On CNN, talk show host Leslie Marshall says the “Family Guy” controversy has been a “win-win” for both Sarah Palin and Seth MacFarlane, the show’s producer, because it “ups her popularity and the show’s popularity.” Entertainment reporter Tanika Ray says MacFarlane’s goal is to stir up controversy. “He thinks: if Sarah Palin’s responding, he did his job.”

Blogging at the Baltimore Sun, critic David Zurawik says he supports the free speech rights of Bill Maher and Seth MacFarlane, but thinks they are “bullying” people with disabilities.

…there is a larger point to these two remarks this week: I think they are emblematic of how toxic and nasty our public discourse has become.

Reading some of the comments in reaction to my post from people who found the “Family Guy” joke funny, I was struck by just how far we have fallen as a society in our anger and need to feel superior to someone else.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper says Sarah Palin needs to acknowledge that the “Family Guy” episode was satire — unlike Rush Limbaugh’s “retard” reference.

And there’s coverage of Andrea Fay Friedman’s response to Palin at the New York Daily News, USA Today, CBS, Village Voice and elsewhere.

Says she’s advocating on behalf of ‘special needs community’

From the New York Daily News, CBS Political Hotsheet blog. Video at Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor.”

During an appearance on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday, Sarah Palin renewed her demand that President Obama replace White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for calling a group of liberals “F-ing retards.”

Calling herself a champion of the “special needs community,” Palin also attacked the “cruel, cold-hearted” writers of a Fox animated show that lampooned a character with Down syndrome, but defended conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s repeated use of the word “retard” as “satire.”

An excerpt:

“When I gave my vice presidential nomination speech at the GOP convention, I promised the special needs community that they would have a friend and an advocate in the White House,” she said. “And just because John McCain and I did not win, that did not take away my passion for helping those who want to reach out and ask me to do what I can to allow this country, this world to be more welcoming place for all innocent people, all special needs children. I am going to keep pursuing that in our country until we are a more tolerant, compassionate, welcoming place for the innocents.”

Full transcript here.

Ellen Seidman, writing at Huffingtonpost.com, says Sarah Palin’s criticism a recent episode of ‘Family Guy’ is “completely misguided.” Seidman, whose son has cerebral palsy, says she applauds what she views as the show’s message — that people with disabilities are people just like everyone else. An excerpt:

I work so hard to spread that message every single day of my son’s life. It is an endless, Sisyphean labor of love. To be sure, I would not enjoy it if someone called Max an asshole, but hey, at least they’d be engaging with him instead of just gaping. At least they’d be treating him like a typical person instead of like a freak show.

Sarah, the genius of this episode is that it made a girl with Down syndrome seem like just another feisty teenager with ‘tude. It also gave people in this country a way to get the conversation going about people with disabilities.

… Really, you should be grateful to “The Family Guy” — for tackling a taboo topic with relatable humor and smarts; for holding a funhouse mirror up to the public so they can recognize their shortcomings in their dealings with people who are handicapped; and for being real.

Assessing Sarah Palin’s criticism of ‘Family Guy,’ Jennifer Armstrong on Entertainment Weekly’s Popwatch blog says the show actually treated Ellen, the character with Down syndrome, “very much like any other character, which shows quite a bit of respect in the Family Guy universe.” An excerpt of her comments (accompanied by a video of the show’s “Down Syndrome Girl” number):

Her defining trait wasn’t her Down syndrome, it was the fact that she was bitchy and demanding and ultimately rejected Chris even though he heeded her every command. You could see it as mocking, I suppose, that Stewie sang a song called “Down Syndrome Girl” while getting Chris ready for his date. But that made a lot more fun of poor Chris and his smelly, gross tendencies than it did of his date.

Yes, there are references to hugs that are “tighter than a vice and go on for an hour,” the “shorty bus,” and the fact that she’s “for some reason always shouting.”(Side note: Ellen herself didn’t shout.) But is this enough to warrant Palin’s wrath? I honestly don’t know – I don’t have a child with Down syndrome. I do, however, salute including those with the condition in our everyday entertainment, and doing so without patronizing them. This episode did that, and even came off pretty sweet, by Family Guy standards.

From the Washington Post:

A nonscientific readership by the Washington Post turned up widespread opposition to efforts by disability advocates to discourage the use of the “R-word.” With more than 3,000 votes tallied, 51 percent opposed the campaign, while 24 percent supported it and another 24 percent reported no opinion.

The results were tallied in answer to the question: Advocacy groups for people with intellectual disabilities are campaigning to end use of the word ‘retard’ or ‘retarded.’ What do you think of their initiative?

The informal survey accompanied a Q&A with Christopher M. Fairman, a law professor from Ohio State University, who was discussing a column he wrote for the Post entitled “The case against banning the word ‘retard.” The vast majority of those who participated in the online conversation seemed to agree with the position Fairman took in his article. Here’s one response, from Annapolis, Md:

I oppose banning the word because I do not find it offensive.

I say this as the sister-in-law of a mentally retarded woman, now 58, who has has lived with my husband and me for the past 14 years. I recently look early retirement to be with her full-time, as her needs are becoming more urgent. For example, she needs help in toileting, but will only allow a woman to assist her.

I love her dearly, but calling her “mentally challenged” is a joke that minimizes the great amount of time, effort and patience required to meet her needs. “Retarded” is a neutral term that more accurately reflects that is involved.

See also: Shriver: ‘Retard’ is the language of bigotry

(Graphic from the Washington Post)

The New York Daily News reports that Fox Television “could be headed to Sarah Palin’s doghouse” after airing a Valentine’s Day broadcast of Family Guy that made jokes at the expense of a character with Down syndrome.

The episode shows Chris going on a date with a woman with Down syndrome who tells him, in an apparent slap at Palin, “My dad’s an accountant and my mom’s the former governor of Alaska.” In a song-and-dance number leading up to the date, Chris’ brother Stewie salutes the woman as a “Down syndrome girl”, and adds such descriptions as “little whore,” “poorly grooming,” “as-of-Monday-shoelace-tying,” “just a little crooked walking” and “a special person’s wettest dream.”

Chris gives up on his dream girl Ellen after she bosses him around. “I used to hear that people with Down syndrome were different from the rest of us but you’re not,” he tells her angrily. “You’re not different at all. You’re just a bunch of [bleep] like everyone else.”

The Daily News reported that the episode “appeared to mock” Palin’s son Trig, who has Down syndrome. The former vice presidential candidate, now a news contributor on Fox, did not comment.

The character of Ellen was voiced by Andrea Fay Friedman, an actress who has Down syndrome.

See also: Los Angeles Times ‘Show Tracker’ blog, NBC Los Angeles

From Michael Arrington at Techcrunch.com via the Washington Post. Also, MediaPost.com, HuffingtonPost.com:

Appearing at the exclusive TED conference in California last week, comedian Sarah Silverman performed a routine that made liberal use of the word “retarded,” web sources are saying.

The gist of her remarks: She said she’d like to adopt a “special needs child” so that people would think she was an “awesome person,” but she’s concerned that a “retarded child” would never leave the nest. So she’s decided that she would adopt a “retarded child with a terminal illness so it has an expiration date.”

The TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference draws heavy hitters from around the globe, and is devoted to what it calls “ideas worth spreading.” In addition to Silverman, speakers this year included Bill Gates and James Cameron. Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Gordon Brown have appeared in past years.

Silverman’s routine drew criticism from conference organizer Chris Anderson, who twittered that he thought it was “god-awful.” Anderson later “admitted he was out of line,” reports Mediapost.com.

Arrington writes that Silverman, who has built a career challenging taboos, was…

“following suit behind Megan McCain and Stephen Colbert in making fun of Sarah Palin. She didn’t say this, but I knew this. Why did I know this? Because this is a trend with comedians right now and I know why they are doing it. They are doing it for a cause. They don’t want that word turned into the “R word”. Saying the word “retarded” can only have extreme negative power if you let it and Sarah Silverman is brave, because she got on stage in front of some global minds and dropped it over and over and over.”

Silverman was among celebrities featured last year in MTV’s “How’s Your News?” a comedy/reality show in which reporters with disabilities traveled the country in search of news.

(Photo from www.ted.com)