Politicians are prime sources of comic material. They always have been, and in free societies they always will be. Good, clean political humor, the kind legendary comedian Bob Hope served up for 70 years, is healthy. It helps prevent everyone from taking politicians too seriously, and it brings comic relief to hard-fought partisan struggles. When the purveyors of political humor attempt to use it to unjustly demean and degrade politicians, as David Letterman’s comments about Sarah Palin and her daughter attempted to do last week, they corrupt an important aspect of American politics.

Democrats were worried; they saw Palin as a serious threat, not just to the Democratic nominees, but to their carefully crafted image of what the modern American woman was supposed to be--liberal, pro-abortion, anti-gun, and a Democrat. They immediately set out to counter the Palin effect, and they got plenty of help from the left-wing blogosphere and the largely liberal entertainment community.

Bloggers were relentless, and still are, at spreading half-truths and outright falsehoods about Palin and her family. Outspoken liberal entertainers and even the mainstream media passed on much of what political activists on the Internet were saying about the Palins, believing most of it to be true. It was only natural for left-leaning comedians, most of whom supported Barack Obama, to use this material in their acts.

To be fair, the overwhelming majority of the jokes and comedy skits about Palin and her family were well within the bounds of propriety, which are certainly much broader today than they were in Bob Hope’s time. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean they weren’t intended to diminish Palin’s image and help Obama.

NBC’s Saturday Night Live (SNL) is perhaps the best example. Tina Fey’s portrayal of Sarah Palin was excellent and fully within the bounds of acceptable humor. Like other comedians, the SNL crew made jokes about the stereotypes of Palin the left was propagating. And as the campaign progressed, Palin herself gave Fey plenty of things to play off of. Palin’s folksy down-home manner of speech, her hair style and glasses, and Palin’s interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric are prime examples. Palin even appeared on SNL, giving the program's jabs at her even more credibility.

It’s no secret, however, that SNL crews, past and present, have used their talent for more than comic purposes. In an interview with former SNL star Chevy Chase shortly after the 2008 campaign, he was asked if his portrayal of President Gerald Ford in the 1970s as an uncoordinated bumbler had a political motive. He admitted that it had, and suggested that using political humor to disadvantage a candidate you disagreed with wasn’t uncommon. Interviews Fey gave about her popular Palin routines, for which she won an award, revealed that she held views diametrically opposed to Palin’s and that she shared Chase’s attitude.

Nevertheless, SNL’s political humor, which often is directed at Democrats, although arguably not to the extent it is at Republicans, is fair game. It’s part of the American political landscape. Appearing on SNL has become mandatory for US presidential candidates. They’ve discovered that it’s wise to be in on the joke rather than the target of it; and self-deprecating humor makes candidates more attractive to voters.

If it isn’t acceptable to refer to Michelle Obama’s “slutty flight-attendant look” or to make a joke about the statutory rape of one of her daughters, it isn’t acceptable to say those things about Palin and her daughter. Had Letterman said something like that about the Obamas, calls for his firing would have been deafening. As Ann Coulter and other conservatives have frequently charged, however, the same standard doesn’t apply to Republicans.  

Letterman wasn’t the first comedian to say raunchy things about the governor, and he won’t be the last. As long as Palin remains a viable presidential candidate for 2012 or later, she will remain the object of ridicule by the left-wing blogosphere and off-color jokes by left-leaning comedians. They’ll continue to attack Sarah Palin because they want to damage her and make her unelectable. They don’t want to take any chances that her conservative, pro-life, pro-gun ideas might catch on with people who don't already share them.

It’s a free country and they’re entitled to do that. But it’s one thing to make comments like Letterman’s, as offensive as they might be, at a nightclub in Las Vegas or on the Internet where all manner of vile and hateful speech exists. It’s quite another thing to make them on broadcast television. Palin’s pointed reaction to Letterman was justified, as were the negative reactions of many others.

Political humor is an important and necessary part of American politics. There’s nothing wrong with people using it to make fun of politicians they want to help defeat at the polls. But when they get nasty, vindictive, and mean, as David Letterman did, Americans should let them know they don’t enjoy or appreciate it. When we allow people like Letterman to corrupt our political humor, we all suffer.