Post Politics: Palin vs. Letterman, Confirmation 'Hurry,' More

Washington Post national political reporter Lois Romano was online Thursday, June 11 at 11 a.m. ET to discuss the latest news about the White House and Congress.

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Lois Romano: Good morning everyone- thanks for joining us today.

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New York, NY: Hi, Lois. I really hope you'll find a way to answer this one, because it weighs heavily. If radical Muslims had carried out terrorist attacks in Kansas and Washington, D.C. over the past five days, don't you think we'd be hearing cries for legislation giving the president the legal authority to place people in preventive detention, and claims that we need to round up Arab-Americans (correction: Muslims) and put them in relocation camps?

But since these recent acts of terror were done by some old white guys, our civil liberties remain unthreatened, I suppose? There's been a startling and undeniable trend of fringe right violence recently, from Richard Poplawski to Scott Roeder and now James Von Brunn. How come the talking heads on TV are telling us to view this violence as the acts of deranged individuals, rather than of groups? Is it just because they're white men?

Lois Romano: No I dont agree. I think every act of terror has to be looked at individually-- and not as an act of a entire group of people, or of an entire religion. There is no question Von Brunn is deranged- but so far I haven't seen any evidence he was working with anyone else. While we might find white supremacists deplorable- most are probably not violent.

Tim McVeigh acted alone. And the 9/11 terorists proved to be part of an organized group. So I believe the US tries to take every situation on his own weight.

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Washington, D.C.: RE: Dave Letterman. Lois, any thoughts on the Letterman-Palin imbroglio?

While I agree that the children of politicians should normally be off limits for jokes, I find the "outrage" about what Dave Letterman said to be ludicrous. As he explained, he thought Bristol (a teen mother who seems quite comfortable in the spotlight) was the daughter who had accompanied her mother to NYC, not her 14-year old sister.

Dave rightly apologized for that screw-up, but I don't see that he has anything else to apologize for--unlike commentators such as your colleague Howard Kurtz, who sees an equivalence between this situation and what happened to Chelsea Clinton

Even 16 years later, I still vividly recall prominent GOP leaders--including John McCain, Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich--making vile cracks about how ugly Chelsea (a teenager at the time, don't forget) supposedly was, and asserting that she was the love child of Hillary Clinton and Janet Reno. What I DON'T recall are any denunciations of those comments, let alone any apologies from the perpetrators.

washingtonpost.com: Dave Discusses Sarah Palin Dave clarifies some of the jokes he made earlier this week.

Lois Romano: I generally believe kids should be off limits.

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Berks County, PA: Any idea why Sen. Leahy is in such an all fire hurry to push the Sotomayer confirmation hearings ? Justice Souter is still on the bench and actively engaged isn't he ?

Lois Romano: All the Democrats are in a hurry. In any hearing like this where the stakes are so high, the party in power wants to move quickly. The longer it sits around the more time opponents have to demonize the nominee.

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Montgomery Village, Md.: Lois Will yesterday's tragedy at the museum have ANY impact on the members of Congress who STILL believe that any restrictions or regulation of guns will lead to collapse of our way of life--or worse?

Also, how does a convicted felon get a hold of the weapons Van Brunn had?

Lois Romano: Any time there is a senseless shooting, it puts the heat on congress for strong gun controls. But the gun lobby argues sjsut as loud that guns dont kill people, people kill people. Its pretty easy to get a gun.

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Arlington, Va.: A lot has been said about how the governor's race in Virginia can be used to predict future elections in the coming years. However do governor's races really have any correlation with national or congressional races? Massachusetts, New York, California and Illinois all have elected Republican governors in the last 10 years, and no one with any common sense thinks those states are in danger of going to Republicans in the next presidential election, or even in a Senate race.

Lois Romano: Yes and no. Governors tend to be elected as individuals. Still, one can read into a trend. In the case of Virginia, voters went with a moderate, more rural candidate-- sending a message that Dems may not rule the roost just yet.

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Arlington, Va.: Tim McVeigh acted alone? How about Terry Nichols, who was found guilty also?

Lois Romano: McVeigh bombed the building alone. But yes, Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and manslaughter. The point is that there was no demonstrable evidence that they were part of terrorist cell. Just 2 angry, deranged guys.

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Minneapolis: Hi Lois -- Thanks for taking questions today. The president has been taking some hits for his lack of action on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," especially since repealing the policy was a pretty explicit promise he made during the campaign. The WH keeps saying that they're working on it, but that's about all. What do you think the hold up is about? If I understand it correctly, he could change the policy with an executive order and that would be it. Is he waiting to get other things out of the way first (health care, Sotomayor) before tackling this hot button issue? How does that square with his remark that presidents should be able to do more than one thing at a time?

Lois Romano: Dont know why he's waiting but I suspect there's much behind-the-scenes consensus building going on. He is already doing quite a bit at once, and so this may just be a matetr of timing.

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Arlington, Va.: Setting aside the question of Palin's kids, what about Letterman's remarks about Palin herself? Regardless of what one might think of her political views, should it be acceptable for him to call her a "slut" like he did? Doesn't this sort of sexist attack hamper women's participation in politics?

Lois Romano: If he called her a "slut," that is a bit much.

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Message from Virginia: Lois, I think the results from Virginia don't necessarily mean "Democrats don't rule the roost." After all, even in the very liberal counties of NoVa, Deeds performed very well. It has more to do with the poor campaigns/profiles of Moran/McAuliffe than the political inclinations of the state as a whole.

You could just as easily say Democrats made a smart decision that will make it easier to win in Nov. and continue their domination of VA statewide offices.

Lois Romano: True. Deed was a good candidate.

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Washington, DC: Has Obama reacted to his pastor Jeremiah Wright's comment about "them Jews" keeping Obama from seeing Wright? Coming as it did on the heels of the Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting, I find Wright's comment to be particuarly disconcerting, and I think that Obama SHOULD denounce it.

Lois Romano: Obama has cut off all contact with Wright and denounced his comments. Its not appropriate for him to react to Wright's every utterance for the next 10 years. Why engage him?

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Princeton, NJ: I'm a little surprised after all the coverage (by both liberal bloggers and mainstream media people) over the Republican fundraiser and Palin attending that little-to-no attention was paid to some of hilarious remarks that were made. Newt Gingrich goes out and says we're becoming a country of pagans - this is a man who cheated on his wife and has had multiple marriages. Does he have any more credibility than Bill Clinton on adhering to Christian tenets? Why do reporters have double standards when it comes to Republicans and Democrats being religious?

Lois Romano: You raise a good point about Palin and the dinner-- who cares whether she goes or not.

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"A bit much": On Letterman and Palin: I tend to dislike any language with a misogynistic bent, but what kind of serious woman paints her toenails with little hearts and rhinestones? It's not a question of what a late night comedian says about her, it is a question about how someone who wants to be treated seriously presents herself.

Lois Romano: Painting your toenails doesn't allow someone to call you names.

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Palin: So it's okay to screech everywhere that someone's a socialist, working to demolish our way of life and open us to terrorist attacks, but saying someone dresses like "a slutty flight attendant"(the actual statement) is way beyond the pale? Good to know.

Lois Romano: neither are polite- but one does feel more personal than the other.

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"What's the rush"?!: Maybe I'm calendarically challenged, but last time I checked, July 13th was over a month away, and Sotomayor was nominated two weeks ago. And the hearing will take a week, and they won't vote for another week after that. Only in Washington could two months be considered rushing.

Lois Romano: Two months is an appropriate amount of time to properly investigate a candidate for the US Supreme Court. President Obama would like to keep the ball rolling- which is not the same as rushing.

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Hearts and Rhinestones: George Schultz has a tiger tattoo on his rumpus. I'm not sure if that makes me respect him or less.

Lois Romano: I never could look at him the same after I learned that.

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Letterman: Mr Letterman's joke is being misrepresented. He didn't call Gov Palin a slut, he said she had "that slutty flight attendant look." It is unclear whether this is an upgrade or downgrade from prior comparisons to librarians.

Lois Romano: And what about mr. Imus's famous reference to ho's? How is Letterman's remark different? I dont think it is. They are both personal attacks that the men tried to put out as humor.

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Roanoke, Va.: Re: Sotomayor's confirmation - And the senate wonders why their approval ratings aren't very high - does it take that long to read things already in the public domain? They have aides, etc., to help them - are they really that lazy?

Lois Romano: Its an enormous amount of work- and its a life time appointment.

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Washington, DC: "it is a question about how someone who wants to be treated seriously presents herself. "

I am the LAST person who would ever defend Palin's politics or commentary - I hated her on the campaign for any number of political reasons - but this person seriously needs to grow up and realize that the style and color of one's toenails is not an indicator of seriousness or intellect. She dresses professionally and presents herself in the same way, it's just that she does it as a woman. Does this poster also think that George W. Bush's lack of manscaping (think of that unibrow of his) was what made him a bad president?

Lois Romano: Thank you for your comment.

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You said: Painting your toenails doesn't allow someone to call you names.: If Gov. Palin wants to be considered for the highest office in the free world, then she better get used to jokes of late night comedians, regardless of sex.

Letterman and Leno have been doing jokes about Bill Clinton for almost 20 years and some of those may have been over the line.

If you want to play in the major leagues, occasionally someone's going to throw a pitch that's inside.

Lois Romano: We've clearly struck a hot button here about gender and politics and whats fair game. Whatever you think of her politics, its hard to argue with the fact that she has dressed like a professional. This nail polish dialogue is stupid and sexist.

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Chicago: Do you think if Barack Obama had had a 17 year old daughter get pregnant out of wedlock prior to the campaign he would have been elected? If Sarah Palin chooses to parade her family and her 18-year-old daughter as a poster child for abstinence and "choosing" to keep her baby, why is she or her ADULT daughter off limits?

Lois Romano: No one is saying she's off limits. But any kind of crude name calling degrades the process.

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Lois Romano: That's it for today. But you have all given me an idea for a story on gender politics. Thanks for all your insights. See you in two weeks. LR

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