Sarah Palin's "Retard" Problem

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It's stories like these that really help to put a light on hypocrisy at its finest.

This all started (technically) back in August of 2009, when White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel called a group of conservative Democrats "f*cking retarded" for threatening to run attack ads against Obama's health care plan.

Flash forward (five months later) to January 2010, when Sarah Palin--possibly catching up on some late reading-- came across this quote, and decided to attack. She immediate jumped to her media outlet of choice-- Facebook-- and castigated Emauel for his insensitivity. Palin, after all, is the mother of a child with Down Syndrome, and took personal issue with his words, saying:

“Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking,”

Everyone knows by now that Rahm Emanuel can be a bit "mouthy" at times. And I myself am guilty of dropping the "r-word", as it is now called, from time-to-time. It was a casual insult from my childhood, much the way "gay" was (it didnt' mean homosexual, it meant someone who was cheesey or dumb). But I understand that if people find it offensive, then we can find other words to describe someone that we're mad at. Fair enough. And Emanuel has even apologized to the Special Olympics-- which was originally rejected, but later accepted. Done deal, right? Nope.....

Enter Rush Limbaugh, who has taken the side of Rahm Emanuel and defended the use of the word "retard" in a tirade that used the word damn near 40 times. Since then, Mrs. Palin's Facebook page has been mighty quiet. When questioned about it, Palin's spokesperson Meghan Stapleton had this to say:

“Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name calling at the expense of others is disrespectful.”

This statement was later retracted, and was said to have been taken out of context.

I mean, the statement itself is cowardly because they don't even mention Limbaugh by name. But the retraction?!  I find it almost shocking that Palin would sell out her own child-- one of "God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities"-- for political purposes. Let's face it. If she comes out hard against Limbaugh, who has used to word "retard" FAR MORE egregiously than Rahm Emanuel has, she risks damaging her base. And what a horrible position for her base to be in-- which vacuous wind-bag do they side with? A former beauty queen-turned former sports caster-turned former governor? Or a former drug addict?

Once again, we have a politician proving that Rush Limbaugh is the one and only head of the Republican party. Unbelievable. Does Palin really believe this man is THAT powerful-- more powerful and more popular that SHE IS!? Especially because Limbaugh practically dares her to confront him on this issue. And she chickens out. I guess she doesn't feel that strongly about this issue, unless she can score some political points against Democrats.

So, if you're a Republican, you are free to use the word "retard" as much as like. Lucky...