We can figure out how to defeat terrorists in Afghanistan, get health care reform through Congress or save David Letterman's seven-month marriage, but doing all of the above may bring on a severe case of media overload.
Of the three national dilemmas, Letterman's is beginning to look like the worst, with a slow drip of liaison disclosures coupled with his own continuing on-camera mea culpas.
"When something happens like that," he told his audience last night, "if you hurt a person and it's your responsibility, you try to fix it. And at that point, there's only two things that can happen: Either you're going to make some progress and get it fixed, or you're going to fall short and perhaps not get it fixed, so let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me."
The problem with Letterman's TV self-therapy is that such attempted sincerity is a poor fit for a figure whose career has been based on being snarky about everybody else's shortcomings.
He has progressed from last week's tap-dance about being blackmailed for "creepy" behavior to now thanking his staff for "putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in."
If we're ever going to hear the end of it, Letterman may have to book Dr. Phil to put him through a full round of cathartic psychobabble and let it all hang out.
Meanwhile, there will be more late-night laughs available on Conan O'Brien's show.
Hee! Great post. I'm really not that bothered by Letterman and his sex life and his personal life, he's not in public office, and it's not really my business. I do think you nailed it, though, given his propensity to revel in other people's "creepy" behavior of mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI'm far more bothered by the lib rush to support that disgusting old pedophile Polanski. I caught a bit of Anderson 360 yesterday (don't ask :p), and he used the word, "creepy," too. He used it to describe the admittedly creepy stalker of that sportscaster (videoed her through the peephole at a hotel, you know the one.). It's great that Anderson reserves his harshest criticism for an invasion of privacy and posting nude photos on the 'net. I didn't catch what he had to say about Polanski, but if it's anything like others on the left are saying, raping and sodomizing a child is "old news" and "not rape rape."
I can't stay up that late anymore to watch late night shows, I get up way too early. But I bet long time rival and 30 years married, Jay Leno, is having a field day.
ReplyDeleteLetterman is fine; he never was the “Family Values” type. Yes, he probably cheated on his girlfriend now wife. But at least he does go around claiming he is Mr. “Family Values” like some of our politicians (can you just see the grin on all “Fake News” reporters/ commentators and the Palin’s fringe). This has been a tough summer, for Dave, for our economy but at least he did not end up on the “Republican 2009 Summer of Love” list: Assemblyman, Michael D. Duvall (CA), Senator John Ensign (NV), Senator Paul Stanley (TN), Governor Mark Sanford (SC), Board of Ed Chair, and Kristin Maguire AKA Bridget Keeney (SC).
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