, made an appearance on CNN's "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer tonight to reiterate his concerns.

Maher argues that Obama needs to be more like former President George W. Bush when it comes to taking decisive action. The former president, with a much smaller majority than Obama has, was able to push through several very contentious policies - a massive tax cut for the wealthy, for example - and Maher is looking for a little more of that 'audacity' from Obama.

Maher also lamented the lack of a real progressive party in America:

We have the Democrats, who are what the Republicans used to be when I was a kid. They are a pro-business party; a corporate friendly, pro-business party. And then we have the Republicans, which are just just a club for angry white people and Jesus freaks. I don't know what they are.

Maher also combated the idea that Obama is taking the nation in a "socialist" direction, calling the charge "so ridiculous because Barack Obama is not a socialist, he's not even a liberal. That's the point I'm trying to make. This country needs a left-wing. It doesn't have it."

The "Real Time" host attributed part of the blame for the lack of a true left-wing in America to the media because they elevate personalities such as Newt Gingrich without doing the same for a corresponding voice on the other side of the political spectrum.

Although Maher believes Obama's not doing enough on domestic policy, he said the president is doing a "terrific" job on foreign policy.

Maher weighed in on the David Letterman-Sarah Palin controversy, stating that Letterman is a "fundamentally decent Midwesterner" and that his remarks were twisted into a "lie that [got] into the media and then [became] the truth." Maher said it was a "shame" that Letterman had to apologize.

Howie P.S.: When Maher says Obama could enact health care reform as easily as Bush invaded Iraq, I think he is equating two political initiatives that are not comparable.

Barack Obama

Palin accepts Letterman's apology-- Has the circus left town yet? (with video)

David Bauder (HuffPo)--"Sarah Palin Accepts David Letterman's Apology," with video (03:41) from HuffPo:

Sarah Palin says she accepts David Letterman's apology for the joke about her daughter.

The Alaska governor, in a statement issued Tuesday, said the apology was accepted "on behalf of all young women, like my daughters, who hope men who `joke' about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve."

On his CBS' "Late Show" on Monday night, Letterman said his joke about one of Palin's daughters being "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez can't be defended.

He said the joke referred to 18-year-old Bristol Palin, not her 14-year-old sister Willow. But Letterman said it's his responsibility that people believed that he intended to target Willow, who had attended a New York Yankees game with her mother.

"I'm sorry about it, and I'll try to do better in the future," he said.

Letterman last week tried to make light of the joke after the first indications that it fallen flat. Palin had called the comments "sexually perverted," and her husband, Todd, said that "any jokes about raping my 14-year-old are despicable."

Palin said Tuesday that Letterman has the right to joke about whatever he wants to, and "thankfully we have the right to express our reaction."

"This is all thanks to our U.S. military men and women putting their lives on the line for us to secure American's right to free speech," she said. "In this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect."

Although Bristol, an unwed mother, was the target of his joke, Letterman didn't name her when it was originally made on June 8.

It was "a coarse joke," "a bad joke," Letterman told viewers. "But I never thought it was (about) anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure, in fact, that she is of legal age, 18."

"The joke, really, in and of itself, can't be defended," he declared.

If there's a misconception that he was making the joke about a 14-year-old, Letterman said he understands why people are upset. "I would be upset myself," he said.

"I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke," he said. "It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault that it was misunderstood."

Letterman made several references to the issue during his monologue, introducing himself as "Dave Letterman, good will ambassador." He said he got a call from his mother earlier in the day telling him she was siding with Palin.

When he began a joke about Bernard Madoff, whom he called "the most hated man in America," he then amended that to a list of two.

"Me, Bernie Madoff," he said. "He was waaay out in front until a couple of days ago."

Howie P.S.: Has the circus left town yet? The HuffPo story points out this "irony":

The irony is that fellow late-night comics Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien have all made more jokes about Bristol's pregnancy without incurring the wrath of Palin and others.

According to the Washington Post, through mid-March Leno had made 15 jokes and O'Brien made 20 jokes at Bristol's expense, compared to 8 for Letterman.

The Post adds that Palin even appeared on "Saturday Night Live" after the show performed a skit joking about incest in her family, with comic Bobby Moynihan quipping, "Uhhh -- what about the husband? You KNOW he's doing those daughters! I mean, come on! It's Alaska!"

Letterman apologizes, Palin supporters still plan to hold protest rally

First Read (MSNBC):

On (Monday) tonight's "Late Show with David Letterman," comedian David Letterman offers a full apology to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family for the joke he told last week -- when he said that Yankees slugger had knocked up Palin's daughter. Full statement here.

HuffPo:

Despite the apology, Palin supporters tell the Los Angeles Times that they still plan to hold a protest rally today (Monday) outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City, where Letterman tapes his show.

Howie P.S.: In this episode, it's hard to tell where the line between showbiz and politics is. With Palin, it's always been a mixture of the two, even though she may be unaware of that fact.

Olbermann: "Palin the pitbull" (video)

MSNBC-Countdown, video (12:35).

Howie P.S.: Richard Wolffe joins Olbermann to discuss the flap.

"In case you missed it: Letterman responds to Palin, and she replies" (video)

Seattle P-I, with video, (08:01):

David Letterman responded to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Wednesday night after both she and her husband, Todd, took after him.

Letterman said he was sorry -- well, maybe in a little way. They were in bad taste, he said, but many of his jokes are. "They're just jokes."

The jokes about their daughter and sex were meant to be about their 18-year-old, not their 14-year-old. And he said he still liked the remark about the governor's "slutty flight attendant" look.

And in case you missed it, he repeated the jokes.

And he invited her on his show. (This just in, Sarah Palin says no. On her Facebook page, her spokewoman had this reply: "The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show. Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow (the 14-year-old) away from David Letterman."

Howie P.S.: I wanted to ignore this exchange, but find that I am unable. Matt Lauer gave Palin an opportunity to expand on her response this morning.

Barack and Dave Talk Politics and Other Stuff (videos)

I posted the opening segment earlier here, but here are the other two segments of his appearance on 9/10/08. It's interesting that we are turning to progressive radio and the entertainment side of television now (The View and Letterman) for some honest political discussion.

David Letterman-Obama-Prt-2-Sept-10-2008.

David Letterman-Obama-Prt-3-Sept-10-2008.

H/t to Darryl.

Howie P.S.: For a much grittier look at today's political scene in the USA, check out Brendan Kiley's report from the streets of St. Paul, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to McCain's Speech--Our Skin-Burning, Cigar-Chomping, Douchebag-Studded, Palin-Aghast Report from the RNC."

Barack Obama