Sarah Palin Calls for Uprising Against Letterman for Joke About Her Daughter

June 12, 2009 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called on the public to rise up in opposition over David Letterman's "degrading" jokes about her daughter this week. In a Friday morning television interview on NBC's "Today" show, Gov. Palin said the late-night comedian's remarks are a "sad commentary on where we are as a culture, as a society, to chuckle and laugh through comments such as he had made the other night, I think is quite unfortunate."

Letterman's explanation that he was referring to her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, instead of her 14-year-old daughter, Willow, who accompanied her recently to New York, was met with derision by the governor. She called the remarks a "very convenient excuse" that took him a couple of days to present. "It was a degrading comment about a young woman. I would hope that people really start rising up and deciding it's not acceptable. No wonder young girls especially have such low self-esteem in America when we think it's funny for a so-called comedian to get away with being able to make such a remark as he did and to think that that's acceptable," Palin said.

Wednesday, after two days of back and forth between Alaska's first family and the late-night talk show host, the Palins today refused Letterman's invitation to come on his show after he offered an apology for comments he made earlier in the week about the governor and her daughter.

Letterman's "Top 10" list Tuesday night focused on Palin's recent trip to New York, and included several cracks: "Bought makeup from Bloomingdale's to update her 'slutty flight attendant' look," Letterman said.

But it was a line in Letterman's monologue that set off a firestorm: "One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game, during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

Palin was in New York with her 14-year-old daughter, Willow.

"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 away from David Letterman," PalinPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said Wednesday.