David Letterman kept up his verbal assault on John McCain, commiserating with Paris Hilton and saying he felt like an “ugly date” because the GOP presidential candidate backed out of an appearance on the “Late Show.”

David Letterman described Paris Hilton as John McCain’s first choice for a running mate. David Letterman described Paris Hilton as John McCain’s first choice for a running mate.

The late-night CBS comedian was upset Wednesday when McCain canceled an appearance to deal with the economic crisis. After backing out of the Letterman show, McCain sat for an interview with Katie Couric, then didn’t leave New York until Thursday, further angering Letterman.

At first, Letterman said, he felt like a “patriot” to let McCain off.

“Now I’m feeling like an ugly date,” Letterman said. “I feel used. I feel cheap. I feel sullied.”

McCain spokeswoman Nicolle Wallace said the campaign “felt this wasn’t a night for comedy.”

“We deeply regret offending Mr. Letterman, but our candidate’s priority at this moment is to focus on this crisis,” Wallace said Thursday on NBC’s “Today.”

At least one of the bumblers, Nicolle Wallace, has emerged in all this. Saying that it wasn’t a night for comedy has nothing to do with the fact that McCain said he had to rush to Washington and instead went to Katie Couric’s show. This wasn’t dealing with the crises either. This situation is just getting worse. The only solution is for McCain to do an old-fashioned Bob Hope walk-on in the middle of a show in the next week. Letterman never liked those surprise guest bits, but it’s the only way to defuse this.

Link from Jason Baker.