Sarah Palin gets in Kathy Griffin's 50-year-old face.

I'm sure Palin fans are delighted at the feisty smackdown. But there's no way that Kathy Griffin doesn't love it. So... everybody wins. I mean, these 2 women could be in collusion, the mutual benefits are so great.

As for the leave-my-kids-alone routine: Bristol Palin is 21 years old. Not only is she an adult, she's an adult who chose to go on a big network TV show, wear sexy costumes, and dance all over the stage week after week in an effort to get millions of people to call in votes for her so she could win a big prize. That's completely inviting mockery.

As for Willow Palin — she's only 16, but she was prominently featured on "Sarah Palin's Alaska." Her teen-girl petulance was served up — by her mother — for our amusement. You can't do that and also claim a special insulation for the children. I mean you can, if you want to play to your fans who love that Mama Grizzly stuff.

Now, Sarah Palin was confronted by the question about Griffin, so she didn't go out of her way to bash the has-been 50-year-old  bully comedienne. What else could she have said? She didn't have to be so confrontational. She might have said comedy is comedy, and people love to have their fun or something bland like that. But then I wouldn't be writing about her, and you wouldn't be talking about her, and Kathy Griffin wouldn't be furiously working the statement into a new Palin-bashing....