She looks like…

"You know, she reminds me, she looks like the flight attendant who won't give you a second can of Pepsi. No, you've had enough. We're landing. Looks like the waitress at the coffee shop who draws a little smiley face on your check. Have a nice day."

"She looks like the dip sample lady at Safeway. She looks like the nurse who weighs you and then makes you sit alone in your underwear for 20 minutes. She looks like the Olive Garden hostess who says, 'I'm sorry, your table isn't ready yet.' She looks like the infomercial lady who says she made $64,000 a month flipping condos."

"She looks like the lady at the bakery who yells out '44! 45!' She looks like a real estate agent whose picture you see on the bus stop bench. That's who she looks like. She looks like the lady who has a chain of cupcake stores..."

These are comments made by David Letterman about Governor Sarah Palin, a sitting governor. I’m not going to comment about how juvenile, crass, sophomoric, and just plain stupid these remarks are. I won't comment on the example he's setting for his son. That would be giving him even more publicity than he’s already gotten.

But, I have to wonder how the flight attendants of the world now think about Letterman. Or the waitresses, the ladies who work at grocery stores giving out samples, nurses, restaurant hostesses, women on infomercials, bakery workers, real estate women, or bakery store owners. Whatever you might think of these careers, or the women who persue them, these are hardworking women, who work in industries that demand exceptional public service, and in some cases, at very low pay - especially for the job they do.

Letterman has denigrated every one of these careers by insinuating that they are somehow less than that of, oh, say, a late night talk show host who simply sits behind a desk and makes chit-chat with Hollywood types or someone who is simply the flavor of the moment. I notice he didn’t say anything about bleached blondes with enhanced boobs who make a living reciting lines that someone else wrote.

Yes, Letterman owes a real apology to Governor Palin and both her daughters, but he also owes one to the women whose career choices he dismisses as being worthy of a punch line in a joke.

I hope Letterman isn't planning a plane trip, or a trip to a restaurant, grocery store, or bakery store. I hope he's careful about his choice of real estate agent. And, with his health history, he sure shouldn't be making fun of nurses.