This whole Letterman thing is about him taking ratings away from Conan's first week on Tonight Show

[cagesoulman]

That's all this was about.

Letterman is a fucking jerk when he feels like he's being challenged in his late night slot. Back when NBC picked Leno, some 17 years ago, Dave made such a big stink and created such drama that it took Jay Leno some time to regain some of Johnny Carson's audience. (Thank God for Hugh Grant.) Jay then went on to dominate Letterman for years and years.

Now, 17 years later, Letterman and his ego are threatened again, this time by Conan O'Brian, who unlike Leno can pull some of the young edgy crowd away from Letterman while, hopefully, keeping the Jay audience he inherited. Conan is also known for hosting the Emmys. So that asswipe Letterman decides to create a media stunt. He tells a tasteless joke about a well-known person and her daughter, knowing that there will be some fallout. (His research team knew which daughter it was at the baseball game. Hell, even I knew it was the younger daughter, and I don't give a shit.)

So, the media craziness starts and Letterman gets loads of publicity in Conan's first week, short circuiting Conan and his big (expensive) roster of guests. Now, the asshole is into week two of this, finally apologizing but still making fun of all of it with the pre-show announcement and, I heard, a top 10 list related to the protest against him. For a 62-year-old left-wing passe comedian who wants to keep his audience and still appear "edgy" (an edgy fucking geezer), the negative attention from the right wing, including the lame 15-person demonstration today, just gave him a ton of free press to promote his show among the left and the edgy, young crowd.

Letterman, you're a douche, an asswipe, an egotistical piece of excrement.

But for you all on DU, stop this unmitigated shit about "the feud." The thing with Palin was manufactured by Letterman to get exactly the response it did so he could cream Conan in his first week or so. It's pure competition and marketing.

It doesn't really matter. So don't play into the fucking thing, leave it be. Just realize you, the Palins, the media, and the late night audience got played.