Double standard? Sarah Palin has a point.

Hold on to your seats -- the apocalypse just might be around the corner.

Women's rights groups are actually thinking about siding with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in her condemnation of late night talk show host David Letterman's comments about sex and her teenage daughters.

There is no need to go into the specifics here -- look online if you want to know exactly what was said -- but Letterman basically made a sex joke about Palin's children.

And yes, it was in poor taste.

And yes, he darned well should be apologizing -- he should have known better.

But the double standard about hands-off policies for children of Democratic politicians vs. the nearly-anything-goes standard for offspring of Republicans aside, there is a reason for some outrage over what was said.

Too many times, alleged jokes made about young women and sex are a big, old laughfest. And then we wonder why some of our young people just don't get the seriousness of sex crimes or why so many young women are not sure how to think about themselves.

And while there is such a thing as adult humor and free speech, sometimes unacceptable commentary is dismissed when there is a young girl as a punchline.

We should want better than that for not only our entertainment dollar, but for our daughters and granddaughters.

There are certainly plenty of adults to laugh at and jokes to be made about their exploits.

Let's leave our young people alone.

Published in Editorials on June 12, 2009 11:07 AM