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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 POLITICAL COMEDY 
39

Thank (or Blame) Bush for Dave's Left Turn

Letterman veers from apolitical-leaning-right to full-on liberal

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(Newser) – The most telling thing David Letterman has said in a while may have been a brief comment he made last Monday, as he wrapped up an hour with President Obama: "I can't tell you how satisfying it is to watch you work," the famously crotchety Late Night host said matter-of-factly. George W. Bush lies behind the transformation of Letterman from a Clinton-bashing admirer of Bob Dole and John McCain to an unabashed Obama fan, Brian Lowry writes for Variety.

"Letterman appeared to mirror the country's growing doubts about the war in Iraq, and his antagonism toward Bush began to go deeper than the barbs that latenight comedians customarily hurl at politicians," Lowry writes. After candidate McCain stood up Letterman, "swift, brutal and extremely funny" payback ensued, and Dave's tangles with Sarah Palin appear to have sealed the deal. "Call it the political education of David Letterman."

David Letterman accompanies President Obama, who holds a heart-shaped potato an audience member brought to the
David Letterman accompanies President Obama, who holds a heart-shaped potato an audience member brought to the "Late Show" during taping in New York, Monday Sept. 21, 2009.   (AP Photo/John Paul Filo,CBS)
In this image originally provided by CBS, David Letterman appears on the
In this image originally provided by CBS, David Letterman appears on the "Late Show with David Letterman," in this Oct. 8, 2007, file photo, in New York.   (AP Photo/John Paul Filo, CBS, File)
Then-candidate John McCain messed with David Letterman during the 2008 campaign and was the butt of jokes for months thereafter.
Then-candidate John McCain messed with David Letterman during the 2008 campaign and was the butt of jokes for months thereafter.   (AP Photo/CBS Entertainment, John Paul Filo)
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39 comments
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Stasis
Sep 27, 09 4:14 PM CDT
Republicans need another 9/11. That'll make them happier than a pig laying in it's own excrement! Reply
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+15
IN RESPONSE:
Reader64481089
Sep 27, 09 4:19 PM CDT
War and other such things are indeed what they live for it would seem. Each country that doesn't submit to American Dominance is automatically labeled as a terrorist nation. We think as Americans we have the ultimate authority to tell them what they can and can't do and one day I just ope the majority wake up and understand that a sovereign nation has just as much right to self rule of their own choosing as we do and if that nation as a whole decides it wishes to change the way they are ruled then it is for them to decide and not us to play some type god who knows what is best for everyone....American Imperialism needs to stop
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+13
IN RESPONSE:
Reader60610265
Sep 27, 09 4:51 PM CDT
What an ass.you are stasis
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-5
IN RESPONSE:
hamsammichs
Sep 27, 09 5:21 PM CDT
We still have troops all over the world and more importantly in the Middle East. I don't think taking on the world is merely a "Republican" thing.
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+8
IN RESPONSE:
Rocket448
Sep 27, 09 5:53 PM CDT
Read1089: you have it right (no pun intended) about the GOP. Our country needs a real opposition party, one with a philosophy and policies to achieve important social and international goals. Failing that, I'll stick with the democrats.
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+7

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