[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15423]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            UNACCEPTABLE ATTACK ON GOVERNOR PALIN'S DAUGHTER

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Madam Speaker, the late Senator Daniel Moynihan 
published a paper on defining deviancy down in which society lowers its 
standards whereby unacceptable conduct becomes acceptable.
  I recently heard from a number of my constituents about the abusive 
attack on Governor Sarah Palin's 14-year-old daughter. I also read 
about this and was just as upset as they were. Governor Palin and her 
14-year-old daughter had attended a Yankees game and David Letterman 
told a totally inappropriate joke about them.
  I recall that last year, David Shuster made an inappropriate comment 
about Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton. The 
president of NBC apologized and suspended Shuster from the network. The 
Palin family received a belated apology a week later.
  I hope the host, David Letterman, realizes that children should not 
be the targets of sexually charged jokes. We must not allow the 
unacceptable to become the acceptable.

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