Letterman On The Election

Letterman On The Election

As Evan and I have remarked before, you do not trifle with David Letterman. (Trifle is not the particular word Evan used, but it carries a cultural punch here in the South that works just as well.)

I was looking forward to Dave's take on the election outcome. Sure enough, he was ON FIRE. You can watch his monologue for November 5 here, but below are my favorite lines from it:

"Welcome to the Late Show. Attention, passengers: The Straight Talk Express is no longer in service.

"Ladies and gentleman, Barack Obama is our new President (waits for wild applause), yep, and I think I speak for most Americans when I say, Anybody mind if he starts a little early? Would that be a problem? (More wild applause and laughter, and Paul Schaffer shouts "Not at all!")

"I would like to say one thing to Senator John McCain: Listen, Senator, you don't show up for me, America doesn't show up for you.

"And then at the end of the evening, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama, 148 for McCain, or as Fox News says, 'Too close to call.'

"Republicans had a bad night all around, everywhere you looked. Even the crooked voting machines in Florida broke down. That was tough.

"Right about now, Joe the Plumber is meeting with his transition team. They're going to help ease him from obscurity back to oblivion.

"Sarah Palin, right now on her way back to Alaska...And I'm thinking, whoo, I wouldn't want to be a moose now.

"And did you see the concession speech last night? John McCain was generous, he was gracious, he was statesmanlike...And I was thinking, well, he should have tried that earlier."
(Photo of supporters at rally with Michelle Obama in Las Vegas, New Mexico on 29 October 2008; photo by Adrienne Booth)