Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin intensified her war of words with comedian David Letterman
on Friday, claiming his controversial joke about one of her daughters had contributed
to the "acceptance of abuse of young women" and calling on people to "start really
rising up."
Appearing on NBC's Today show, Palin also told host Matt Lauer that he was
"extremely naive" if he believed the "Late Show" host's explanation of the joke.
When Lauer noted that Letterman had not mentioned Willow by name and later denied
that he was referring to her, Palin responded, "Matt, I would say that you and anybody
else are extremely naive to believe that very convenient excuse of David Letterman's
the other day. He took a couple of days for him to think of that excuse that, oh, no, he
wasn't talking about my daughter who was there with me at the [Yankees] game, the
14-year-old. Well, I think it's a weak excuse."
She added, "I would hope that people really start -- really rising up and deciding it's not
acceptable. No wonder young girls, especially, have such low self-esteem in America."
Palin said that she could "connect the dots to a degrading statement made about young
women, and that does contribute to some acceptance of abuse of young women."
Later, Lauer pressed Palin to explain a line in a statement from her spokesperson that "it
would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman." Lauer asked, "Are you
suggesting that David Letterman can't be trusted around a 14-year-old girl?"
