Jeri Thompson on Letterman Apology

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," June 16, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And tonight in "Your America" David Letterman has been feeling the pressure over the past week from his advertisers and from Governor Palin's supporters, and last night he finally caved in and offered an apology for the so-called joke that he made about Governor Palin's daughter. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault that it was misunderstood.

So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it, and I'll try to do better in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANNITY: Now despite that so-called apology protesters gathered outside the CBS studios in New York today. Many of them demanding that he be fired from the network.

Joining us now with her take on all of this is Jeri Thompson and she is the wife of former Senator Fred Thompson. By the way, and co-hosting the radio show with your husband.

• Video: Watch Sean's interview

JERI THOMPSON, WIFE OF FRED THOMPSON: Absolutely.

HANNITY: "The Jeri and Fred Show," right?

THOMPSON: It's "The Jeri and Fred Show" and he wanted to give you a message, Sean. He said the reason it's not "The Jeri and Fred Show" is that Obama hasn't yet nominated a radio czar.

(LAUGHTER)

HANNITY: If he did, I'll take the job. And we'll rename the show.

All right. This is a serious thing. You know we saw this. And you go back to the vicious attacks against Katherine Harris, let's take it back to 2000.

THOMPSON: Right.

HANNITY: You were labeled in the paper a trophy wife, but that didn't happen to the candidates' wives, the Democratic candidate wives. So already we saw in the beginning.

THOMPSON: No, I...

HANNITY: Go ahead.

THOMPSON: Right. I'm sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt you. But it's been like that for a long time, and there's been a pattern of it for a long time, and really the trophy wife was the least of it. I mean the point here is that when you put yourself out, your family has to be put out with you, and it's really unfortunate.

Kids ought to be off limits. They're off limits for most of the Democrats families. I supremely reject the argument that Sarah Palin's responsible for this or semi-responsible for this because she put her children out there herself. They were no more out there at the convention than the Democratic children and grandchildren of Biden and Obama were.

So I think it's sort of a ridiculous argument, but Sarah won here. I mean that is the point here. She handled it with class and of plum and she has won. Where she has lost is it's too distracting from the fact that she — you actually when on Matt Lauer and had a conversation about policy.

No one gave her the opportunity to run that clip over and over, especially on MSNBC. I'm sure we'll never see that. But she won with Matt Lauer, she really kicked his fanny on that interview.

HANNITY: Yes

THOMPSON: She's also put David Letterman back on his heels. There are sponsors continually right now, there's two or three since I sat down here probably, that have decided they're not going to play that game with David Letterman, and they're going to withdraw. So she wins.

HANNITY: All right. But here's the point. Letterman didn't do this. It took him an entire week to finally come up with this apology, and Jeri, he never apologized for the slutty flight attendant look comment which I think...

THOMPSON: No, he did not.

HANNITY: ... was nearly as bad as the attack on the kids.

THOMPSON: Well, you know what I thought about that apology? At first blush I thought well, you know, that's a pretty good apology, and then I thought about it. You know he didn't — he claims he didn't write the joke. And he doesn't write his jokes. I bet he didn't write the apology either, and then I started thinking why is this man so bitter?

I started thinking about the fact that Jay Leno sort of superseded him and now Conan O'Brien. He never really quite made it. He's sort of like the Wal-Mart greeter of late-night talk show hosts.

HANNITY: Yes, well...

THOMPSON: Maybe he's a little angry about that.

HANNITY: I used to like Dave a lot. I really did. I used to watch him and I flip back and forth between him and Leno. And then Leno won me over. Because, you know what, Leno doesn't have an agenda. Except to make everybody laugh. And he's a much liked...

THOMPSON: He doesn't seem mean spirited.

HANNITY: Yes, he's a — seems to me to be a much more likeable guy, and I don't know what's happened to Dave. This agenda has taken over. But let me go back to this double standard.

THOMPSON: Sure.

HANNITY: Could you imagine any conservative — pick any conservative that you want even you or your husband. Or me or Rush or Levin or anybody. And that we made a similar comment slutty flight attendant look, and let's say we're talking about Hillary or Michelle Obama, or pick any female Democratic politician.

What would the reaction to be?

THOMPSON: Would never happen, could never happen, would never happen, but this is a world where ABC is going to be broadcasting from within the White House, sort of like in Russia, you know back in the days of the czars where the press, you know, lives in house.

They have their own in-house press now so — the double standard is so apparent that it's almost not worth talking about anymore, but we are winning in this, and this is why it's so exciting.

The lesson we can take from this, Sean, is that if we fight, if we protest, we can actually do something here, and you have been such a proponent of it and a defender of Sarah's and a defender of mine.

What people won't talk about, it's not just the — trophy wife was the least of it. It's the phone calls they made to our friends and our family and threatening to bring up every four-letter word I ever said in high school.

HANNITY: Well.

THOMPSON: It's so unfortunate because think about what they did with Justice — Judge Roberts. They tried to open the sealed adoption records of his children. It's not just women that they do this to.

HANNITY: But let me ask you.

THOMPSON: It's conservatives.

HANNITY: But that's my next question because you were attacked. We had Carrie Prejean. Look at — the names that she was called and similarly Governor Palin.

THOMPSON: Yes.

HANNITY: I don't know what it is about Governor Palin, but people just — she's got like a bull's eye and people feel free to call her any name she wants or the conservative women's list in "Playboy" that I know you're aware of. And I'm thinking...

THOMPSON: Sure.

HANNITY: Why is it fair game to only go after conservative women? Why?

THOMPSON: It's playground politics. Remember the popular girl that everyone sort of liked to take a swipe at.

HANNITY: Well, she never talked to me.

THOMPSON: That they secretly wanted to be. It's Carrie Prejean, it's Sarah Palin, it's all the above. It's playground politics and unfortunately Washington is one big playground.

HANNITY: All right. Jeri, good to see you. By the way and tell Senator Thompson so glad to hear that he's now changed the name of the show to "The Jeri and Fred Show."

THOMPSON: Absolutely.

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