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.

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

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker says Sarah Palin’s failure to reprimand Rush Limbaugh for his repeated use of the “R-word” serves to demonstrate that she has been “using her child as a political tool.” An excerpt:

Might Trig someday read his mother’s abortion thoughts and find them hurtful?

… Celebrities who embrace causes are valuable players in raising awareness and advancing policy. That said, the degree to which one uses another’s circumstances to achieve those ends requires a studious self-awareness that seems lacking in the equation of Trig and his mother.

Perhaps the erstwhile governor still thinks in first-person plural, viewing Trig as part of herself. But he is also a separate individual deserving of privacy, if unable to say the words she needs to hear: “No more, Mama, please.”

Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum says she’s exasperated by the “political opportunism” evident in the flap surrounding Rahm Emanuel’s recently publicized use of the “R-word.” An excerpt:

Anyone even slightly capable of understanding meaning versus mere words (and despite her acts to the contrary, that includes Palin) can see that the chief of staff harbors no animosity toward the developmentally disabled. In his frustration with a group of left-leaning PAC leaders who wanted to run TV ads criticizing Democratic lawmakers who didn’t support the healthcare bills, he called their idea, well . . . you know. Sure, he should have known better, but compared to Limbaugh — who (on the radio) referred to a [Tim] Shriver meeting at the White House as a “retard summit” — Emanuel doesn’t need to be first in line for sensitivity training.

Worse than that, though, an ultimately false narrative has arisen from all this political opportunism born of faux umbrage. Emanuel has emerged not only as a seeker of redemption for his sins but also as a spokesperson for a national crusade against them.

An excerpt from an editorial in the Boston Globe:

Language is a malleable thing; plenty of slurs that were once commonplace are now considered verboten, and that’s a good thing. But the broader issue isn’t a single word so much as an attitude. The mentally disabled have always been easy targets, even for people who should know better: President Obama had to apologize for making a derogatory crack about the Special Olympics on “The Tonight Show” last spring. And while political correctness can go too far, there’s much to be said for demanding sensitivity — especially from official and influential corners — and for an evolution in the standards of personal decency.

The point of the campaign to end the “r” word is, at heart, to give disabled citizens the dignity they deserve. If it works, it will prove that the mentally disabled are gaining political clout, and that our society has the capacity to change for the better.

From Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report:

Following the logic of Sarah Palin’s defense of Rush Limbaugh, political humorist Stephen Colbert says Palin’s supporters should defend her by calling her a “f — ing retard.”   Transcript follows.

Colbert: … It reminds me to give Sarah Palin a big thumbs-up for standing up for the little guy. Rush Limbaugh. Last week, Sarah Palin rightfully demanded the resignation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for calling liberal Democrats “f — ing retarded.”

Well, El Rushbo used the R-word himself when talking about liberal Democrats. Jim?

Video from Rush Limbaugh Show dated Feb. 3, 2010

Limbaugh: Our political correct society is acting like a giant insult has taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards. So now there’s going to be a meeting. There’s going to be a retard summit at the White House..

Colbert: But Sarah Palin explains to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday why that’s okay.

Video from Fox News Sunday dated Feb. 7, 2010

Palin: Rush Limbaugh was using satire to bring attention to what this politically correct ..

Wallace: He used the R-word …

Palin: Used in 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, it’s been reported, did say that. There’s a big difference there.

Colbert: Thank you. Big difference. It was satire. Listen to Rush Limbaugh talk about the Democrats again.

Video from Rush Limbaugh Show dated Feb. 3, 2010

Limbaugh: Our political correct society is acting like a giant insult has taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards, retards. So now there’s going to be a meeting. There’s going to be a retard summit at the White House..

Colbert: It’s so subtle, see. There’s so many layers. And Sarah Palin knows that it is okay to call someone a retard if, like Rush, you clearly don’t mean it. Which is why we should all come to her defense and say: Sarah Palin is a f–ing retard. Get it? You see? It’s satire.

Video from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. (Warning: Offensive language is bleeped out, but is still obvious.)

Comic Andy Samberg, playing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, offered an “even-tempered apology” to Americans for his use of the term “f–ing retarded” to describe liberal Democrats in a strategy session. The apology started out quietly, then quickly turned into an expletive-laden rampage. An excerpt:

As for the progressive Democrats whom I used the term in reference to, I should never have called you that. What I should have called you are [bleeping] babies, stupid [bleeping] babies who can’t keep their mouths shut.

You went to the Wall Street Journal with this, you [bleeping] turncoats?! The Wall Street Journal? I’m trying to get [bleep] done here. And I know we’re not moving as fast as you want on health care, but maybe you’ve noticed the Republicans are trying to paint us as Soviet crack dealers.

Offering “humblest apologies” in response to criticism by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin on Facebook, Samberg said:

Here’s a status update: grow the [bleep] up! Poke me again and I will write [bleep] on your wall so obscene your computer will cry.

Go back to the [bleeping] tundra, you [bleeping] gimmick!