# Sarah Palin: "Rahm Emannuel called my retard baby a nigger!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 3, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503 "2010-02-03T06:37:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/81 "2010-02-04T16:33:57Z")
I just heard on MSNBC that Rush Limbaugh used the word “retarded” several times on his show yesterday. I can’t wait to hear Palin’s denunciation of Rush and her demand that he be fired. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/82 "2010-02-04T16:52:57Z")
> [@Slypork](#): > > If Rahm had called them a bunch of “fucking faggots” instead, would that have been acceptable by the gay community? The problem is that these insults aren’t remotely comparable. With “faggots,” you have gay = bad. With “niggers,” you have Black = bad. With “retarded,” you have stupid = stupid. The other slurs being mentioned all involve ascribing traits to a class of people that they don’t necessarily have. In the case of “retarded,” you’re just calling a spade a spade. It’s a particularly _blunt and tactless_ spade, but that doesn’t elevate it to the level of homophobia or racism. > [@Stratocaster](#): > > And I’ve actually had people justify it by offering some form of “but retards _are_ stupid,” as if that should remove any offense taken. Mentally retarded people don’t have the same cognitive abilities as your average person. It doesn’t make them not human, it doesn’t make them not worthwhile, it doesn’t even make them not fun people to hang out with. But it does make them stupid. Really stupid. So objecting to using “retarded” as a hyperbolic way of saying “stupid” is fucking retarded. That doesn’t make it inoffensive, but it does mean that it’s not remotely comparable to slurs based on race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/83 "2010-02-04T17:16:18Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Pls don’t respond to **gonzomax** until you have ready the faggy poodle thread. Right, Rahm called her kid a faggy poodle. Very good. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/84 "2010-02-04T17:19:23Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Can’t we all just get along? Don’t be stupid. I can’t use stupid any more? Okay, don’t be…less than average intelligence. No? Don’t be…I give up. Everybody’s wonderful, and everything they do and say is perfect in every way. (I don’t think what you said was stupid, Louis; just using your post as a jumping-off point. Oh, wait, that trivializes suicide…) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/85 "2010-02-04T17:20:56Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Don’t be…I give up. Everybody’s wonderful, and everything they do and say is perfect in every way. That’s the only thing we’ll be allowed to say if the Democrats get 61 seats in the Senate. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kelby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kelby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelby)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/86 "2010-02-04T17:24:37Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And they punch _hard_. Being in a wheelchair gives you a lot of upper body strength. > > Whatever word or phrase you use to describe people with diminished intellectual capabilities - “idiot,” “moron,” “Mongoloid,” “retard,” “special” - that word is always going to become synonymous with stupidity, and used as a perjorative to describe people and ideas. It’s impolite but it’s inevitable. Yes, the term mental retardation was discarded by the educational community for that reason, I believe. The proper wording to describe such individuals now is “cognitively delayed”. That one isn’t going to easily roll off the tongue on the playground or in the boardroom, but who knows. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/87 "2010-02-04T17:29:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s the only thing we’ll be allowed to say if the Democrats get 61 seats in the Senate. 😉 That’s totally D’abled. ETA: Some people in this thread are being real Cogno’s. just doing my part to move the euphemism treadmill along smartly ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/88 "2010-02-04T17:35:31Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > the term is offensive, as it uses mental retardation as a metric for stupidity isn’t it, though? i mean it’s a metric for a certain IQ. which suggests an inability to analyze shit. which means that an idea can “be retarded” in the sense that it would be an idea propagated by a retard, i.e. someone with well below average intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/89 "2010-02-04T17:36:15Z")
I liked “sped.” Do people still say “sped?” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/90 "2010-02-04T17:39:22Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > isn’t it, though? > > i mean it’s a metric for a certain IQ. which suggests an inability to analyze shit. which means that an idea can “be retarded” in the sense that it would be an idea propagated by a retard, i.e. someone with well below average intelligence. I think an analogy might be calling a baseball umpire “blind.” It’s not an insult to the blind. It’s just an opinion that the umpire is behaving as though he has that particular disability. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/91 "2010-02-04T17:39:28Z")
The Offensive Underground is alive and well! {Raises fist and shakes it around} ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/92 "2010-02-04T17:41:52Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I think an analogy might be calling a baseball umpire “blind.” It’s not an insult to the blind. It’s just an opinion that the umpire is behaving as though he has that particular disability. how dare you insult the visually impaired. ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/93 "2010-02-04T18:06:54Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > So what are we going to say about those people – like most Republican supporters these days – who show no signs of clinical mental deficiency, but are deficient in the most basic of common sense? I like “dumbass,” but that’s not a good descriptor for an idea rather than a person. I also agree with **Diogenes** that it’s more like calling an umpire blind. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/94 "2010-02-04T18:07:53Z")
Is it still OK to call people of less than average height, ‘short’ or should I say ‘vertically challenged’? ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/95 "2010-02-04T18:08:05Z")
> [@Vihaga](#): > > I like “dumbass,” why you gotta go and denigrate donkeys like that? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/96 "2010-02-04T18:10:38Z")
> [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](#): > > I just heard on MSNBC that Rush Limbaugh used the word “retarded” several times on his show yesterday. I can’t wait to hear Palin’s denunciation of Rush and her demand that he be fired. So I guess now we have a test for whether Palin was actually offended, or is simply engaging in a cynically calculated show of poutrage. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/97 "2010-02-04T18:14:25Z")
> [@Kelby](#): > > The proper wording to describe such individuals now is “cognitively delayed”. This is a particularly brain-damaged bit of political correctness. No, they aren’t “cognitively delayed” – in most cases, they aren’t going to eventually develop normal intellectual capacity if you just give them a little extra time, which is what that phrase means. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/98 "2010-02-04T18:24:05Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > So I guess now we have a test for whether Palin was actually offended, or is simply engaging in a cynically calculated show of poutrage. I will put even odds on Palin ignoring Limbaugh’s idiocy (is that still an OK term?). This is such a tempest in a teapot. It is as if we don’t have real issues to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/99 "2010-02-04T18:35:05Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > Is it still OK to call people of less than average height, ‘short’ or should I say ‘vertically challenged’? You’re supposed to call them “midgets.” ---
**Author:** ![Vihaga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Vihaga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vihaga)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/100 "2010-02-04T18:35:37Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > why you gotta go and denigrate donkeys like that? A donkey robbed my mother. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503.md?page=6)