Totally not what I saw at all.
What I saw Letterman doing was taking the reigns of the topic and driving the conversation. From that point on, despite the criticisms that can rightly be levied on him for fooling around on his wife, the fact is that he's established himself as the person with the credibility to discuss what actually happened and put the accuser/blackmailer's feet over the coals in public view. In doing so, he turned the tables on someone who was doing something that people appear to consider at least as bad as cheating or worse, and as a result he was able to ride the media coverage on this from the stance of a victim instead of an aggressor. The fact that he's got a sense of humor and was able to leverage that for laughs and for light-hearted (though tenuous) support gives him the opportunity to play the publicity game from a slight vantage point of moral high ground, while at the same time he had the savvy to publicly voice his humility about having his work cut out for him at home and apologizing to both his wife and his staff.
I'll bet plenty that Letterman consulted with the network and legal counsel before airing the dirty laundry, and that it was agreed-upon ahead of time how it would be done. He was ready following the weekend of gossip with at least five minutes of monologue that was well-crafted and written specifically to address the topic while deflating the outrage.Even his seemingly sarcastic apology to Palin seemed to be placed after his apologies to family and staff specifically to clip the predictable barbs from the Palin supporters who have been jumping with glee at the knowledge of this news. Absolutely nothing of Letterman's handling of the issue came across even slightly ad-libbed or unconsidered, and he performed it deftly and came across sincerely enough that I think most of the television audiences out there are convinced that he's not a bad guy, as well as likely to consider any Palin-esque attempts to use it as an attack vector poor form and petty.
You see, Letterman had less to lose the whole time. The blackmailer had their whole scheme to lose if Letterman went public. Palin and supporters had little to gain as far as moral high ground and much to lose as far as political capital if they attempt to ride the topic further. Comedians make careers out of allowing themselves to be taken down a notch or two and building themselves back up through jokes and teasing, and what Letterman did here was control how many pegs he got knocked down. Call it class or public image skill or whatever, Letterman figured out the most beneficial way to handle it and did his best to make sure it went that way. So far it seems to have been done very well.
