David Letterman and John McCain: Truce?

(Screen grab/ CBS)

I am glad that John McCain decided to appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.

McCain showed what a class act he is.

I could understand if he would have chosen not to dignify Letterman with the pleasure of his presence after the drubbing Letterman has been giving him.

The one-way feud that Letterman has been waging goes back to when McCain suspended his campaign due to the financial crisis. "Ugly date" Letterman threw a hissy fit when McCain cancelled a scheduled appearance on September 24. Since then, Letterman hasn't stopped pummeling McCain.

Supposedly, "All is forgiven: Letterman, McCain are pals again."

Maybe now Letterman will quit slamming McCain. No. That will never happen. This was a temporary truce. It really wasn't much of a truce.

Before Letterman interviewed McCain, Letterman once again went through the story of McCain's September cancellation. It was lame. It has been lame. It will still be lame.

Keith Olbermann filled in for McCain in September. On Thursday, Keith Olbermann was shown waiting in the wings.

Lame.

The Top Ten list didn't mercilessly bash McCain or Palin. How unusual!

TOP TEN MESSAGES LEFT ON JOE THE PLUMBER'S ANSWERING MACHINE

10. “Hey, heard you mentioned in the debate, now can you come over and get the hairball out of my drain?”

9. “Joe Six Pack calling; what are you trying to pull?”

8. “Sorry, wrong number. I was looking for Larry the Cable Guy.”

7. “Dude – did you get to meet Fannie Mae?”

6. “This is Sarah Palin, do you consider yourself a maverick plumber?”

5. “You had a better night than Joe the Dodgers Manager.”

4. “This is Bob Schieffer. Hijack one of my debates again and I’ll bust your kneecaps with a pipe wrench.”

3. “Joe, you gotta get a copy of this Late Show Fun Facts book – it’s hilarious!”

2. “It’s Brian from the Late Show, are you available tonight if McCain cancels?”

1. “It’s Madonna, are you seeing anybody?”

For the first time that I've seen, Letterman did a bit that actually poked fun at Barack Obama just a bit.

Letterman has been doing segments called "A Message from John McCain" and "A Message from Sarah Palin."

The actual words of McCain and Palin are spliced together to form idiotic statements. They aren't funny as much as they are cheap swipes.

For example, here are a couple of Letterman's "A Message from John McCain":

"I have traveled all over the world looking for really good Jell-O."

"Joe Lieberman and I sometimes hold each other naked."

Here's one of Letterman's "A Message from Sarah Palin":

"I can see Iraq and Afghanistan from Wasilla Main Street."

My position has been that the segments might be funny IF Letterman balanced those jokes out with "A Message from Barack Obama" and "A Message from Joe Biden."

I had never seen that happen. McCain and Palin have always been Letterman's only targets.

Thursday's show was ground-breaking in that Letterman actually did "A Message from Barack Obama."

"I think that it is important for the federal government to give every single American a kitty."

Letterman followed that with "A Message from John McCain."

"America needs a new direction. That's why I am voting for Sen. Obama."

That's what Letterman should be doing every night, providing at least a little balance. Without at least a bit of balance, the show seems like cheap propaganda rather than entertainment aimed at a broad audience. It's divisive.

So McCain comes out and the two talk.

One that thing that was very noticeable: Letterman called McCain "John."

He didn't refer to him as Sen. McCain. It seemed intentionally disrespectful.

Transcript

LETTERMAN: Now what exactly happened? I thought I was doing my part to save the economy…and then later I got to think, well maybe I’m just not important enough.

McCAIN: Can I give you an answer?

LETTERMAN: Please.

McCAIN: I screwed up. But look at all the conversation I gave you.

LETTERMAN: Yes, it really was fun.

McCAIN: Including having a Mr. Olbermann on.

LETTERMAN: You know, John, you called me –

McCAIN: I haven’t had so much fun since my last interrogation.

LETTERMAN: You called me an hour and a half and said, “We’ve gotta get right back to Washington.” But you didn’t go right back to Washington.

McCAIN: I screwed up. What can I say? What can I say? It’s been reviewed pretty well, what happened.

LETTERMAN: You had a meeting – you probably had a meeting and everyone said, “It’s just Dave.” We don’t care.

McCAIN: Yeah, “It’s only Dave. There’s only a few million people who’ll be watching. What the hell? Who cares?”

LETTERMAN: Well, I’m willing to put this behind us.

McCAIN: Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Letterman has quite an inflated ego.

He got McCain to apologize. If Letterman had any class, he would have apologized for the horrible things he said about McCain.

Example: "This is not the way a tested hero behaves."

When they got into the issues, Letterman was quite testy.

I was shocked. SHOCKED! How out of character!

Letterman was particularly troubled by McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

They spent a lot of time going back and forth about Sarah Palin's qualifications.

Then, Letterman DEBATED McCain on Bill Ayers.

Letterman kept grilling him. This really wasn't a "make nice" interview. Letterman was tossing out the fringe Leftist talking points.

LETTERMAN: But did you not have a relationship with Gordon Liddy?

McCAIN: I met him, you know, I mean…

LETTERMAN: Didn’t you attend a fund raiser at his house?

McCAIN: Gordon Liddy’s?

At that point, there was a quick cut to a long commercial break.

First, Gordon Liddy is not a Bill Ayers. Liddy was a crook and he paid his debt to society. Ayers was a terrorist and bragged in 2001, "Guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country."

Good grief.

Second, when Barack Obama was Letterman's guest on September 10, 2008, Letterman did bring up Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, or Tony Rezko. He wasn't hostile, far from it.

LETTERMAN: I know nothing about politics, so what you're going to see here tonight, when the senator comes out, is me sucking up to him like crazy, because if he happens to become president of the United States, I want to be able to, you know, be his buddy. And I want to go there, and you know, if you're waiting outside to get in to the Oval Office, I'll be hanging around.

Needless to say, the Letterman that interviewed Obama was Dr. Jekyll and McCain got Mr. Hyde.

After the break, the uncomfortableness continued.

LETTERMAN: How about that Tina Fey?

McCAIN: I know Gordon Liddy. He paid his debt. He went to prison, he paid his debt, as people do. I’m not in any way embarrassed to know Gordon Liddy. And his son, who is also a good friend and supporter of mine.

LETTERMAN: But you understand that the same case could be made of your relationship with him as being made with William Ayers.

McCAIN: Everything about any relationship that I’ve had I will make completely open and give a complete accounting of. Senator Obama said that he was a guy who lived in the neighborhood. OK, it was more than that.

LETTERMAN: They served on a committee at one point.

McCAIN: Yes, that gave $230,000 to ACORN which is now involved in what may be one of the great voter frauds in history. It could be. We need to know.

LETTERMAN: Are they double dating? Are they going to dinner? What are they doing? Are they driving cross country?

McCAIN: Maybe going to Denny’s. Who knows? The Grand Slam…

LETTERMAN: Now she said “pals around with terrorists.” OK, so alright. Let’s say we give her William Ayers. He was eight and William Ayers was 29. But they palled around.

McCAIN: There’s millions of word said in the campaign. Come on!

LETTERMAN: But that’s where we live. In politics, isn’t it?

McCAIN: Millions of words. Yes indeed. Look, let’s…

LETTERMAN: Let’s talk about Tina Fey. Tremendous talent.

After a little talk about Fey, Letterman went back to Palin. He asked about taking her off the ticket.

This was a contentious interview. It wasn't pleasant. Basically, Letterman was angry and disrespectful.

It was exactly what I expected.

Letterman got in a final shot at the end of the interview.

LETTERMAN: Thank you very much for showing up. Thanks for coming back.

McCAIN: I thank you for having me back.

LETTERMAN: Good luck, Senator. John McCain, Ladies and Gentlemen.

"Showing up"?

Typical Letterman.
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McCain gives Letterman his biggest audience in years

The Thursday night telecast was seen by 6.5 million viewers, and received a 1.7 rating in the adult demo. That's the largest audience for the show since December, 2005, when Oprah Winfrey appeared. "Late Show" also topped Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" (4.6 million viewers) by 43%.

Joe Biden must be depressed. He didn't pull in an audience for Jay Leno.

Late night talk show viewers chose to watch McCain. They didn't choose Letterman. Letterman's usual ratings attest to that.