HE DOESN'T host a syndicated radio show. You won't find his byline on the op-ed pages discussing President Obama's latest policy proposal.
He's a comedian in hot water with conservatives for making some pretty vile jokes. David Letterman took aim at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's recent trip to New York, offering up some off-color and sexist quips.
In his monologue, Letterman said, "One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game. During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." Later, presenting his Top 10 list, "Highlights of Sarah Palin's Trip to New York," Letterman said the GOP vice presidential nominee had "bought makeup at Bloomingdale's to update her 'slutty flight attendant' look."
Letterman did the right thing in apologizing twice for his tasteless attempts at humor, finally noting that the intention of his jokes was meaningless when considering the way any rational person would perceive his jokes. Ultimately, though, it's Letterman's future conduct that will determine the sincerity of his contrition.
But the right's fury rages on.
It's hard, however, to take conservatives seriously when every day, real players in the rudderless conservative movement - powerful talk-radio and cable-news hosts, pundits, columnists and bloggers - throw aside the reasonable boundaries of civil discourse by using divisive, insensitive, misleading and hateful rhetoric. The response from their followers? Hardly a peep.
Hypocrisy is nothing new for right-wingers (or politics in general, for that matter), but in a selfless attempt to help them avoid the "hypocrite" label, I humbly present a Top 10 list of "Right-Wingers from Whom Conservatives Should Be Demanding Apologies."
10. Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, for falsely claiming that a hate-crime bill that adds gay and transgender Americans to the list of protected groups would also protect those who commit incest, pedophilia and bestiality.
9. Fox News' Sean Hannity, for hosting "Internet journalist" Andy Martin, who once called a judge a "crooked, slimy Jew, who has a history of lying and thieving common to members of his race."
8. Syndicated radio host Neal Boortz, for describing welfare recipients as "human parasitic garbage lining up to get their applications to loot."
7. Fox News' Glenn Beck, for describing Obama's nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court as, "Hey, Hispanic chick lady! You're empathetic . . . You're in!"
6. MSNBC's cranky uncle, Pat Buchanan, for saying before Sotomayor's selection that he wanted Obama to pick a Supreme Court justice "who has real stature, impresses people" but thinking instead that Obama would pick "a minority, a woman and/or a Hispanic."
5. Syndicated radio host Jim Quinn, for repeatedly calling NOW the "National Organization of Whores."
4. Cincinnati-based radio host Bill Cunningham, for alleging that "Obama wants to gas the Jews."
3. Michael Savage, third-highest-rated radio host in America, for saying "Obama hates" and "is raping America."
2. Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, for repeatedly quacking that legalizing gay marriage could lead to folks marrying ducks.
AND No. 1, the conservatives' de facto leader, Rush Limbaugh, for saying of Obama, "We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles . . . because his father was black."
We should all be concerned about the level of sexism, racism, homophobia and bigotry in today's media landscape - regardless of party. Unfortunately, like the gap between Letterman's teeth, there's a gaping hole in the credibility of his conservative critics, however justified their claims may be. *
Karl Frisch is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America (www.mediamatters.org).
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