Palin attacks Rahm Emanuel for using the word 'retarded'

[undeterred]

Former Republican vice presidential candidate -- and GOP future presidential candidate? -- Sarah Palin took out after White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel today for referring to a group of liberal activists as "retarded."

"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," Palin wrote on her Facebook page. Palin's son has Down's Syndrome.

Emanuel has apologized to Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver for using the word "retarded," as reported here in The Wall Street Journal. (Emanuel modified the term with a trademark f-word).

It's the second time a high-ranking White House official has apologized to Shriver; President Obama himself did so after making a Special Olympics crack on The Tonight Show back in March. Palin, by the way, also figures to make news this weekend when she speaks to the Tea Party convention in Nashville.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/02/palin-attacks-rahm-emanuel-for-using-the-word-retarded/1

So she's defending liberals against Emanuel now? :banghead:

[Mass]

1. No, she is attacking the use of derogatory words like "retarded".

[undeterred]

8. Well, Rahm is derogatory towards liberals.

[AzDar]

2. She's a ridiculous hypocrite.

Just. Don't. Look.

[shintao]

7. Talk about a two-face!!

Sarah calls her own kid a retard, according to that kid that almost married into the family. (?? name escapes me)

[me b zola]

22. Levi

and that is the first thing that came to my mind as well.

Welcome to DU! :toast:

[BOSSHOG]

3. Still using her kids, but by gawd they are off limits to anyone else

Gee sarah, ya haven't been in the news for a few hours so ya thought ya'd come up with something of substance. Again.

[mdmc]

4. Thank you Sara!

(I often wondered why NYS kept "retarded" in the title of Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities)
http://www.omr.state.ny.us/index.jsp

[BurtWorm]

5. From now on, I'll be sure to use the term Palinesque.

[Fixed_Based_Operator]

40. Why doesn't she just go away already!!!

Man, can't she take a hint?

[BurtWorm]

41. She can't help it. She's Palinesque, if you know what I mean,

[Raschel]

47. She has a mandation.

[lazarus]

6. I hate to do this

but I have to sort of agree with her. You can't use that term.

There's no call for her to say anything, though, since he's already apologized. It's obvious she's using her son as an excuse to attack Emanuel, which is just as bad.

[undeterred]

11. So is there any context in which the word can be used?

Or should it just be deleted from the English language? Rahm hates us. He thinks we're "fucking retarded" and he means to put us down. :shrug:

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. Mechanics and doctors can.

"Retard" is a verb. Period.

Mental Retardation is a clinical diagnosis.

[Zoeisright]

46. No, that term shouldn't be used. The thing is, EVERYTHING is about

Sarah Palin to Sarah Palin. She's terrified of being ignored or forgotten, so she inserts herself into every single issue. And when she quits using her kids as props, especially that poor baby who is displayed whenever she wants to be seen as 'motherly', she can talk.

[ljm2002]

9. Now if she'd just stop using Trig as a prop... n/t

[polichick]

10. What a hypocrite! According to Bristol's ex Palin jokingly refers to her child that way...

Heard him say it, to Joy Behar I think it was.

[Tempest]

16. Levi said she used the word to describe Trig as well

After Tripp was born, Sarah would pay more attention to our son than she would to her own baby, Trig. Sarah has a weird sense of humor. When she came home from work, Bristol and I would be holding Trig and Tripp. Sarah would call Trig--who was born with Down syndrome--"my little Down's baby." But I couldn't believe it when she would come over and sometimes say, playing around, "No, I don't want the retarded baby--I want the other one," and pick up Tripp. That was just her--even her kids were used to it.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2009/09/who-knew-sarah-palin-was.html

[polichick]

21. Thanks for the quote - what a sociopath! nt

[Canuckistanian]

29. "No, I don't want the retarded baby--I want the other one,"

Yeah, I remember that.

Methinks Lady Sarah doth protest too loudly.

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. This is a self inflicted wound.

Rahm, stop doing that.

[joeybee12]

13. Exactly...the word should not be used...and when it is, nitwits like

Palin try to act as if they're taking the high ground.

[Quixote1818]

15. She is helping Obama with moderates here. Thats funny. nt

[Romulox]

19. You're right. The real question is: wittingly or unwittingly?

I'd say the former. It's simply a matter of "remaining relevant" and working the bellows of celebrity.

[LostInAnomie]

17. I thought Repukes were supposed to hate politically correct language.

Especially, the caribou eating, wolf hunting, pit-bull with lipstick, queen of the teabaggers. Meh...

[Romulox]

18. Rahm Emanuel is disgusting, and I don't care who agrees with me. nt

[LLStarks]

20. As much as I don't like to agree with Palin, Rahm is in the wrong. nt

[Bluerthanblue]

23. Emmanuel's apology is appropriate - Palin's outrage is

a good example of what an opportunist she is. And hypocritical. She had no problem calling the President derogatory names- and never even apologized. :shrug:

[sinkingfeeling]

24. Last time I looked, the word 'retarded' is part of the English language and in the dictionary.

[dsc]

26. by that standard you could justify just about every ethnic slur plus words like

fag, bitch, and whore to name three. Not sure that is the standard we want to use.

[sinkingfeeling]

33. I think some have taken 'political correctness' to the extreme. The slur is 'mentally retarded',

not the adjective 'retarded'.

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. "Mentally retarded" is a legitimate clinical definition.

You think it's an extreme manifestation of political correctness because you lack a reason to be personally insulted when someone insults another with a diagnosis that someone you care for suffers from.

[sinkingfeeling]

36. Yes it is, used by medical and mental health personnel. However, we're talking about the use of the

word which means 'slow' or 'delayed'. If I say, "The rain retarded the fire", you get offended?

[lumberjack_jeff]

38. You're suggesting that Rahm meant to call the activists idea "slow" or "delayed"?

Really?

[sinkingfeeling]

43. I believe Rahm called a strategy 'f....ing retarded' which was using 'retarded' as a verb. In that

case, he could have said the ads would 'f....ing impede' the overhaul of health care.

[lumberjack_jeff]

48. self delete

[Bluebear]

42. > I think some have taken 'political correctness' to the extreme.< Oh, do you now.

[sinkingfeeling]

44. Yes, I do. I was raised in the '50s and 'mentally retarded' was a polite and medically correct term.

Just like 'handicapped' was replaced with 'physical disability' and both are no longer acceptable, we can keep on replacing terms forever. If one keeps attaching stigma to words which in and of themselves are non-offensive, then with each new generation, the terms will be replaced.

[HipChick]

27. Palin is just an opportunist...tune in tomorrow for the next faux outrage..

[brendan120678]

28. So are a few other words...

that people tend to use as slurs and put-downs.

Is it OK to use them, in your opinion?

[sinkingfeeling]

31. Words that have a meaning that aren't a slur can be used. 'Retarded' can refer to things like speed

or growth. The slur or offensive phrase is 'mentally retarded'. That's a big leap.

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1495170-This-debate-is-just-retarded

Which brings us to the multi-purpose word "retarded," which literally means "to be slowed or delayed" (e.g. "A heavy rain retarded the spread of the fire").
In slang, the word is used to mean "stupid," "unreasonable," or simply "disagreeable" - a popular playground epithet, largely divorced of its literal meanings, similar to "lame" or "crazy" (both of which could be interpreted as slurs, but have largely avoided the controversy of the word "retarded").

[Freddie Stubbs]

30. So is the N-word, but it is not socially acceptable to use

[sinkingfeeling]

32. Big difference.

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. The main difference is that those who are offended by the N word...

... are able to defend themselves.

There is no difference between calling an unfavored group "retarded" or "n.....s".

... and the problem isn't the degree of insult to the group at which it was directed.

[sinkingfeeling]

37. So do you ever use the words 'crazy' or 'lame' in speech?

[Freddie Stubbs]

49. Those who are most likely to offended by the N-word vote

The developmentally disabled usually don't vote.

[HipChick]

25. She called President Obama Sambo...“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

How big of a hypocrite is she?


http://www.laprogressive.com/election-reform-campaigns/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/

[hamsterjill]

39. Yet again - Sarah will do anything to stay in the spotlight.

n/t

[Political Heretic]

45. SHE has no business making this criticism. But using the word "retarded" as a derrogatory is sad.