Michelle Malkin recently wrote a compelling letter to David Letterman about his hypocritical comments and his poor excuses following the backlash of his insults to Palin's daughter. First, let me confess that I do not watch Letterman's show because I am seldom awake at that hour. When I was in junior high, I thought he was pretty funny. I probably didn't understand much of his satire at that age, admittedly. Regardless, I wouldn't have found his remarks about Governor Sarah Palin and her daughters amusing.

What enlightened me in Malkin's piece was not the often expressed discontent about Letterman's "comic FAIL" regarding Palin's daughter and the sexual connotations. No, I didn't even have to go there because it should be fairly obvious to anyone that the "jokes" were in poor taste and disrespectful and WRONG. What Malkin brought to my attention was something I didn't realize - Letterman's long history of comparisons with Palin's appearance and working-class women.

Over the past year, Letterman has displayed his sexist, elitist stripes in jibe after jibe aimed at Palin. Taken cumulatively, Letterman's mockery is about much more than expressing contempt for the popular GOP governor. It's a handy device to deride a broad class of working-class and middle-class women he holds in contempt:

"You know, she reminds me, she looks like the flight attendant who won't give you a second can of Pepsi. No, you've had enough. We're landing. Looks like the waitress at the coffee shop who draws a little smiley face on your check. Have a nice day."

"She looks like the dip sample lady at Safeway. She looks like the nurse who weighs you and then makes you sit alone in your underwear for 20 minutes. She looks like the Olive Garden hostess who says, 'I'm sorry, your table isn't ready yet.' She looks like the infomercial lady who says she made $64,000 a month flipping condos."

"She looks like the lady at the bakery who yells out '44! 45!' She looks like a real estate agent whose picture you see on the bus stop bench. That's who she looks like. She looks like the lady who has a chain of cupcake stores."

In November 2008, Letterman told tanking CBS News anchor Katie Couric that he was "aroused" by Palin. In March 2009, Letterman attacked Bristol and snickered about her being "knocked up" again.

So here is where I take real issue.

I am a hard-working, middle-class woman in the work force. My occupation and my responsibilities are not relevant. But what is relevant is the honor to working women everywhere to be compared to a successful female governor - regardless of political party. Politics is a tough game, and it should be obvious that few women have taken a national spotlight in that arena. These trends are changing slowly, but identity politics is important. Ask Hillary Clinton. Ask Geraldine Ferraro. Ask Senator Kay Bailey-Hutchinson. Ask Hawaii's Governor Linda Lingle. Or maybe just ask your locally elected female politician. So if someone makes an attempt at comparing me to just one of these ladies, not based on party ideology but because we are all successful in our field, then I'm honored.

But Letterman intended his remarks to be insulting to Palin, right? So if he compares her looks to that of a teller at a bank or a school librarian, he means it to be insulting to Palin. Am I getting his attempt at humor here? Was it an attempt to belittle Governor Palin by comparing her role as Governor and her appearance to be that of a "common" working class "babe"? Because if that was his intent, he FAILED, in epic proportions.

Malkin is right. What Letterman instead accomplished was to successfully demean working-class women across this country, in a snide and deceptive way. Not by comparing them to Palin, but by attempting to insult Palin through his multiple comparisons to her in his weird attempts at comedy. He suggested that a woman's appearance and her success at whatever her occupation, can somehow be used acceptably to berate another successful, hard-working woman, with whom he holds great animosity toward her political platform. Of course, this type of "humor" is only selectively applied.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting censorship for Letterman or that Palin is off limits on his television show. What I am suggesting, however, is that women should be aware of Letterman's misogynistic leanings in his remarks. And that Governor Palin should be proud of those very comparisons to hard-working, middle class women everywhere. What an honor!