Not in the least. As a matter of fact, it will probably help his ratings. The people that typically watch his show are those with no job and no morals anyway so his affair will likely help his ratings. His wife will likely stay with the cheater just because he has money.

Spoken like a judgmental, hypocritical conservative, CK.

Not at all. When you have no morals to begin with, how can multiple affairs hurt you or your ratings?

In a country that has lost its moral compass, such revelations would harm a career. Alas, we are talking about the morally corrupt and narcissistic USA.

[Sorry for the repost....a serious typo required a new post]

In a country that has a moral compass, such revelations would harm a career. Alas, we are talking about the morally corrupt and narcissistic USA.

Nope. The American public threives on immorality. This has been bred by the press in their constant search for ratings. Our leaders and entertainers constantly have affairs and break the law, with no real consequences. The public usually continues to support them.

Examples:
Michael Vick - back to a job he can make millions in
Micheal Jackson - accused pedophile, settled out of court, celebrated in his death still
Bill Clinton - had an affair, stayed as President, still sought after as political advisor
There are many more to choose form that support this theory. An average person would be ostrosized for these acts, but not the rich and famous.

Anonymous @ 7:14 AM,
How exactly am I a "hypocritical conservative" when I have NEVER cheated on my wife as Letterman clearly admits he has done many times? Besides, who cares about Letterman? Where is the outrage from the left regarding the 8 soldiers that died in Afghanistan because Obama will not give his generals the support they need? Bush was criticized for this, but I guess it is now ok that our people are getting killed in Afghanistan while Obama attempts to bring the 2016 Olympics to corrupt Chicago and FAILS resulting in LAST PLACE among the four countries attempting to do so and wasting over $1,000,000 of OUR MONEY in his attempt as well as producing 1,000s of tons of Carbon Dioxide in the process while screaming about "Climate Change" and how we need to stop it. If he wanted to go to Copenhagen to try to get the 2016 Olympics for corrupt Chicago he should have spent the money from his own millions or asked Michael Moore for the money since Moore claims that he is against capitalism which made him his millions. Remind me again, who is the hypocrite?

Leno, yes; Letterman, no. If Leno cheated on Mavis, Middle America would revolt. But Letterman's not the same, and doesn't have the same fan base, for better (in this case) or for worse.

The act of admitting will not cause pain, or dropped ratings. What will hurt David Letterman's ratings is David Letterman.

I stopped watching him years ago. Just not funny anymore and adds too much of his liberal bias to his show. I don't miss it one bit.

Letterman's act consists largely of mocking the moral failings of others. Therefore, the fact that he, too, is guilty of such behavior exposes him as a hypocrite. And let's be honest, no one wants to be lectured to by a fraud.

I know people live their lives the way they want and don't have to answer to me but, he was so cavalier about the situation.. He didn't seem to have any sense of regret,(seriously).. He joked about it like it was nothing.. He felt that it was more a problem for the women that he had the affairs with than for him.. Since he had these AFFAIRS during the time that he was involved with his current wife I wonder how she is feeling now?? Typical pompous male BS... Oh yes, I watch his show sometimes depending on his guest line-up and usually turn off after I see the guests that I want to see.. And yes. I have a job and a lot of morals and haven't watched his show since..

The public is so used to celeb scandal, only exceptionally creepy details would cause his ratings to suffer. As long as the network can sell ads, they aren't going to care.

First, was Letterman married when he had relations with these women? How can he cheat on a wife when he isn't married? We don't know who or when he slept with these women; therefore, you don't have enough information to make a judgment.

Second, I in no way condone cheating, but how is that any of our business? Is the man's personal life the reason we watch him on TV? Is his morality the reason we watch him? No, it isn't. We watch David Letterman because he's funny, intelligent, and entertaining. And in my opinion, he showed us a great respect by handling it the way he did. He made mistakes. So have all of you. Ask yourself this question, though: how many of you would try to bury it? The blackmailer was asking for $2 million. David Letterman has that in his wallet right now. It's chump change to him. Yet, he accepted responsibility and came forth with the truth.

Face it: Letterman viewers would not know the definition of sexual harassment if it bit them in their collective butts, much less apply it here. And, the network leadership knows that. The only way his viewers will ever learn (and this will still be challenging to explain to them, using only ONE 15-second sound bite, which they would still forget by the end of the show) is when a judge finds that the women do have standing in a court case, and sues hell out of the network leadership, who in turn fire Letterman – whether he is personally named as a defendant or not – if they are found culpable of tacitly allowing the hostile work environment. Translation: if Letterman’s rating and revenue-making ability doesn’t slip, then he stays.

Additionally, one would think that even a celebrity would be smart enough tone down outrageous - let alone possibly illegal - behavior when the media scrutiny is unfavorable. The esteemed readers are invited to review the Express blog dated 12 June 2009 (below). Letterman has now had two recent bad press events.

Answer today’s question by putting partisan comments aside, and even the moral arguments aside, to focus solely on the economic question: does there need to be a “Strike Three” by Letterman (which also means: would be a third victim here folks, intentional or not, willing or not, victims nonetheless) before the network leadership acts?

Hell NO!

In fact, it would have been much worse if he had gone on his show, looked the American people in the eye, and said, "I did not have sex with those women".

That's my opinion -- and Hillary's, too.

Indeed, CK. The hypocrisy I find particularly amusing is when you have environmentalist fear mongers (those who also previously pointed the finger at terror fear-mongers) spreading fear and outrageous claims of pending disaster. They may have been correct back when they called out terror fear mongering, but then they go and use the *exact same* tactics on climate change! (hahaha) You can't make this stuff up.

As for Letterman, really, who cares? Fits in perfectly with the expectations of other celebrities. What else should we expect from a society built from the "me first" hippie generation who has spent us into the ground with the entitlement and "I want it right now!" mentality. What happened to saving for the future and creating a better world for your kids? All they're leaving the next generation is a heaping ton of debt, so they can have their greedy spending spree in the present. Sad really.

Does his admission actually affect any of you? I don't know the man or his family. His life has no relevance or affect on mine. Thus, I do not care either way.

Our elected officials have affairs left and right. Their lives and judgement can affect me since their choices as our leaders are based on their morales.

David Letterman will need to have Roman Polanski on his show to regain the moral high ground.

The fact that he's been in a relation ship with his current wife(by his own words..23 years) would defintely lead one to assume these affairs went on during that time and fufills the cheating criteria. This wasn't something that happened in high school... He said the women involved were on his staff. .Or is the fact that this was a relationship and he wasn't married means there should be no expectations of any type of fidelty?? A mistake is getting a blue sock & a black sock mixed up..or mistaking salt for sugar... Cheating is a definittive conscious decision..You don't accidently drop your pants and fall into someone else's bed.. Frankly, I won't lose any sleep over his troubles,,but since this was a poll and I am one that's been cheated on, I choose to respond to it... I don't feel that he gets any gold stars for coming forth one way or the other...because it's never an issue for men UNTIL THE U KNOW WHAT hits the fan...and they're caught with mud on their faces!!!

What is morality? What may be immoral now may have been the norm in another age. Even the bible of christians and jews contains many examples of polygamy. Our own founding fathers, e.g. Thomas Jefferson, fathered many children with women other than their wives. This won't help or hurt his ratings with me--I don't watch the show anyway.

Some of our Express readers don’t get it: it isn’t just about fidelity in marriage. Letterman publicly said: "It was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show. My response to that is yes, I have had sex with women on my show.”

In sexual harassment cases, it MAY NOT MATTER THE SEX WAS CONSUAL or not.

Sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, see www.eeoc.gov/types/sexual_harassment.html.

If any of these conditions occurs, there is a violation:
- submission to the conduct is made (either explicitly or implicitly) a term or condition of an individual’s employment or retention, or
- submission to or rejection of the conduct by an individual is used as a basis for employment decisions affecting such individual, or
- the conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual's work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment.

A second type of unlawful sexual harassment is referred to as hostile environment. Unlike a quid pro quo, which only a supervisor can impose, a hostile environment can result from the gender-based unwelcome conduct of supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors, or anyone else with whom the victimized employee Interacts on the job. The behaviors that have contributed to a hostile environment have included:
- unfulfilled threats to impose a sexual quid pro quo;
- discussing sexual activities;
- unnecessary touching; and
- granting job favors to those who participate in consensual sexual activity.
http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/Documents/complaint/Preventing_Sexual_Harassment.htm

Therefore, boys and girls, review Letterman’s statement above, and determine if there is a case.

Yeah, people, it affects you. Taxpayers fund the prosecutor’s office, and their salaries, and pay rent on court houses. Women remain victims in the workforce when the public continues to tolerate this behavior.

For the record folks, this writer is the Marine (male, who served mostly in infantry units) who posted in this column before. It ain’t about women’s issues. It is about taking care of your subordinates. Had Letterman been one of my subordinate leaders and convicted of having sex with his young troops, he would have received the maximum punishment that I was authorized to award. It ain’t the sex, he violated a trust. Why does an old grunt have to hold the moral compass for the college-educated elite of DC?

Letterman had no choice but to come out with it. The second he went to the police with the blackmail issue it became public knowledge and if he did not come out with it first then the National Enquirer or TMZ or some other honest media would have and that would have made him look even worse. For the rest of the women out there: How many of you would have not noticed $2 million missing from you and your husband's accounts?

@ Retired Marine, now a Fed

Because the military is a cross secton of society and the college educated elite of DC are not.

@ Retired Marine, now a Fed

Because this is the USA, and ethics/morality don't mean beans.

I find it curious that a war veteran lectures us on morality.

Support VVAW, VAIW and IVAW.

The staffer was cheating on her boyfriend with Letterman. They should both be fired, and sued by CBS. Maybe Dan Rather could sue them??