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Let’s keep this short, as not to give any more hot air to this sad media cyclone.

Though David Letterman was clearly attempting to make a joke about Sarah Palin's older daughter, Bristol, his explanation when defending his Top 10 list about Sarah Palin’s trip to New York was an unsuccessful attempt to dodge a credible complaint. Palin wasn’t at the game with Bristol; she was there with her 14-year-old, Willow. The CBS host should have copped to the actual concern rather than make it sound as if no reasonable person could have possibly concluded he was joking about a young teen getting pregnant.

That said: The way Palin has managed to turn Letterman’s jokes into an increasingly dramatic media spectacle centered around her underage daughter’s sexual well being is so icky — an opportunistic overreaction that would seem more damaging to her teen’s self-esteem than the original joke.

Palin called Letterman "sexually perverted" and “inappropriate" on Fox News and, in a response to an invitation by Letterman to come on his show, her office replied: “It would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman” — all stunningly upping the ante by suggesting the veteran host should now be considered some kind of sex offender.

One expects a late-night host to sometimes cross the line of goodtaste when making jokes. One doesn't expect the governor — a politicalleader taken seriously by millions — to respond by accusing the comedian of personally having criminal intentions.

It would be like Jay Leno making an inappropriate hypothetical joke about a terrorist plot to blow up the White House, and Barack Obama reacting by accusing Leno of being a national security threat.

Today Palin demanded Letterman apologize to all women, while John McCain, in a Constitution-shredding suggestion, said Palin deserves protection from the jokes of late-night hosts. 

Palin is like some kind of fictional character. A real-life Dolores Umbridge or Nurse Ratched or Annie Wilkes.

She rallies a certain brand of conservative ideology, but her highly effective media manipulation tactics — a double-edged strategy of playing the victim while throwing divisive, low-blow punches — are offensive in a way that ought to transcend ideology or gender. Her biggest impact always seems to be convincing Americans to start fighting with each other, a pied piper of online message board anger.

So I've been reluctant to post this (even though I obviously did) because Palin seems like an entity that can only be dispelled by withdrawing your attention from her. As Letterman discovered, criticizing Palin means she wins.