What Do the Birthers Think About the News That Barack Obama Sr. Contemplated Adoption?

Because of my acquaintance with a Birther, a conservative Republican banker with a messy and hypocritical personal life, I know there are still some stragglers who hold on to the notion that our president's birth certificate is fake. What will the Birthers do with the heartbreaking news that Barack Obama Sr. may have thought about putting Barack Jr. up for adoption to help himself with sticky immigration issues? I'm sure they'll say it's just part of the conspiracy . . .

Why Has David Letterman Stopped Making Fun of Sarah Palin?

Since David Letterman's June 2009 run-in with Sarah Palin, when she overreacted to his lame joke about Alex Rodriguez impregnating her daughter, he has made her a figure of fun in his monologue almost every night. But since Tucson, I don't think he's mentioned her at all.

Perhaps Letterman is now so disgusted that he's lost interest in mocking her. He has always acted as our nation's conscience, and his new disinterest might be an indication that Palin's ubiquitousness is about to evaporate.

Although I will miss Letterman's enjoyable Palin jokes, I hope he is right that our long national nightmare is over.

Maybe Barbara Walters Needs to Follow Larry King and Regis Philbin Out to Pasture

This morning on The View, during a discussion about Ron Reagan revealing in his new book that his father perhaps displayed some early Alzheimer's symptoms during his presidency, Barbara Walters had the nerve to say that she had seen far more of Ronald Reagan during those years than any of his children(!) and could therefore state unequivocally that the president showed no indications of any illness at all during his term in office. A tad presumptuous?

Last month on the show, Walters bet Joy Behar that Katharine Hepburn had originated the quote "Old age is for sissies." (Behar had just stated that the quote came from Bette Davis.) A few minutes later a producer spoke into Walters's earpiece and Walters burst out: "It was Bette Davis who first said that. You owe me!" Behar was deferential when she pointed out that Davis had been her pick, but it was still a crazy moment.