Letterman Tossed Barbs From Glass House

(AP)  Turns out David Letterman doesn't just live on a TV show. He also lives in a glass house, where for years he's hurled comedy zingers at misbehaving politicians, even as he brashly engaged in hanky-panky of his own.

In March 2008, Letterman was taking potshots at Eliot Spitzer, then governor of New York, who was embroiled in an investigation into a high-end prostitution ring.

Spitzer Spent Up To $80,000 On Call Girls

"It's so sunny and bright outside that, earlier today, Eliot Spitzer came out of a brothel squinting," Letterman cracked in a monologue.

But in Spitzer's case, he didn't stop at lampooning. During an indignant rant, he called for the scandalized governor to step down.

"I mean, can you imagine," said Letterman, "if this happened to me how fast they'd have my ... (backside) out of here?"

Unlike Spitzer, who resigned, Letterman seems secure in his job as host of CBS' "Late Show," nearly a week after his bombshell revelations of having had sex with women on his staff (a disclosure prompted by an alleged $2 million blackmail threat against him).

But in light of his acknowledging past "creepy" behavior, it's kind of creepy to revisit a joke such as this one from a March 2008 show: "Let me ask you a question. Do you think it's too soon to be hitting on Mrs. Eliot Spitzer?"

In another monologue, Letterman had tweaked Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican whose telephone number was found in 2007 among those called by an escort service that prosecutors said was a prostitution ring.

Senator Caught In "D.C. Madam" Scandal

Vitter "admitted he's been dating prostitutes," said Letterman. "And he was very generous with one girl: He paid her with a new highway project in her home state."

Perhaps Vitter, like many other embarrassed politicians, had set himself up for ridicule. But hasn't Letterman set himself up for payback, now?

Vitter chose not to return fire at Letterman's glass house. When asked by The Associated Press for comment, Vitter's office declined.

So did former U.S. Sen. Gary Hart, whose run for the presidency was derailed by a sex scandal in 1987 and who became the butt of many of Letterman's jokes.

"Big weekend for Gary Hart," cracked Letterman when the Hart scandal broke: "He was campaigning his brains out."

Chris Smith, Hart's spokeswoman at the University of Colorado Denver School of Public Affairs, said Hart had no comment.

Most of the targets of Letterman's jokes approached by the AP chose not to weigh in on the current woes of the talk-show host. But South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford offered Letterman his best wishes.

"Both my thoughts and my prayers are with him," Sanford said Tuesday after a speaking engagement at a Rotary Club meeting in Easley, S.C.

In June, Sanford seemed fair game for comedy after he disappeared from the state (and his wife) for a five-day rendezvous with an Argentine woman he called his soul mate.

Gov. Sanford Admits Extramarital Affair

Sanford "didn't really enjoy this year's Fourth of July. He left his favorite firecracker in Argentina," Letterman joked soon after.

"There's a lot more introspection and soul-searching on the way down than there is on the way up," said Sanford, who is under investigation by South Carolina's Ethics Commission, in addressing his dilemma as well as Letterman's. "He can be a better person for it."

Letterman has made comic hay of the troubles of Larry Craig, a former U.S. senator from Idaho who in 2007 was arrested by an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation against men cruising for sex at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Larry Craig To Resign From Senate

Noting that Craig was arrested in an airport men's room, Letterman said, it "gives new meaning to the word 'caucusing."'

Both during and after his White House years, President Bill Clinton remained a reliable source of Letterman's humor.

Another favorite target: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, with whom Letterman had a run-in over sexually suggestive jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter in June.

Palin Vs. Letterman: Getting Nasty

In July 2008, Letterman turned his sights on former presidential candidate John Edwards, who confessed to an extramarital affair. No. 1 on Letterman's "Top Ten Signs Barack Obama Is Overconfident": "Been cruising for chicks with John Edwards."

John Edwards Admits Having An Affair

Letterman, like many other comedians, took glee in the disgrace of Mark Foley in 2006, after a scandal involving salacious e-mails that were sent by him to underage teens ruined his political career.

Congressman Quits Over E-Mails To Teen

"How about that Florida Congressman Mark Foley?" cracked Letterman at the time. "Whoa! At least the Democrats wait until the interns are 18."

Foley is now a talk-radio host in Florida.

"I feel sorry for Dave, I take no glee," Foley said Tuesday.

He voiced concern for Letterman's 5-year-old son, Harry, and for the child's mother, Regina Lasko, whom Letterman married in March after many years together.

"Nobody is above making tragic mistakes. Some never get discovered; some do, in a very public way," said Foley, adding pointedly that Letterman "can keep apologizing until the cows come home. But he's now found his own life the subject of late-night comedians."


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By DAVID BAUDER

[lami987]

Hypocrite Letterman is not only a hypocrite, he is also a lousy boss. Having sex with his employees? Even a dumb worthless boss should know to keep his dumb p---- away from his employees. Admitting and make jokes of what he did after being caught certainly doesn't change anything except makes him look even more stupid. There will certainly be more women come out of his closet. Because once his dumb p--- is out of control most likely it'll remain so.

[SamTCat]

Oh, I forgot to add - maybe what people are referring to in legal terms is 'discrimination' not 'sexual harassment' even though it might have been a sexual situation that gave rise to favoratism.

I don't know for sure though - I don't remember reading about any cases being brought by employees because somebody else who was really lame got perks after sleeping with the boss. Maybe others know more about this?

[SamTCat]

kbbpll, people must be getting their terms confused - like there's the legal cause of action and then there's like workplace favoratism.

I guess when people use the term 'sexual harassment' what they must really be referring to is workplace favoratism and a dysfunctional environment - like the secret affair between Dave the multi-millionaire producer star and the intern incapable of making anybody laugh except for Dave who then got to go to the Olympics and stuff, the on set 'love den', having to keep secrets from Dave's public girlfriend when she did drop by which apparently wasn't very often, etc?

It's not technically considered sexual harassment in the eyes of the law per se when two coworkers of unequal status carry on a relationship.

But the common thread between consorting with prostitutes and Dave is the deception I think - making onesself out to be different than they really were, and the cheating on a significant other. I mean like are we all in agreement that the implication of the disclosure that his wife was upset was that she thought they were in a committed relationship and hence the news of the other girlfriends has come as a shock? Nobody's thinking she's not upset about Birkett because they had an open relationship and are assuming there must be papparazzi at her door and that's what's making her upset, are they? I mean it's possible, but that people magazine story made it sound like she didn't know about Dave's relationship with Birkett. It IS different in that solicitation of a prostitute is a crime though - there is that difference.

[rdepontb]

Letterman is a performer, on late-night television, a comedian ... he was single at the time ...

Dave Letterman was not an official entrusted with enforcing our laws, he was not a married man committing adultery ...

There is no NOW or other indingnants' issue here. Break it up, get on your way...nothing to see here!

[Arti668M]

In his first announcement of his affairs, Dave Letterman's apologies were believable. Now, his words and actions say nothing except that he's become a swaggering, braggart of his sexual prowess, which does nothing but promote his arrogance while the women he victimized will descend even furtherinto the depths of personal destruction. We've watched him forever, and that's how long he will be gone from this household and hundreds more that we know of. CUT HIM LOOSE!!!

[kbbpll]

It's bizarre that so many (NOW for example) presume that this was some horrible workplace harassment scenario, and it's bizarre that CBS would post this story making comparisons with _lawmakers_ going to _prostitutes_. People who work together sometimes end up together. Heck, if I didn't harass a coworker I wouldn't be married with two beautiful children. I'm thinking if this case was so appalling, Letterman would have paid the $2 mil.

[SamTCat]

For those people who keep saying Letterman isn't a hypocrite, look at it from this angle - can Letterman still make jokes about the sexual foibles of politicians? I think people are pretty much in agreement that he can't.

So a certain amount of standing or image of his HAS been lost, and something HAS changed, even for people who are insisting that nothing has. I'm not sure why people are so reluctant to call a spade a spade - Letterman can no longer tell jokes about the sexual dalliances of politicians because he'd look like a hypocrite. That's just the reality.

[Iamthemango]

David Letterman is a grotesquely homely amoral c o c kroach. He probably made his wife sign a prenup, which means she'll get a lot less than $2 mil if she decides to sue him for divorce.

Meanwhile ratings are topping and he's making money off this farce. The man is a joke that is truly not funny.

[NyStateisPoor]

So, Dave had a commited gf that he had a kid with, but he was not married, and used his power to sleep with others. So that is ok? Should I try telling my girlfriend that I can sleep with whoever I want since we are not married and she better stick by my side?

[parisdakar]

Funny. You made the bed, Dave...