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Palin Blasts Emanuel for Calling Dem Idea 'Retarded'

She is a joke.

But she happens to be right about this.

I can see you feel passionate about this. I am not saying she is wrong. This is her opinion, and she is entitled to it, as are you.

In my Webster's dictionary, it defines retarded as, "Slow or backward in mental or emotional development or in academic achievement."

Wow, what an offensive word to call an idea. :roll:

This, of course, is MY opinion.

As pointed out by someone else in this thread, the word "idiot" is even worse than retarded.
 
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Emanuel, known for his coarse language, apologized for the comment, according to a White House official. He will also meet with Shriver and four other disability advocates at the White House on Wednesday.

"The meeting will be a face-to-face discussion with Rahm Emanuel about the suffering and pain of people with intellectual disabilities that is perpetuated by the use of the terms 'retard' and 'retarded' as well as the damage that can be done by the casual use of the R-word – even if it is not directed toward people with intellectual disabilities," the Special Olympics said in a statement.

If not followed by a resignation, it's meaningless.
 
there's really no excuse for the president and his chief of staff to use language so disparaging to so many americans

shame

Especially considering that the "Americans" he's disparaging are the people that supported their Messiah.
 
I can see you feel passionate about this. I am not saying she is wrong. This is her opinion, and she is entitled to it, as are you.

In my Webster's dictionary, it defines retarded as, "Slow or backward in mental or emotional development or in academic achievement."

Wow, what an offensive word to call an idea. :roll:

The insult version of the term isn't really using that definition though. I think you understand that. Nobody thinks of a dictionary when they use the word. If people hadn't been labeled "retarded" nobody would be using it as an insult. Rahm wouldn't have said "their proposal is slow or backward."

As pointed out by someone else in this thread, the word "idiot" is even worse than retarded.

But it's not, because nobody is officially diagnosed as an idiot anymore. Mentally retarded is still very much an official term, though that is changing. And few people remember that idiot was an official term that meant what mentally retarded means now. They know very well who retarded refers to.

(BTW thanks for not being an asshole about it like so many other people).
 
The insult version of the term isn't really using that definition though. I think you understand that. Nobody thinks of a dictionary when they use the word. If people hadn't been labeled "retarded" nobody would be using it as an insult. Rahm wouldn't have said "their proposal is slow or backward."



But it's not, because nobody is officially diagnosed as an idiot anymore. Mentally retarded is still very much an official term, though that is changing. And few people remember that idiot was an official term that meant what mentally retarded means now. They know very well who retarded refers to.

(BTW thanks for not being an asshole about it like so many other people).

That's an interesting comment you made. Hmmmm. If I heard my son (or some other family member) being diagnosed with "mental retardation," would I find the word "retard" more offensive as a result? I might.

As an aside, I think Rahm sounded like an asshole in using the terms he did. Come on. You work in the White House. Show some effing class and don't use profanity and yell and scream. I was disappointed when Obama picked him as his COS.
 
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When is it acceptable?

Probably the same times that blond jokes are acceptable. Or homo jokes (I love homo jokes). Or Polack jokes.

Anyone who says they have never enjoyed an off color joke among friends or private company is lying through their teeth as badly as a teenage boy who claims he never masturbates.
 
That's an interesting comment you made. Hmmmm. If I heard my son (or some other family member) being diagnosed with "mental retardation," would I find the word "retard" more offensive as a result? I might.

Well, yeah, I think that's a pretty good bet that you would.

I do hear alot of people saying they think the word is fine because it's not an official term anymore. They're wrong, it still is, though it's changing. Even so, the reason it is being abandoned is because it is used as an insult! It is still very much linked to the people it refers to. It will take a generation or so to forget that. In the meantime, people will (and already are) using the new term as an insult. "Hey, are you mentally challenged or something?" Etc. Where does it end?
 
In general, people who get offended over politicians using poorly chosen words (especially behind closed doors) are ****ing retarded.

The REAL issue is that the Democrats expect to be able to use any slur they want, any time (Byrd calls people "nigger" on national TV.) and then they demand censure of anyone that praised Strom Thurmond using basic non-offensive words in the English language.

Anytime those hypocrites can be shown for what they are, is a good time.
 
Probably the same times that blond jokes are acceptable. Or homo jokes (I love homo jokes). Or Polack jokes.

Yes, probably the same times those are acceptable, yes. Perhaps you should go tell a few and see how that works out too.

Anyone who says they have never enjoyed an off color joke among friends or private company is lying through their teeth as badly as a teenage boy who claims he never masturbates.

Not all jokes are the same. You make any dead Haitian jokes lately too?
 
Yes, probably the same times those are acceptable, yes. Perhaps you should go tell a few and see how that works out too.

Usually quite a few laughs. Are you saying you haven't enjoyed some off colored humor at some group's expense when among friends?

Not all jokes are the same. You make any dead Haitian jokes lately too?

Too soon. Give it about another week or two. I won't disappoint.
 
If McCain had said it, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Liberals are the only ones hypocritical enough to try to defend this.

It's not appropriate for anyone to use the term "retard" as an insult. Particularly not the White House Chief of Staff. Could you imagine the Queen of England saying anything like this? Emanuel is an embarrassment to the country.
 
The REAL issue is that the Democrats expect to be able to use any slur they want, any time (Byrd calls people "nigger" on national TV.) and then they demand censure of anyone that praised Strom Thurmond using basic non-offensive words in the English language.

Anytime those hypocrites can be shown for what they are, is a good time.

you, as usual, nailed it

i avoid going where your argument goes because it's controversial, that is, it's gonna stoke heat and argument

if, instead, you simply say, rahm has no class---no one can argue that

analogous is an attempt to show that obama's policies are WRONG for this country, that they will lead to failure, that his extremist leftism doesn't make sense in practice, in the real world

if you go there, you're gonna get endless arguments and, after 100 posts or so, you'll probably come out on top

but if, in contrast, you simply assert THIS PRESIDENT IS TOTALLY INCOMPETENT, HE's A LOSER---there, you get very little argument

it's a question of efficacy, tactics

rahm has no class, i'd expect more from an 8th grade boy than the most incompetent president in american history's chief of staff daily demonstrates

the president once joked, when rahm's middle finger was severed in that deli accident a long time ago, the hard charging chief of staff was robbed of half his vocabulary
 
The REAL issue is that the Democrats expect to be able to use any slur they want, any time (Byrd calls people "nigger" on national TV.) and then they demand censure of anyone that praised Strom Thurmond using basic non-offensive words in the English language.

Anytime those hypocrites can be shown for what they are, is a good time.

Uh, this Democrat doesn't expect that. Don't talk like all Democrats speak with one voice. It's just as absurd as saying all Republicans do.
 
Usually quite a few laughs. Are you saying you haven't enjoyed some off colored humor at some group's expense when among friends?

Not at the expense of the mentally retarded.

I don't know what kind of people you hang out with though.

Too soon. Give it about another week or two. I won't disappoint.

Too soon? Come on, you're the tough guy who thinks no joke is off-limits.
 
If McCain had said it, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. Liberals are the only ones hypocritical enough to try to defend this.

I'm a liberal and I stand behind Palin 100% on this issue. So cut it out.
 
This is dumb. We can't even use the word 'retarded' to describe a mentally retarded person anymore because people use it as slang. Now Palin has to go and make a big to do over one of her political opponents using the term 'retarded' idiomatically to describe what he thought was a dumb (which originally meant 'mute') So, I guess the word retarded is totally out of bounds and offensive?

Palin just wants to be in the news again, she's an attention junkie I think.

FOXNews.com - Palin Blasts Emanuel for Calling Dem Idea 'Retarded'

That's retarded.
 
Not at the expense of the mentally retarded.

I don't know what kind of people you hang out with though.

Only at the expense of homos, polacks, blacks, blonds, etc...amirite?

Too soon? Come on, you're the tough guy who thinks no joke is off-limits.

Tough guy? Now I've heard it all. That really does sound like some special ed taunt.
 
Only at the expense of homos, polacks, blacks, blonds, etc...amirite?

Well, no, not them either. Maybe a blonde joke or too.

Here's a rough idea - if you can't say it in front of them, don't say it behind their back.

If you told a crude joke about blacks, for instance, you'd be assuming that I approve of it. I don't. I would say so.

Tough guy? Now I've heard it all. That really does sound like some special ed taunt.

Why is it "too soon" to tell dead Haitian jokes? Why?
 
I'm a liberal and I stand behind Palin 100% on this issue. So cut it out.

The only people who would defend it are liberal. Not all liberals are defending it. Kind of like the rhombus/square relationship. All squares are rhombuses but not vice versa.
 
Kind of like the rhombus/square relationship. All squares are rhombuses but not vice versa.

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The only people who would defend it are liberal.

That's a load of crap. You can't prove that.

Someone already posted a good example in this thread of Ann Coulter using the term in an insulting way.
 
This kind of reminds me of this:

Vice President Dick Cheney apologized Monday for what his spokeswoman called "an inappropriate attempt at humor" that implied that inbreeding is common among West Virginians, a remark that elicited outrage from the state's senior senator.

Asked during a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club about the fact that a search of his family tree found he is a distant relative of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential front-runner, Cheney said the two politicians were unlikely to hold a family reunion.

He said that the Cheney line on his father's side of the family dates to 1630's, and a Cheney family line on his mother's side dates to the 1650's.

"So, I had Cheneys on both sides of the family - and we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney cracked. After pausing for laughter from the crowd, Cheney added, "You can say those things when you're not running for re-election."
 
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