Palin's campaign against the "R-word" hits snag with Limbaugh

[George Gervin's Afro]

Palin's campaign against the "R-word" hits snag with Limbaugh

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1114

Sarah Palin's campaign against the derogatory usage of the word "retard" collided with her campaign to maintain her popularity with conservatives today, with confusing results.

A Palin spokeswoman seemed to back away from earlier criticism of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday, when asked for comment on Limbaugh's use of the "r" word in a recent broadcast, Palin spokeswoman told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, "Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name-calling at the expense of others is disrespectful." Today, Stapleton claims the statement was meant generally and she was not specifically referring to Limbaugh. Still, she declined to say that Palin believes Limbaugh's statements were acceptable. Sargent reprinted the email he sent Stapleton in which he specifically asked about Limbaugh's statement.

Palin's non-rebuke rebuke of Limbaugh comes after she called on President Obama, earlier in the week, to fire his chief of staff after using the word. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rahm Emanuel called liberal activists who wanted to run ads against conservative Democrats "f------ retarded" in a closed-door meeting at the White House. On her Facebook page, Palin likened Emanuel's "slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities" to using the "N-word," something she deemed "unacceptable" and "heartbreaking." Emanuel later issued an apology to Special Olympics chairman and CEO Tim Shriver.

However, Palin's conservative cohort Rush Limbaugh took offense to people, presumably including Palin, protesting Emanuel's remark. On his radio show, Limbaugh lamented that "our political correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards." That comment caused Greg Sargent to request a reaction from Palin's spokeswoman. It also caused confusion over whether Palin believes Limbaugh's public statements - like Emanuel's private ones - crossed the line.

One person who is not letting Limbaugh off the hook is Special Olympics CEO Tim Shriver. Shriver's campaign against the "r" word is the reason Emanuel issued an apology when the controversy initially broke out. Shriver's office exclusively provided Yahoo! News with a strongly worded email he sent to Limbaugh today, part of which reads:


As a public figure, you have the great opportunity to influence the hearts and minds of millions of people in this country and around the world. People with intellectual disabilities - the largest group of people with disabilities in the world - have suffered generations of discrimination and humiliation. In the 21st century, they, together with their families and friends, are continuing their battle for the simplest form of justice: the justice that comes with a recognition of their full humanity. In their eyes and in the hearts of millions of others who love and care about them, language is important. So together, we have chosen to try to sensitize others to the pervasive but often ignored prejudice they suffer by asking for a change of language and a change of heart. For you or for anyone else to mock those who strive, often against long odds, for the recognition and respect they deserve, seems gratuitously hurtful and degrading.


Our message is as simple as it is powerful: people with intellectual disabilities are human beings. Gaining social recognition of that humanity continues to be an elusive goal for them and for those who love and care about them. For centuries, they have borne the stigma of institutionalization, sterilization, social isolation, and bigotry. The names associated with them - such as "retarded" and "retard" - have for too long been used as cruel taunts.


Despite the searing pain that this word (and others) has visited on millions, people with intellectual disabilities have nonetheless persevered to try to gain their dignity. For half a century, mothers, fathers, siblings, and people with intellectual disabilities have worked to open the eyes of the world to the simple truth that each of us has gifts. They do not deserve to be mocked by you."

In closing, Shriver calls on Limbaugh to help the mentally disabled by "ending your use of this term and by further using your great influence and position to help others do the same." (Read the whole letter here.)

The controversy over the "R-word" comes just as the Special Olympics is gearing up for its second annual "Spread The Word to End the Word" campaign.They have set up a website, www.r-word.org, where people can pledge not to use the word anymore. According to a spokesperson, they're hoping to obtain at least 100,000 pledges to "change the conversation," and as of this writing, they've collected over 55,000 pledges, including Rahm Emanuel's.


classic...Sarah playing politics.... using her kid.

[Stringer_Bell]

I like how the first person Rahm went to apologize to was the Special Olympics CEO. He didn't opt for a photo op at a hospital or classroom caring for the mentally challenged...nope, he went straight for a non-retard.

[spursncowboys]

:lol Rush predicted this. Maybe if you guys listened to Rush instead of getting your info from mediamatters you wouldn't look stupid time and time again.

[TheProfessor]

Maybe if you guys listened to Rush
No thanks.

[Marcus Bryant]

There's a term which would describe perfectly what our national political discourse has become when significant time is devoted to the utterance of a common slang word by a public figure in a private meeting. For the life of me, I am unable to recall it.

[spursncowboys]

I cannot believe it has become the r word. seriously?

[Marcus Bryant]

Yes, that is retarded.

[George Gervin's Afro]

:lol Rush predicted this. Maybe if you guys listened to Rush instead of getting your info from mediamatters you wouldn't look stupid time and time again.

Is it ok to use the term retard? Very simple question? In case you didn't notice this wasn't media matters dummy..:lmao


I'd like for to you find one story that Media Matters takes a comment out of context..just 1. according to you they do it all of the time so let's hear it..

[EmptyMan]

LOL @ Rush playing you chumps like a yo-yo.

Just as he predicted, to the T.

[Marcus Bryant]

What's even better is when Rush plays his own chumps like a Fender.

[DMX7]

I cannot believe it has become the r word. seriously?

You can thank Sarah Palin for that...

[spursncowboys]

You can thank Sarah Palin for that...
No the msm started that crap. Palin's problem was grouping retarded people with liberals. I would be offended too if I was grouped in with liberals.

[Marcus Bryant]

No, Palin claiming victimhood over this blew it up. Again, she should have gone back to Alaska, focused on being governor, and come back with a vengeance. Instead she chose to stay in the spotlight. Probably the better decision financially, but not politically.

[spursncowboys]

No, Palin claiming victimhood over this blew it up. Again, she should have gone back to Alaska, focused on being governor, and come back with a vengeance. Instead she chose to stay in the spotlight. Probably the better decision financially, but not politically.
Disagree entirely. SHe may never get elected to any office but she will be a political force for a long time.

[DMX7]

Palin's problem was grouping retarded people with liberals. I would be offended too if I was grouped in with liberals.

You're retarded if you believe that.

[spursncowboys]

You're retarded if you believe that.
:lol

[Marcus Bryant]

If she had gone home and focused on her job, the country would have respected that. Then in four or eight years she comes back a little wiser. Or, perhaps after four years she runs for the Senate, and returns to DC. Instead she pulls a drama queen stunt. Yes, she'll be popular for a certain constituency, but electoral opportunities won't be there.

Now can she turn into some kind of successful talk host and bank million$ annually? Sure.

[ploto]

So Palin admonishes someone for using a word in private but she won't admonish someone for using the exact same word over the public airwaves? Got it.

[spursncowboys]

Or...Palin admonishes someone appointed by our elected President for using a word but not some one in the private sector. Got it.

[Viva Las Espuelas]

classic...Sarah playing politics.... using her kid.

she's running for office? hmmm. who knew? :wakeup

[George Gervin's Afro]

LOL @ Rush playing you chumps like a yo-yo.

Just as he predicted, to the T.

hush knows he uses the word retarded all of the time.... he then claims that someone will bring him up for saying it as well..brilliant prediction..and you dummies buy it..:lmao

[ChumpDumper]

Or...Palin admonishes someone appointed by our elected President for using a word but not some one in the private sector. Got it.All the sudden board Republicans want political correctness to be enforced in private conversations?

Nice.

[baseline bum]

she's running for office? hmmm. who knew? :wakeup

Here she was using her kids when she was running for office

gd4wQd_gbj8

LMAO loud-ass music still unable to drown out the boos

[George Gervin's Afro]

Or...Palin admonishes someone appointed by our elected President for using a word but not some one in the private sector. Got it.

or she got caught playing politics..trying to score a political point not realizing her hero does it all of the time. why hasn't she admonished hush publicly? ...

[spursncowboys]

All the sudden board Republicans want political correctness to be enforced in private conversations?

Nice.
I think they just don't want non-moronic people to be grouped in with morons.

[ChumpDumper]

I think they just don't want non-moronic people to be grouped in with morons.Nah, they just want to try to score political points in any possible way. If that means embracing something they claim to hate like political correctness, they don't mind the hypocrisy.

[Marcus Bryant]

If he has to choose between Rush and Palin, my guess is he ditches the broad.

[SouthernFried]

RUSH: Let me get something out of the way here before we move on to other issues. Last night, I'm minding my own business around five o'clock or 5:30, already working on today's show. I received a flash message from H.R., chief of staff. Sarah Palin's spokeswoman had just gotten off the phone with him, sort of in a panic. She had said that The Politico was going to run a story saying that Sarah Palin's spokeswoman had ripped into me for using the R-word and she had called to say, "I didn't mention Rush in particular. They kept asking me about Rush and I kept answering generically. But they kept asking about Rush and I just wanted you to know." So I soon saw The Politico story and the reaction to it, and, lo and behold, that's exactly how The Politico reported it. If it's a contest between Politico and Sarah Palin's spokeswoman, I will believe Sarah Palin's spokeswoman. No question about it. Because the Drive-Bys have been trying to create this ever since it happened -- and you talk about transparent? These guys are more transparent in their motives than Obama is, and he's the one that pledged it. So let's go to the audio sound bites. Steve Doocy on the Fox & Friends show this morning said this about Palin and me...

DOOCY: Sarah Palin says she is not at war with Rush Limbaugh over Rush's use of the R-word. Rush repeated the offensive word on his radio show, talking about Rahm Emanuel. But Palin does point out the word is offensive no matter who uses it.

RUSH: Now, last night on MSNBC, Richard Wolffe was the guest. I forget what this guy's famous for not knowing. He's a correspondent. He's written a couple of Obama books or one Obama book and is working on another one. Here's the question he got: "In Palin's statement she basically said calling people that is not acceptable, but she didn't actually say she thought Limbaugh had done that. Am I more or less correct here?"

WOLFFE: What would have been consistent would have been maybe a Facebook entry along the lines of what she wrote about Rahm Emanuel: "Are you capable of decency, Rush Limbaugh?" But the question here for her and for those who love her is this question of, does she have the guts to stand up for what she believes in and no matter whether it's Rush Limbaugh or anyone else. Because if you can't stand up to a talk radio host, then how are you going to confront Putin when he rears his head?

RUSH: Oh, my God! And they want to say that Obama is showing guts in standing up to people? Okay, here's the last word on this -- the last thought on Rahm Emanuel and Harry Reid. I took some liberties. For those uncomfortable with the favorite words of leading Democrats, "Negro" and "retarded," I have a question: Are you comfortable with the words or with Harry Reid and Rahm Emanuel? I am uncomfortable with the men and the manner in which they used these words. Words don't generally offend me. I try not to give people the power to offend me. But Harry Reid and Rahm Emanuel, they do offend me and they scare me and they worry me. These men have cold hearts. They are statists. They have power over all of us. They are trying desperately to exercise that power. In fact, my friends, I am so uncomfortable with these men, I purposely chose to use a rhetorical tool -- satire, s-a-t-i-r-e -- to ridicule and humiliate them. That tool is an effective blunt object in breaking through walls put up by State-Controlled Media to protect Democrats.

Satire!

For those of you in Rio Linda, here's the definition: "The use of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, or the like in exposing, denouncing, or deriding vice, folly, et cetera." I used Harry Reid's words and Rahm Emanuel's words, not mine, to expose and punish their behavior. I used satire to wash their mouths out with soap and made an uncomfortable point. Because the State-Controlled Media would have run any Republican out of office (as in George Allen and "Macaca") if they had been caught saying what Reid and Emanuel said, just as they're trying to run me off the radio for repeating what they said. Now, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Saturday Night Live or the late-night comedians to treat Democrats the way they treat Republicans. If some would choose different methods to expose Reid and Emanuel, fine. We share the same goals and both are useful in getting results. Do not doubt me. Aside from the State-Controlled Media, everybody involved got the point -- and so did they. Their outrage is totally fake and totally predictable.

END TRANSCRIPT

[SouthernFried]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Rahm Emanuel's apology apparently has been accepted. The early news was that it was not accepted, right? But The Politico has a story from Ben Smith and an update: "Emanuel met yesterday with six disability advocates. He sincerely apologized again for using the R-word, promising to sign an online pledge to end the use of the word." Now, get this. "Emanuel also promised to examine congressional legislation that would remove the word from federal law." Now, what kind of F-ing nonsense is this? I'm just quoting Emanuel here, folks. (laughing) The Drive-Bys are trying to goad Sarah Palin into denouncing me, just like she denounced Rahm Emanuel. But Sarah Palin knows I'm quoting Emanuel in all this. They're trying anything to get Sarah Palin. From Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, to everybody else at MSNBC and Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg, oh, they're all trying to get Sarah Palin to denounce me just as she did Rahm, and if she doesn't do it she's a hypocrite, they're saying. She knows that I do this kind of thing. Sarah Palin is a lifelong listener to this program.

I have never told you people this. It was in our Sarah Palin interview in the Limbaugh Letter. But one of the years I'm out at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic a guy comes up to me and says, "My daughter is a huge fan, would you sign a book for me?" and it was a copy of my book and it was to Sarah Palin, long before she was governor of Alaska. I've had a couple chats with her, one on the air here and one for the Limbaugh Letter, the most widely read political newsletter in the country. So they're trying to goad her into denouncing me like they did Emanuel, but she knows that all I'm doing is quoting Emanuel and highlighting that it's these people who say this kind of stuff. Now, as for Emanuel promising to examine congressional legislation that would remove the word from federal law because he used the term "retarded" as an insult -- and, remember, he was calling his own party members this. He was calling liberal activists the R-word. The Drive-Bys also can't believe that I came to Emanuel's defense yesterday. They just do not get it.

Twenty-plus years and they don't get it. They thought I was coming to his defense yesterday when I said, "What's wrong with calling a bunch of retards a bunch of retards?" And the retards he's talking about are the liberal activists. (laughing) Folks, I can't tell you -- and I'm not going to use the word anymore -- I cannot tell you what fun this is. I look at this, if I could just know women like I know liberal media people, how my life would change. How it would have been different, because I know everything. There's not one question I cannot answer about these people. There's not one behavioral mode that I cannot not predict. I just know 'em. So because Rahm Emanuel used the R-word as an insult, he's now going to decree that it must be stricken from the country's legislation over the past 200 years? I mean he's promised to examine congressional legislation that would remove the word from federal law? What an arrogance of power and what a waste of money and time. And that is assuming that this is anything more than just an empty promise, which is highly likely.

For the record, I looked it up here, we did a check, the R-word, or a variation of it, appears nine times in the Senate version of the health care reform bill. Did you know that? And we all know who wrote that bill, don't we? Democrats. The Republicans were shut out of the process. So the R-word is used nine times in the Senate health care bill. So maybe that fact will kill it once and for all. You can't pass that bill, you got the R-word in there, the president's chief of staff just apologized for using it. So if the R-word is to be the new N-word, maybe Mr. Emanuel's time could be better spent getting the term expunged from his boss's two autobiographies. We checked into this, too. From Dreams from My Father, page 73: "The old white man sat down, retarded now, or senile, and when I looked again he was a small black girl, her feet barely reaching the pedals." From The Audacity of Hope, page 22: "At times during his first campaign, [Bill Clinton's] gestures toward disaffected Reagan Democrats could seem clumsy and transparent (whatever happened to Sister Souljah?) or frighteningly coldhearted (allowing the execution of a mentally retarded death row inmate to go forward on the eve of an important primary)."

"Luckily there has been no complaint about Mr. Emanuel's use of the F-word." Is this not amazing? Is that not amazing? When you stop and think of all of this, he said F-ing. No big deal there. Ha! That's not a problem. (interruption) Well, I don't know. Snerdley is asking me how many words are we going to have to ban before this is -- I don't know but we're certainly headed that way.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Rahm Emanuel -- we told you this yesterday, but Rahm -- is going to have to get hold of Eric Holder in the Justice Department and change the way they are advertising for jobs over there.

Remember? The Obama Justice Department is advertising for civil rights trial attorneys encouraging applicants who suffer from "mental retardation" and "mental illness." Here's the listing itself: "The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralyses, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine." In other words, the Obama Justice Department says, "If you're just like us, we want you." So, Rahm, you're going to have to get in there, buddy, and change some of the verbiage in the job listings at the Obama Justice Department. Here it was yesterday. This is what I said, proving: Do I know these people or do I know these people?

RUSH ARCHIVE: I've been here 20-plus years. You've got to know that I know that that's a pejorative comment. It's the reason I kept repeating is to never let people forget that it was Rahm Emanuel who said it. It's like Harry Reid and "the Negro dialect." I kept talking about that. "Yeah, he's light-skinned and doesn't speak with a Negro dialect except when he wants to," and sure enough the next day I caught grief as though I had originated the comment! That's the way the press works.

RUSH: That's right. It's a classical press schtick and that's all it is, and Tony Blankley had it right. All of this feigned outrage. It's fake. All this fake outrage, they know exactly what I was doing. They just can't help themselves. They are on a search-and-destroy mission where I'm concerned. So, State-Run Media coins a new term here, this is a little montage. It's now the R-word.

DIANE SAWYER: (music) ...what mental health experts call "the R-word."

WOLF BLITZER: (music) "The R-word."

BILL WEIR: There are defenders of "the R-word."

ANDREA MITCHELL: ...for using "the R-word."

KEITH OLBERMANN: ...using that "R-word."

WENDELL GOLER: "...the R-word..."

STEVE DOOCY: "...the R-word..."

RACHEL MADDOW: (music) ...why Sarah Palin is not calling for Rush Limbaugh to be fired after he repeatedly and unapologetically used "the R-word."

RUSH: See? Even before I went on the schtick, I told the Drive-Bys what I was doing: "I'm merely reminding everybody. I'm not quoting Rahm Emanuel. I'm just quoting him. I'm just quoting Rahm Emanuel." I went on for a full hour. I told 'em what I was doing and still they fall for it and still they run their schtick. Here's Margaret Carlson last night on MSNBC, question: "Can Palin really get away with not calling Limbaugh out now?

CARLSON: I'm going to go out on a limb here.

MAN: Mmmph?

CARLSON: I think because it's a matter of the heart for her -- I don't think she wears this on her sleeve the way she kind of faked being offended about David Letterman's remark about Bristol. I don't know how it will come about, but I bet Rush Limbaugh quickly apologizes himself, knowing that she will have to treat him the same way. Actually his words were so offensive...

MAN: Mmm-humphy.

CARLSON: The word "retard" is worse than the word "retarded." It is a real insult, and these feelings that family members have are so tender for the people in their family, and there are a thousand sleights that these kids receive in a lifetime and the parents never stop trying to make up for it.

RUSH: Next question: "If you're right, what happens to Limbaugh's power in the sense of the rankings in the Republican Party and the conservative movement?"

CARLSON: Certainly Rush Limbaugh and some other talk show hosts literally run the Republican Party now. They are the kingmakers. They are... They have more followers than any other faction in the party. Doesn't Rush Limbaugh claim a hundred million listeners? So certainly he is a public figure of the sort Sarah Palin had in mind when she called out Rahm Emanuel.

RUSH: It's not 100 million listeners yet, Margaret, but soon. I'm just wondering if the change of life has not hit her particularly hard, ladies and gentlemen. These two sound bites are just... (laughing) And the question: "What's going to happen to Limbaugh's rankings in the conservative movement?" (laughing) We have Andrea Mitchell (NBC News, Washington) on the Today Show today said this...

MITCHELL: Rush Limbaugh apparently used the R-word on his radio show Wednesday repeatedly. So far, no comment from Palin about that.

RUSH: (laughing) Oh, folks! Oh, Lord, thank you for my enemies. Thank you for my enemies. Thank you for such predictable stupidity from my enemies. "Rush Limbaugh..." Reportedly! (laughing) Reportedly, "apparently... So far no comment from Palin." (laughing) And of course Zsa Zsa got in on this as well, Arianna Huffington. So there's a couple more sound bites.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, Margaret Carlson? You know, I didn't know Margaret Carlson was still around. I honestly didn't. She'd been wrong for so long I just assumed she'd be hired by the Obama administration like a lot of journalists have been. I think it's like 17 or 18 journalists have been hired by the Obama administration, and Andrea Mitchell (NBC News, Washington). Andrea, you better be careful because washed up reporters get sent over to MSNBC. Sorry, she's already there. She does have her own show at one o'clock. Okay, now back to the R-word sound bites. Where did we leave off? Oh, yeah, Zsa Zsa. Here is Arianna Huffington and this is this morning on MSNBC.

HUFFINGTON: Sarah Palin is being absolutely ludicrous. This is like the extreme of political correctness. Rahm apologized. It's a complete nonissue. This is absolutely manufactured indignation and the sooner we stop talking about it the better. Sarah Palin suddenly waking up and discovering that Rahm Emanuel used a word that Rush Limbaugh has used consistently but she has nothing to say about that.

RUSH: I have not "used it consistently." (laughing) I'm merely quoting Rahm Emanuel yesterday. And, by the way, I don't have any manufactured indignation. I'm laughing about all this! In case you people don't understand... Guess what? Guess what else the libs are just roiled about, proving that there's a new generation of libs that's populating the media as well as the old generation. I said on Gretchen Carlson's show yesterday, "I love the women's movement especially walking behind it." Folks, I've only been using that line since 1986. I've only been using it since 1986! I've been using it for over 22 years. Yet there are some libs in the media heard it for the first time. This is why you gotta keep repeating things, folks, even if you get bored with them. And they hear things I haven't said repeatedly and they make up things I haven't said and they get angry. They have no sense of humor. I mean, everybody, even in Sacramento when I said it first. That was an ad-lib line in a debate with a mayor of Davis, California, on a TV station in Sacramento. I came up with it just in the heat of the moment and everybody laughed. Even the mayor started laughing on the show! Nobody got mad about it back then. But, look, we're so wound tight with political correctness now. All right, let's go back. Let's go back. Here is, again, MSNBC trying their best to turn this into Sarah Palin versus Rush Limbaugh.

REPORTER: Someone who supported Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, went on a tirade. I want to play what he said. As you know, Ken, people are asking if Sarah Palin's going to call out Rush for these remarks. Let's play it.

RUSH ARCHIVE: Our political correct society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards "retards." ... I think the big news is that he's out there calling Obama's number one supporters "F-ing retards." There's going to be a Retard Summit at the White House.

REPORTER: Has Sarah Palin commented on Rush's words there that he said on his radio show yesterday, Ken?

VOGEL: We haven't heard that yet but, uh, she clearly is very active on Facebook, so wouldn't be surprised to hear from her soon.

REPORTER: We'll see if it turns from, uh, as the headline says "Palin vs. Limbaugh" or if it will say "Palin vs. Emanuel."

RUSH: That's the Politico correspondent Ken Vogel: Palin vs. Limbaugh. Sarah Palin knows how this program works. She knows that we were making fun of Rahm Emanuel and highlighting that it's people like Emanuel who do say these things. They hardly ever get called on it. If it hadn't been for Sarah Palin... And this comment was made last August. Now, we're not through here, folks. Yesterday afternoon in Washington, at the White House, deputy press secretary Bill Burton held the daily press briefing, and the Fox News correspondent, Major Garrett, says, "Why bring in this large a group of people here to Rahm Emanuel? Is there something the administration's trying to get across to this larger group of interested parties on this issue of the R-word as a result of what was published about what Rahm Emanuel said year?"

BURTON: This is something that happened in August. It's something that Rahm Emanuel has apologized for. It's, ummm... issue of, uhhh... you know, issues of derogatory comments that make fun of one group or pit one against the other, ummm, don't do anything to further our political discourse, and for that, Rahm Emanuel apologized and, uh, we're -- we're looking to move forward here.

GARRETT: Did the president ask him to apologize?

BURTON: I don't know what conversations, uh, Rahm Emanuel had with the president.

RUSH: Now, they're saying this is a nonissue. It's a nonissue now. Zsa Zsa says it's a nonissue. (Huffington impression) "Rahm has apoleee-gized. Rush Leeembaugh says it consistently." If it's a nonissue, why did he apologize all over the place and why did they arrange an R-word Summit for Rahm Emanuel to apologize? I feel like an idiot. The R-word Summit. Barney Frank attacked me on the House floor yesterday. Here is a portion of what he said.

FRANK: The Washington Times said Schumer and Frank have plans to ram through legislation that will produce universal voter r-r-registration -- and they say it will be on the floor of the House in two weeks. It's the lie repeated. Rush Limbaugh joined in. This begins with a totally fictional accusation by John Fund with no basis whatsoever repeated by the Washington Times and repeated by Rush Limbaugh. None of them having checked what we were talking about. None of them seeing if it was accurate. It begins with a lie from the editorial writer from the Wall Street Journal; it was then repeated by all of his right-wing colleagues.

RUSH: Now, let's remember, the last time Barney said with ontological certitude that there's no way Scott Brown's swearing in will be delayed. (paraphrased) "There's no way the certification will be delayed. There's no provision in the law for it. There's no way. That's silly. You can't be delayed. If he wins he wins, he's sworn in." He's been delayed being sworn in. So when Barney is speaking with this kind of certitude, folks, the evidence is maybe he doesn't know what he's talking about here and is trying to diffuse things.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Tom in Englewood, Florida, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello, sir.

CALLER: Glad to be here, Rush. I'm a longtime listener and a big fan of yours.

RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.

CALLER: When I was talking to Mr. Snerdley, I pointed out that it seems like every time you, or let's say even Sarah Palin bring up an issue, you're one voice, and there is like a thousand voices in the mainstream media that would love to just tear you or Sarah Palin down. It's like a science fiction movie, you know, where they keep shooting these high pressure or atomic rockets into this big blob in space and the only thing that happens is it gets more powerful, and that's what your voice and Sarah Palin's voice are doing. Every time they attack you, the only thing they do -- and like you say, thank God for my enemies -- is make you stronger and make you increase your will.

RUSH: It's amazing. They've been making this mistake for 20 years.

CALLER: Yeah, they don't get it.

RUSH: I like this analogy to a sci-fi movie.

CALLER: Yeah. You know, I don't know, I watched one, you know, I can't even remember what it was, but they shoot their big powerful laser, whatever it is, into this giant blob and they get stronger.

RUSH: Yeah, they were shooting it with what it lived on.

CALLER: Yes, exactly, exactly.

RUSH: In my case, false criticism.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: I live on false criticism. I mean, it's my favorite meal.

CALLER: Yeah.

RUSH: Do you remember the movie Mars Attacks?

CALLER: Yes, I do, with Jack Nicholson.

RUSH: Jack Nicholson and all these little Martian people coming around and they had them fooled into thinking they wanted peace and love and all that.

CALLER: Yeah, right.

RUSH: And they were firing everything they had at these little Martian people and their big ships and so forth. Finally what brought the Martians down was Slim Whitman music.

CALLER: (laughing) Yes. (laughing) I thought that was tremendous.

RUSH: Slim Whitman music caused the Martians' heads to explode. So hopefully they won't find the Slim Whitman equivalent to taking out Sarah Palin and me. Thanks, Tom, for the phone call. I appreciate it.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just got an e-mail from another web subscriber, Thomas Morely, subject line: "I am offended. Dear Mr. Limbaugh: You just said you feel like an idiot, as if that were a bad thing. Mr. Limbaugh, I am a recovering idiot, and I'm totally offended." That's Tom in St. Paul. Ah, gee, I didn't know I was offending idiots by saying I felt like one having to say the R-word and so forth.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I just got a note from a friend who said, "Rush, it's not just the R-word which needs to be banned or dropped. There's a T-word associated with this, too: 'Tard. It's slang, and it's in the Urban Dictionary." I'm just going to read the definition of 'tard to you in the Urban Dictionary.: "Adjective used to describe ones so retarded they do not deserve the r-e." If Emanuel is going to start pulling the word from legislation... (interruption) That's what it says, Snerdley! (laughing) It's in the Urban Dictionary. I'm just -- I'm trying to be helpful to the administration here because they want to pull the word and drop it from as much of the charted language that we have.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: By the way, I forgot, there is another use of the word 'tard other than the definition given in the Urban Dictionary. As in "I'm 'tard and I need to go to bed." That's the Southern dialect. No, that's Hillary Clinton. She used it that way when she channeled a great black spiritual leader in the past: "I ain't no waaaays 'tard." So you gotta be careful when you use the word 'tard out there. Make sure your audience knows which definition you mean.

END TRANSCRIPT

[ChumpDumper]

So Palin thinks Rush's use of the word is offensive.

OK

[Marcus Bryant]

RUSH:

That's a convoluted rationalization.

Palin is selective in her outrage, of course.

[SouthernFried]

RUSH:

It's the reason I kept repeating it is to never let people forget that it was Rahm Emanuel who said it. It's like Harry Reid and the Negro dialect, I kept talking about that, "Yeah, he's light-skinned and he doesn't speak with a Negro dialect except when he wants to." And sure enough the next day I caught grief as though I had originated the comment. That's the way the press works. That's the way leftists will portray and repeat it. They are sheep. Anyway, Gail, I'm glad you called. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify any confusion that existed out there.

[ChumpDumper]

But Palin does point out the word is offensive no matter who uses it.
So Palin thinks Rush's use of the word is offensive.

OK

[PublicOption]

she got it right, rush is a retard.

[George Gervin's Afro]

RUSH:

It's the reason I kept repeating it is to never let people forget that it was Rahm Emanuel who said it. It's like Harry Reid and the Negro dialect, I kept talking about that, "Yeah, he's light-skinned and he doesn't speak with a Negro dialect except when he wants to." And sure enough the next day I caught grief as though I had originated the comment. That's the way the press works. That's the way leftists will portray and repeat it. They are sheep. Anyway, Gail, I'm glad you called. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify any confusion that existed out there.

rush has used the word retard before.... palin was outraged when a dem said it and silent when hush said it.. very simple..

[Viva Las Espuelas]

Here she was using her kids when she was running for office

gd4wQd_gbj8

LMAO loud-ass music still unable to drown out the boos

is she running for office currently?

[Mr. Peabody]

Apparently, Mrs. Palin no longer has a problem with the term when Limbaugh uses it.

On Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel, she said his comments calling liberal groups "f-ing retards" was "indecent and insensitive" and cause for his dismissal.

But the former governor went to great and sometimes awkward lengths to insist that when conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the same exact term to describe the same exact group, it was simply in the role of political humorist.

"They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh,":wtf she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups "retards." "Rush Limbaugh was using satire ... . I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'f-ing retards,' and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there."

So . . . she agrees with Limbaugh that liberals are "retards" but has a problem with Rahm Emanuel referring to the same group in that manner?

Also, her argument appears to be that calling people "retards" is ok, but calling people "fucking retards" is not. So, I guess it's not the "retard" that's objectionable, it's the "fucking" part that is the problem.

I'm glad that someone finally spoke up for the "fucking retards." Usually, people only speak out for the regular "retards" and leave their "fucking" counterparts without a voice.

[ploto]

To Palin it is OK to equate someone who is a kook with the word retarded?

[ChumpDumper]

Apparently, Mrs. Palin no longer has a problem with the term when Limbaugh uses it.


So . . . she agrees with Limbaugh that liberals are "retards" but has a problem with Rahm Emanuel referring to the same group in that manner?

Also, her argument appears to be that calling people "retards" is ok, but calling people "fucking retards" is not. So, I guess it's not the "retard" that's objectionable, it's the "fucking" part that is the problem.

I'm glad that someone finally spoke up for the "fucking retards." Usually, people only speak out for the regular "retards" and leave their "fucking" counterparts without a voice.Palin obviously doesn't want them to reproduce.

[spursncowboys]

Apparently, Mrs. Palin no longer has a problem with the term when Limbaugh uses it.


So . . . she agrees with Limbaugh that liberals are "retards" but has a problem with Rahm Emanuel referring to the same group in that manner?

Also, her argument appears to be that calling people "retards" is ok, but calling people "fucking retards" is not. So, I guess it's not the "retard" that's objectionable, it's the "fucking" part that is the problem.

I'm glad that someone finally spoke up for the "fucking retards." Usually, people only speak out for the regular "retards" and leave their "fucking" counterparts without a voice.
I thiink she was mostly offended with rahm emanuel calling her son a liberal. Just me.

[clambake]

I thiink she was mostly offended with rahm emanuel calling her son a liberal. Just me.

palin gives birth to another liberal.

[clambake]

how long before she has another public fight with a teenager?

[Wild Cobra]

:lol Rush predicted this. Maybe if you guys listened to Rush instead of getting your info from mediamatters you wouldn't look stupid time and time again.
They simply cannot handle the truth. They have to have it spun a few times before they can stomach it.


gd4wQd_gbj8

LMAO loud-ass music still unable to drown out the boos
Sounded like normal cheering.

I understand...

Title says...

Mind believes...

[sabar]

Retard is free game, no one uses it to refer to mentally deficient people in 2010. Much like the words dumb, imbecile, idiot, moron, stupid, and whatever else that is a synonym of retard that also used to refer to those with little mental ability.

[baseline bum]

They simply cannot handle the truth. They have to have it spun a few times before they can stomach it.

Sounded like normal cheering.

I understand...

Title says...

Mind believes...

:lmao

and all those people in the front row with their thumbs down were giving gestures of support too? Is booing how you all show your support in Oregon?

[Cry Havoc]

Either the word retarded is acceptable or it's not.

You wouldn't "conditionally" walk up to a large black person and drop the N word in his face and then pass it off with him as, "Aw hey man I can say that to you, 'cause you're a kook so you can't be mad at me!"

We don't allow white people to decide if blacks are offended by the N word, or give Chinese individuals the ability to determine if people from Mexico are upset by the W word. Shouldn't we leave it up to the mentally challenged to decide whether or not they want the R word in the common vernacular? Most of them (from my own experience, as I have had numerous jobs working with said population) do not. I would take that as good enough reason not to use said word any longer.


They simply cannot handle the truth. They have to have it spun a few times before they can stomach it.

Sounded like normal cheering.

I understand...

Title says...

Mind believes...

Wow. You really don't hear any booing there?

[TeyshaBlue]

There's a term which would describe perfectly what our national political discourse has become when significant time is devoted to the utterance of a common slang word by a public figure in a private meeting. For the life of me, I am unable to recall it.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/teyshablue/idiocracy-tv-dvd11.jpg

[TeyshaBlue]

Either the word retarded is acceptable or it's not.

You wouldn't "conditionally" walk up to a large black person and drop the N word in his face and then pass it off with him as, "Aw hey man I can say that to you, 'cause you're a kook so you can't be mad at me!"

We don't allow white people to decide if blacks are offended by the N word, or give Chinese individuals the ability to determine if people from Mexico are upset by the W word. Shouldn't we leave it up to the mentally challenged to decide whether or not they want the R word in the common vernacular? Most of them (from my own experience, as I have had numerous jobs working with said population) do not. I would take that as good enough reason not to use said word any longer.


And then, eventually, someone will use the word retarded in it's classical sense... the tempo of the second movement of Brahms first symphony, Andante sostenuto, was intentionally retarded. God help the person that suggest the thematic interplay in this movement as "Niggardly".:lmao

I have a "special needs" son. He's a great kid and I love him to death. I protect his interests vigorously. Yet, the impact of the use of the word retard approaches 0.00.

[Wild Cobra]

Wow. You really don't hear any booing there?
What I heard was the normal mix of everything at a game. Nothing prominent, and no definitive booing to Palin vs. the visiting team.

[spursncowboys]

I didn't hear boo and was really trying. Maybe they were there.

[Winehole23]

Either the word retarded is acceptable or it's not.Socially speaking, right? Constitutionally speaking, it is protected..


You wouldn't "conditionally" walk up to a large black person and drop the N word in his face and then pass it off with him as, "Aw hey man I can say that to you, 'cause you're a kook so you can't be mad at me!"

http://rlv.zcache.com/fo_shizzle_my_nizzle_tshirt-p235959426165166228trlf_400.jpg


We don't allow white people to decide if blacks are offended by the N word, or give Chinese individuals the ability to determine if people from Mexico are upset by the W word. Awkward. Everyone wants a piece of this conversation.

People get pissed off one by one, not by racial background. JMO.


Shouldn't we leave it up to the mentally challenged to decide whether or not they want the R word in the common vernacular? Take counsel from whomever you wish in the manner of purifying your own speech. Prescribing the manner for the rest us in the phenomenological "we" is pretty questionable IMO.

Common courtesy and being respectful of people is one thing; the notion that usage submits or should submit to the diktat of duly empanelled racial tribunes as to what is socially acceptable to say, is something else entirely.

JMO it's still respectable if not positively reputable to embrace the former and reject the latter.

[ChumpDumper]

What I heard was the normal mix of everything at a game. Nothing prominent, and no definitive booing to Palin vs. the visiting team.


I didn't hear boo and was really trying. Maybe they were there.
:lol

[duhoh]

ya know, generally i am more towards the republican party, but when palin popped on the scene i backed off.

anything to keep her out of the white house please.

[Cry Havoc]

Socially speaking, right? Constitutionally speaking, it is protected..

I'm not saying it should be illegal to use the word retard, my concern is more with the mores set by the current social stratum. Should it be legal? Absolutely.


People get pissed off one by one, not by racial background. JMO.

Well, of course, but do you want to walk into a crowded square and yell the word, "######!" to see what happens? I'm relatively certain it would be a collective response.


Take counsel from whomever you wish in the manner of purifying your own speech.

Good advice.


Prescribing the manner for the rest us in the phenomenological "we" is pretty questionable IMO.

Perhaps, but obviously we have developed norms for the usage of certain words and shunned others.


Common courtesy and being respectful of people is one thing; the notion that usage submits or should submit to the diktat of duly empanelled racial tribunes as to what is socially acceptable to say, is something else entirely.

There is that. However, being intellectually disabled is nearly always as little of a choice as which ethnic background you originate from. The heart of the matter is that individuals are being hurt by this word, and as a large group would like people to take notice of that fact. It is less of a push for a law that must be obeyed and more of a recommendation of advice that should be heeded and, at the very least, considered on some level.


JMO it's still respectable if not positively reputable to embrace the former and reject the latter.

Well, it does obviously begin with the single individual making a conscious choice. But as long as racial epithets exist and are considered obscene by the general public, so too should these people hurt by a similarly derogatory word be given their time to be heard as well.

All JMO as well, of course.

[Winehole23]

The heart of the matter is that individuals are being hurt by this word, and as a large group would like people to take notice of that fact. It is less of a push for a law that must be obeyed and more of a recommendation of advice that should be heeded and, at the very least, considered on some level.Sure, why not?

That's how social grievances work, right?

People complain, people listen or they don't listen, people respond to that, some people try to respond and somehow fail, and yet others like myself stand around complaining about all the complainers and failures.



:toast

[Winehole23]

Perhaps, but obviously we have developed norms for the usage of certain words and shunned others.Social norms exist and one ignores them at his/her own risk. Agree 100%.

[EVAY]

ya know, generally i am more towards the republican party, but when palin popped on the scene i backed off.

anything to keep her out of the white house please.

I can appreciate this point of view. I tend more toward republicans than democrats perhaps, but can never really embrace either. BUT, having said that, Palin pretending to be victimized by anything in the world just pisses me off so badly that I cannot credit it as being worthwhile. That is not rational, I recognize. My reaction to Palin is not rational. ...Palin is not rational.

And since Palin is backing Perry I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do in the Governor's race. I hate to sit out any election, but it may come to that this time.

[Cry Havoc]

yet others like myself stand around complaining about all the complainers and failures.

We can't all be winners, WH. :downspin:

[Winehole23]

That's ok with me.

[ChumpDumper]

I can appreciate this point of view. I tend more toward republicans than democrats perhaps, but can never really embrace either. BUT, having said that, Palin pretending to be victimized by anything in the world just pisses me off so badly that I cannot credit it as being worthwhile. That is not rational, I recognize. My reaction to Palin is not rational. ...Palin is not rational.

And since Palin is backing Perry I don't know what the hell I'm gonna do in the Governor's race. I hate to sit out any election, but it may come to that this time.Vote for Shamwow. At least he has actually created jobs.