Letterman and Palin Stop the Madness, Apology Accepted

Everyone's heard the joke by now, so no point in re-hashing that. But it's interesting to note just how the situation evolved and how Sarah Palin ended up generating enough press to force David Letterman to make a sincere on-air apology - even after he had jokingly apologized only a few nights before.

I don't think anyone believes that Letterman was trying to make any overtly grotesque statements with the joke, even though there is no question that it was pretty weak, obvious and in poor taste. Letterman's a master comedian and audience handler, but sometimes a lazy joke can just be too hard to pass up. Any bashing of Sarah Palin gets a Pavlovian chuckle from Americans, even though most have no idea why she's the butt of so many jokes.

Fortunately, this incident seems to have been put to rest without Palin and her daughters having to appear on every syndicated talk show in the country and without them appearing on the cover of Us Weekly and People for the summer. Jon & Kate already have those spots taken, by the way.

Ultimately, this incident can just fade away, like so many others before it. I think Letterman made the wise move, making a sincere apology before things got out of hand and Palin was smart to end things on her side as well. She was able to make her point and defend her family - as well as young women everywhere. And it still seemed apparent that she understood that it was only a joke - albeit a very bad one that probably deserved some backlash.