PALIN: I agree with Rush Limbaugh. He was using satire to politically correct --
WALLACE: He used the "r" word.
PALIN: He used satire. Name-calling by anyone, I teach this to my children and you teach it to your children and grandchildren, too. Name calling by anyone is just unnecessary. It just wastes time. Let's speak to the issues and -- [...]
PALIN: 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 has been reported, did say that. there is a big difference there. Again, name-calling, using language that is insensitive, by anyone, male, female, Republican, Democrat, is unnecessary. It's inappropriate. Let's all just grow up.
For a brief moment...OK, a nanosecond...I'd been hoping that maybe, just maybe, Sarah Palin wouldn't once again reveal herself to be a hypocrite of the first order. Sadly, as has happened many times before, I was destined to be disappointed. Outrage, it seems, can be manufactured when it serves one's purpose...particularly when that purpose is scoring political points and denigrating those who sit on the other side of the political fence.
I'm not going to sit here and condone Rahm Emanuel's use of the word "retard". Whether you happen to find the word offensive or not, someone who's been in public service as long as Emanuel has should know better. Frankly, he deserves to be pilloried...for being an insensitive moron...as does Rush Limbaugh, whose use of the word was far more frequent and egregious than was Emanuel's. Of course, Emanuel's a Democrat...so of course he's amply worthy of unfettered scorn and condemnation. Limbaugh is as close to untouchable as a Republican can be. Then there's also Reagan's Law: "Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican." That Limbaugh is the very face and definition of "insensitive moron" seems not to matter. He's a Republican; ergo, he gets a free pass.
Frankly, ANY use of the word "retard" is offensive...because the word is intended to be dismissive, derogatory, and disrespectful. That Palin's condemnation of the use of the word depends on the ideological affiliation of the person using it is beyond offensive. It does go a long ways toward revealing just how nakedly ambitious and overtly political she is, though. (And how many Right-wing males are drooling at the prospect of being able to use "naked" and "Sarah Palin" in the same sentence?)
Consistency and fairness, it would seem, are for losers and Liberals.
