The David Letterman, Sarah Palin conflict is still in the news, and some are calling for the firing of Letterman, saying he should be held accountable for the inappropriate jokes regarding Palin’s 14-year-old daughter.  Letterman did backtrack his raunchy comedy somewhat on his show, but he didn’t actually come out and apologize to Palin.  In fact, he made more jokes about it.

There is said to be a petition calling for Letterman’s firing that is going around the Internet with 3,000 names.  I did an unscientific survey among family members and acquaintances to find out if they believe Letterman should be fired or his inappropriate jokes about Palin’s daughter.  The majority did not think Letterman should be fired.

David Letterman told his audience last night that he regrets the tasteless joke he made earlier this week about Sarah Palin’s daughter. The joke was about Palin’s daughter getting “knocked up” by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez while attending a game at Yankee Stadium. Many took the joke to mean he was joking about Palin’s daughter getting raped. The daughter he joked about is only 14 years old, although he said later he intended the joke to be about the 18-year-old daughter.

I think the reason this incident has infuriated so many people is because they feel politicians’ children should be off limits to this kind of behavior. Comedians have always poked fun at politicians and public figures, and the belief is that people who are public figures are fair game. But their children are not fair game.

Although Letterman said he regretted the joke, he made light of it and didn’t actually apologize, and he should have at least done that.