Letterman's insult
David Letterman's tasteless jokes about Sarah Palin actually have been going on since she became this country's most prominent conservative woman.

The insults to her were so mean that the place I work at agreed to stop watching him and shift to Jay Leno at 11:30 p.m.

"Why did we wait so long?" my co-worker asked.

This time, though, Letterman went so far that even responsible liberals are taking him to task. He made a joke that involved Palin's daughter getting "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez.

Of course, Palin's daughter, the one that was traveling with her to New York, is 14. Letterman later said he meant to insult Palin's 18-year old daughter. Wow. That makes it so much better.

Conservative women have always frightened members of the left. Margaret Thatcher was ridiculed for years because some thought she wasn't feminine enough. Palin is attractive, so she must be a bimbo.

Playboy took the issues past all barriers of taste, creating a "hate-f***" list of women who were conservative.

In a different way, Hillary Clinton has dealt with the same kind of sexism. There are plenty of reasons not to like her, and I don't. But some of the criticism she has dealt with in the past (many times from the right) is simply because she's a strong, independent woman.

Clinton took heat from the left, too, especially when she went up against President Obama in the Democratic primaries.

But people like Letterman seem to think that everything's a joke. He even had the nerve to invite Palin on his show.

There's no real sense of remorse here. Palin means ratings to him, and that's it.

Letterman is facing a backlash. Thank goodness.