THE MENTION OF LETTERMAN MAKES SARAH SMILE

You're going to say I'm nitpicking, but watch the video I've posted below, of this morning's Today show interview of Sarah Palin by Matt Lauer (also available "here). Watch, specifically, as the discussion shifts, around 3:20, from the subject of Alaska's natural gas pipeline to the subject of David Letterman jokes that have been denounced, by Palin and others, as literal inducements to pedophilia and statutory rape.

Here's Palin talking about the pipeline, just before the subject changes:



And here's Palin a few seconds later, when Lauer brings up Letterman:



Watch it on the video. Lauer says, with an awkward smile, "Can we talk about some of the other, um, ways you've been in the news lately? And you know about this. There's been this feud this week with Late Show host David Letterman" -- and Palin interrupts, saying (I'd say impishly), "If you must." And she's grinning the whole time.

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She grins again around 7:00 when Lauer brings up her statement that Letterman ought to stay away from Willow:



Now, I've said that I think Letterman went way, way over the line. I think Palin's daughters should be off-limits with regard to this kind of thing. But I'm sorry -- if I had a 14-year-old daughter and I felt she'd been, in effect, sexually assaulted with words, and you asked me about it on TV, I wouldn't get a cat-about-to-chow-down-on-a-canary grin on my face. I wouldn't be smiling at all. I'd be furious just thinking about it.

But that's Palin. She knows David Letterman gave her (specifically, her career) a big fat Christmas present, and she's smiling because she's ready to take full advantage. She has her talking points ready. She has supportive e-mails ready to be read from her BlackBerry. She's prepped. Her daughters largely disappear from the discussion. She's got her ducks lined up in a row for a self-righteous lecture -- and it's a really, really good feeling.