shame on you: david letterman & jeremiah wright

My head has been buried in stuff so I haven’t been tracking with too much current news with the exception of the North Korea (and Laura Ling and Euna Lee) stituation.

But as I was reading through my RSS reader this morning and read Scot McKnight’s blog about inexcusable comments by David Letterman and Jeremiah Wright (two separate stuff), I was pretty downright disgusted myself.

First, heres’ the news about Letterman’s completely inappropriate comments/jokes about the Palin family (via ABC news):

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 monolog 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.

I’m shared before on this blog that I don’t like Sarah Palin in that kind of way…but I completely agree with her and her husband. Absolutely unacceptable. David Letterman: While I enjoy the few occasions I get to watch your show, this is inexcusable. Shame on you. His explanation (apology

You have to wonder if the folks that took shot at Palin throughout the election season will do the right thing and stand with her; if the folks that defended Rev. Jeremiah Wright and  in many ways, rightly defended his context of black and liberation theology will say the appropriate thing regarding this situation to this minister: “Repent.”

I love what Scot shares about both David Letterman and Jeremiah Wright:

David Letterman, who will do most anything to get a laugh, especially if he can do so at the expense of a public (and conservative) figure, spoke of Sarah Palin’s daughter, who attended a Yankees game with her mother, being “knocked up” by Alex Rodriguez. He messed up his facts, thinking the daughter was the pre-married pregnant Bristol but who was in fact the 14-year old Willow, and then lamely fessed up to what he had said — but laced up his confession with cynical humor.

I’ve argued for a long time that a steady diet of cynicism destroys respect for humans, and David Letterman has now reached that level. What he said is inexcusable. Not just poor judgment, not just stupid, and not just crossing the line. It was inexcusable.

Jeremiah Wright, who has lived a life of living to craft words in preaching and who therefore knows the potency of words and the prophetic power of what he says, was asked by a reporter about whether or not he is in contact with President Obama. Wright, who says he was in a rush, said something about “Them Jews” who wouldn’t let him get to Wright. Then he came up with a lame claim that he meant “Zionists.” Since Wright is better with words than this, and since he is a man who has spent his life fighting stereotyped words that destroy the fabric of people groups, he needs to be particularly sensitive to other people groups.

Jeremiah Wright’s wrong on two accounts: neither the Jews nor the Zionists are blocking him from Obama. And what he said, since it stereotypes Jews with an age-old conspiracy about who is really in charge behind the scenes, is inexcusable.

Here’s the context/apology from Jeremiah Wright:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and President Obama’s former spiritual leader, got into another jam this week.

In an interview with David Squires, a columnist from the Newport News, Va. Daily Press, Wright blamed “them Jews” for keeping him from talking to President Obama. Wright then made it worse by saying in another interview he meant “Zionists.” But on Friday he said he “misspoke” and issued an apology. I write on Wright and the murder at the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum–and President Obama’s two speeches on Holocaust denial–over at PoliticsDaily.com.

In the case of Wright, his latest remarks about Jews once again put him in the news. In an interview with David Squires, a columnist from the Newport News, Va. Daily Press, Wright blamed “them Jews” for keeping him from talking to President Obama.

“Them Jews ain’t going to let him talk to me,” Wright said. “I told my baby daughter that he’ll talk to me in five years when he’s a lame duck, or in eight years when he’s out of office.” He added: “They will not let him to talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is. I said from the beginning. He’s a politician, I’m a pastor. He’s got to do what politicians do.

Dave: Sometimes, it’s just best to say, “That was stupid, I’m really sorry.”