The Letterman-McCain feud continues: Day Two!

It doesn't sound like David Letterman is over it.

The late-night comedian, who berated Sen. John McCain last night for suspending his campaign in order to focus on the ongoing financial crisis, went after the Republican presidential candidate again on tonight’s show.

Letterman said he understood when McCain canceled his scheduled appearance on “Late Show" last night, even when he discovered that the senator wasn’t racing to Washington, as he said, but was a few blocks away doing an interview with Katie Couric.

But then he found out that McCain didn’t leave for D.C. until this morning.

“I feel used,” Letterman said. “I feel cheap. I feel sullied.” 

“I was thinking about this – John, John, here’s how it works: You don’t come to see me … you don’t come to see me?” he went on. “Well, we might not see you on Inauguration Day. That’s how it works. You see?”

Ouch!

Then he went after McCain’s running mate with tonight's Top 10 list, “Top 10 Surprising Facts About Sarah Palin," recited via satellite by residents of Wasilla, Alaska. (No. 2: "To improve her foreign policy experience, she recently went to the International House of Pancakes.")

Excerpts from Letterman’s lacerating remarks, airing on tonight’s “Late Show:”

What a great American John McCain is. Unquestionably, as President Clinton said earlier this week, he gave almost everything but his life for this country. And a tremendous hero and a tremendous role model …a nd he was supposed to be on the show. So at the last minute he calls up and says, “Uh … I can’t make it.”  And I said, “What is the problem?”  And he said, “Well, the economy.  The economy is about to crater.” 

And I don’t know if you folks regularly get calls from United States senators, but I’m telling you, you feel like you’ve been deputized. And so he says, “I have to race back to Washington, D.C. … the nation’s capital.”  I said, “I know that, Senator.”  How dumb do I look?  He says, “I have to race back because the economy is about to crater.”  And, of course, I said, right away, “Whatever you need to do.”  Am I gonna be the reason people are standing in bread lines? No. “Well, we’d have saved it, but I had to go on Letterman’s show … Everything would have been fine, but he wouldn’t let me out of the gig. That’s why it cratered. It’s Letterman’s fault. There he is. Get him!”  So I don’t need that. 

So I’m scared. I’m starting to tremble a little bit because he said, “I’ve got to race back to D.C.” And I thought, holy gosh. … OK, everything’s fine. Don’t worry about it. The senator is on his way back to D.C.  So, not only did he not go back right away, he stopped by to see Katie Couric on his way out. And then, OK, we looked at it and we said, “OK, I understand that. That’s news and this is nonsense.”  But then after Katie Couric, wham-o, right to the airport … no.  No. No. We found out today that he didn’t really leave until this morning. (Boos from the audience.) Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. So what we learned today is that the economy held on long enough –- just barely held on long enough for him to get back there. 

Whereas, you can see, 24 hours ago, I felt like a patriot. I felt like I was helping out. I felt like I was doing my part. Part of the cause. Fighting the fight. Not part of the problem, I was part of the solution. I was going to help in my own little way get this economy out of the crater. And now I’m just feeling like an ugly date. That’s what I feel like. I feel like an ugly date. I feel used. I feel cheap. I feel sullied. I feel cratered.

TOP 10 SURPRISING FACTS ABOUT SARAH PALIN

10. Sometimes Sarah calls John McCain “Grandpa.”

9. She stole that sexy librarian look from me.

8. Recently passed legislation to build a bridge to Funkytown.

7. Does great impressions of Tina Fey.

6. Favorite meal: moose nuggets and beaver jerky.

5. Working on “Knight Rider” spinoff about a talking snowmobile.

4. Favorite book? “Late Show Fun Facts” -– available at fine stores everywhere.

3. Once spent a week in the hospital after attempting to put lipstick on a pit bull.

2. To improve her foreign policy experience, she recently went to the International House of Pancakes.

1. Only person I know who’s not afraid to go hunting with Dick Cheney.

-- Matea Gold

Photo courtesy CBS

Comments

[YeahWhatever]

Feud? I haven't heard anything from McCain, only Letterman. How is that a feud? It's not even a grudge - IT'S JUST A COMEDIAN MILKING A JOKE!!! Come on - why are we reading ANY of this as anything but comedy? Are we really validating this nonsense (Dave's word!) with political credibility? Letterman, Leno, Stewart, Colbert, the SNL gang - these people don't give a rat's butt about their guests' policies and positions. They simply want to entertain their audiences. For some reason we think this is something to consider in the voting booth. It's not! It's jokes, for crying out loud!!!

[tiredofcongress]

R Duran posted - Nice Dave.. I like that he didn't take McCain at his word and nice to know McCain's word is worth about as much as the current president's. He seems perfect for the job by W's standards.

You are so simple minded. McCain goes back to washington to do his job as a senator and you cry because your tv schedule is altered.
Letterman is a smuck. Country first. Letterman and your entertainment second.

[AlanDr]

Dave, it's that time, you've been on TV for eons and you've gone from funny young guy to angry old guy - a familiar trip for many. Retire back in Connecticut to some fancy, assisted-living place and I'm sure we'll all be content. Hell, CBS will probably give you a really nice retirement gift, like a silver plated drool cup!

[Louis Yun]

The top ten list is hysterical!

[rebecca]

People with integrity meet their commitments. When they can not meet their commitments they do not lie about their reasons. Letterman has every right to call him out on this. MacSame lies easily and for stupid reasons. Letterman has always been very kind and respectful to this guy in the past. I am glad he is not letting him off the hook.

[Carla]

Brenda: Letterman is not the host of the Tonight Show. Fyi.

[Jim]

Ol' Dave is perhaps the most pompous and self-important piece of work still in TV land today.
Believing that his show and his group think opinions are the end-all and be-all is really amusing to anyone who manages to think for themselves.

Why on earth would any Presidential candidate care one whit about Davey's constant grousing and puffery? David Lettermans opinion ranks about the level of Pamela Anderson or those three chicks that live off of Hefner.

The only thing bigger than the gap between Dave's teeth is the gap between his ears...

[jon]

Hey shelly, news flash. Late Night w/ Letterman is not the most important venue in the world for serious political discussion. If McCain decided that it was not in his best interests to go on a COMEDY/ENTERTAINMENT show at a time when our economy is about to collapse is well within his right to do that. How would it look for McCain to be yucking it up with Letterman while ALL the other senators are in DC working on this bailout bill?? What kind of leader is that? I agree that some of Dave's shots at McCain were funny. And he certainly has the right to be upset because of the last minute nature of it. But if you watched last nights show, Dave is now acting like a spoiled child. Like somehow all serious politicians MUST see he and his show as the most important place in the world. Give me a break.

[Mike Williams]

This invective can hardly be called a feud. Letterman is playing politics, just like the majority of the media who are prostrating themselves at the coronation of Barry.

[Chris in Marietta]

McBlame anyone but himself for this stupid - and RUDE - episode. Lying to Letterman's producer and then showing up on the CBS Evening news is not something the old, maverick McCain would have done...he's becoming more and more llike George W Bush each and every day.

McCain is too old to be President, he was wrong about Iraq, and he admits he doesn't understand the economy!

[karen marie]

brenda gacia: "I feel that Letterman was waiting for McCain to make a simple mistake, and then make it a big deal just so people can hate McCain even more."

me: "a simple mistake"? mccain spoke to letterman personally and told him he was flying to washington "immediately" because "the economy is cratering." why did mccain feel the need to lie about his whereabouts and at the same time make an extraordinarily inflammatory and self-aggrandizing statement about why he couldn't make it?

if you think, "well, maybe mccain was in such a rush he said the wrong thing."

if mccain was in such a rush, why did he make the call himself? does mccain not have staff that handles his schedule? could not someone else have called letterman?

listen, kid, people have larger reasons to "hate mccain even more" than the fact that he lied to david letterman, but mccain lied when he did not need to. all he had to say was, "gee, i have other things to do, can't make it." who would have said boo? nobody.

mccain lies even when there is no need to lie.

brenda gacia: "I believe that sometimes people have others of a higher authority under a microscope, so that when they do make a small mistake, they make it a bigger deal than what it actually is."

me: absolutely, this incident is pretty minor in the scale of national politics, but are you suggesting that the american people should put away their "microscope" and stop demanding that our elected leaders behave appropriately?

do you consider lying as a matter of course (as mccain and palin do on a daily basis) is "a small mistake"? last time i checked, lying was a pretty big deal. and a person who lies needlessly and about small things should have their credibility questioned in all things.

i would have thought that seeing the results of almost eight years of republicans making an art of running from responsibility and leaving the taxpayers holding the bag would finally wake the 28-percenters up.

the house is on fire, brenda gacia, and bush, mccain and the rest of the republican "leadership" arranged the tinder and lit the match. you may not mind being burned to a crisp cinder but others who are more alert have in fact already left the building.

[bob]

does dave really think a appearance on his show will make the difference in the election? maybe if he had a following like oprah, or leno....but dave my freind, you get beat regularly in the ratings by nightline......you have the same credibility to be fair to republicans as does the view...in other words, your bias is dripping off you like sweat off a marathoner after running 26 miles in 100 degree heat.

[bob]

dave, dave....your head is so big it should be in a macy day parade. listen dave, if you could beat nightline regularly in the ratings, which you don't, a appearence on you show might mean something. but the fact that you wear your politics on your sleeve, and your bias pours out of your pores, puts you in the same group as the view, and keith olberman. sorry dave, but your show does not a election make. for your sake, when leno goes to abc and crushes your there, i hope you will be able to beat out o'brien.....but i doubt it.

[Bill - Santa Clarita CA]

David Letterman is a wussy and ugly at that. Punk flaming liberal whose sophomoric humor is for simpletons.

[Lisa]

Hey folks, you don't think Letterman is a serious show? Guess where John McCain announced to the world his decision to run for President? Yeah, on David Letterman. Get a clue.

[Steven]

Mccain is pathetic. Trying to publicize the whole thing. Mccain is nothing but a drama queen trying to take advantage of the situation. Suspending his campaign and returning to DC to act like he was going to make a difference. Mccain sure knows a lot about the economy with the fundamentals being strong and all.. o wait. Letterman saw through his facade. and called him out on it!

[autoprt]

McCain can't have it both ways, he used Lettermans audience when he needed them initially and he was just afraid to maybe be made fun of before the debate.
Letterman is at his best when he gets pissed off at someone, my advice is for Mccain to apologize and make a quick appointment to get off the show or this is going to escalate and Dave is going to win. He is an expert at this and it will improve his ratings.

[Ed]

Dave may be only a comedian, but he gets to talk to the American public every night, five nights a week. He'll have probably 25 more opportunities to bring this up in the next five weeks. Ooops.

[FlipX]

More to the point, McCain's contribution to the crisis in Washington was to suggest that further deregulation and corporate tax cuts would gets us out of the mess that...oh, wait, deregulation and corporate tax cuts got us into in the first place.

So explain to me what the big emergency was? I'm failing to see how the good senator was any different, in this instance, than a know-it-all glory-hog who really hadn't the faintest clue.

[jojo]

The idiots in hollywood are not important and no one cares about their liberal baby killing ideas.

Letterman is a whiny baby....