# 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:** 6
**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, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/101 "2010-02-04T18:36:10Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > This is such a tempest in a teapot. This phrase is considered offensive in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. You might want to replace “tempest” with “severe weather condition.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/102 "2010-02-04T18:43:58Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > 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. Are you saying that calling someone stupid isn’t insulting, it’s just blunt and tactless? Try it in GQ and see what happens. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that stupid = bad as well. ---
**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, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/103 "2010-02-04T18:46:30Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Are you saying that calling someone stupid isn’t insulting, it’s just blunt and tactless? Try it in GQ and see what happens. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that stupid = bad as well. i don’t think even that retard Rahm is contending that the usage of the term was not insulting… to the recipient of the insult. we’re not talking about insulting versus not, we’re talking about whether usage of the term disses the 'tards while simultaneously insulting the retard who made the retarded proposal in the first place. ---
**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, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/104 "2010-02-04T19:00:14Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Are you saying that calling someone stupid isn’t insulting, it’s just blunt and tactless? Try it in GQ and see what happens. What are you–deaf? ---
**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, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/105 "2010-02-04T19:01:08Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Are you saying that calling someone stupid isn’t insulting, it’s just blunt and tactless? Try it in GQ and see what happens. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that stupid = bad as well. It would appear to be that stupidity being bad, and that being called stupid is insulting, is the entire point. Directing a slur for “black” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being black is bad. Directing a slur for “gay” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being gay is bad. Directing a slur for “stupid” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being stupid is bad. ---
**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, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/106 "2010-02-04T19:17:48Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > It would appear to be that stupidity being bad, and that being called stupid is insulting, is the entire point. Directing a slur for “black” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being black is bad. Directing a slur for “gay” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being gay is bad. Directing a slur for “stupid” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being stupid is bad. “Why you you gotta be so demeaning to me and my retarded kid? Being stupid isn’t a bad thing, I mean look at how far I’ve gotten in life!” replied Palin ---
**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, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/107 "2010-02-04T19:19:05Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Directing a slur for “stupid” at someone as an insult means you’re saying being stupid is bad. I’d say that it’s very bad for lawmakers to be stupid, just as it would be very bad for an umpire to be blind. If someone calls you stupid as you’re eating your breakfast cereal or brushing your teeth, you’ll probably just think that they’re nuts. If someone calls you stupid when you’re trying to make an argument in Great Debates or trying to make intelligent policy decisions, the insult is much more relevant to what you’re doing. It _is_ bad to be stupid when you’re trying to do something that requires some minimal intellectual capability. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/108 "2010-02-04T19:23:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I have never heard a human being use that phrase in any kind of serious way. I hear it all the time. I have people correct me when I use the term handicapped: “Oh, they’re not handicapped, they’re just differently abled!”. Next time I have someone say that to me, I’m probably going to reply with something along the lines of “Ya know - political correctness like that is just fucking retarded”. Thanks for the snappy comeback, Rahm. ---
**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, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/109 "2010-02-04T19:26:01Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I hear it all the time. I have people correct me when I use the term handicapped: “Oh, they’re not handicapped, they’re just differently abled!”. IN HOUSTON??? You’ll have to pardon me for stereotyping, but that’s about the last place I would have expected it. Anyway have you ever heard this from a disabled person, or just from some idiot who heard it on TV and thinks 'that’s what they want to be called, god bless ‘em, cause they couldn’t live with the pain of being reminded they can’t walk’? ---
**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, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/110 "2010-02-04T19:26:11Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I hear it all the time. I have people correct me when I use the term handicapped: “Oh, they’re not handicapped, they’re just differently abled!”. has “handi-capable” fallen out of chic or something? ---
**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, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/111 "2010-02-04T19:53:21Z")
Further thoughts: There’s nothing wrong with being gay or Black or Jewish, which is why faggot, nigger, and kike are unacceptable. However, there \*is \*something wrong with being retarded, in the sense that if anybody had a choice, they would not \*choose \*to be retarded. Mental retardation is a defect, in a way that sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or religion aren’t defects. ---
**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, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/112 "2010-02-04T19:55:31Z")
> [@Vihaga](#): > > I’d say that it’s very bad for lawmakers to be stupid, just as it would be very bad for an umpire to be blind. > > If someone calls you stupid as you’re eating your breakfast cereal or brushing your teeth, you’ll probably just think that they’re nuts. If someone calls you stupid when you’re trying to make an argument in Great Debates or trying to make intelligent policy decisions, the insult is much more relevant to what you’re doing. It _is_ bad to be stupid when you’re trying to do something that requires some minimal intellectual capability. Right. Are you attempting to disagree with me here, or is this just additional commentary? Edit: Serious question. Seemed kind of snippy upon reading it, and is not intended that way. ---
**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, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/113 "2010-02-04T20:01:04Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Further thoughts: > > There’s nothing wrong with being gay or Black or Jewish, which is why faggot, nigger, and kike are unacceptable. However, there \*is \*something wrong with being retarded, in the sense that if anybody had a choice, they would not \*choose \*to be retarded. Mental retardation is a defect, in a way that sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or religion aren’t defects. whatever. your last statement is all liberal lies, you freedom hating communist. love, -KKK p.s. your second sentence is also all lies. we would all gladly strive for retardation if it was actually possible for us to improve ourselves ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/114 "2010-02-04T20:26:58Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Are Down’s Syndrome sufferers actually generally retarded? Or are the two just likely to go together? > > Although I very much doubt ol’ Sarah’s sincerity, I can’t really blame her for making this a talking point. It was a bit offensive. There are many conditions which lead to low IQ and other forms of mental disability. Restricted oxygen during birth, untreated metabolic issues (PKU), lead poisoning, there are many many others. Down syndrome, caused by trisomy of the 21st chromosome, is one of these conditions, but the affect on mental acuity is not the only symptom. It also often conveys heart problems, sometimes profound. The amount of impairment does vary dramatically from individual to individual and now that it is not SOP to institutionalize children with Down syndrome from the start, we have found that their potential is not as severely limited as we thought. Looking back, I wonder how many people were written off at birth who could have lived a fairly normal life. The type of institutional environment to which so many were subjected can cause severe impairment when no other predisposing element is present. ---
**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, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/115 "2010-02-04T22:06:19Z")
> [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > your last statement is all liberal lies, you freedom hating communist. I’ll respond to this as soon as I get back from dancing naked to speed metal covers of Indigo Girls songs while smearing myself in the blood of death-panel aborted Christian babies. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/116 "2010-02-04T22:11:30Z")
I was watching “The Factor” on FOX last night (for J.Stewart) and they had Dennis Miller on there and man he went OFF on the whole retard thing. He was pissed about it. Struck me as funny that someone who worked on SNL (and a stand up comedian) for years, would have such a problem with the use of that word. But then I remembered he’s a dick, Fox News is a joke, and Sarah Palin should just die already. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/117 "2010-02-04T22:31:23Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > You’re supposed to call them “midgets.” Reminds me of one of my favorite [movies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780536/): > [@](#): > > Ray: A lot of midgets tend to kill themselves. A disproportionate amount, actually. Hervé Villechaize off of Fantasy Island. I think somebody from the Time Bandits did. I suppose they must get really sad about like… being really little and that… people looking at them, laughing at them, calling them names. You know, “short arse”. There’s another famous midget. I miss him but I can’t remember. It’s not the R2D2 man; no, he’s still going. I hope your midget doesn’t kill himself. Your dream sequence will be fucked. > > Chloe: He doesn’t like being called a midget. He prefers dwarf. > > Ray: This is exactly my point! People going around calling you a midget when you want to be called a dwarf. Of course you’re going to blow your head off. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/118 "2010-02-04T22:31:36Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > I hear it all the time. I have people correct me when I use the term handicapped: “Oh, they’re not handicapped, they’re just differently abled!”. You have got to be kidding. That line was used as a joke to mock the PC craze in the 80’s but got stale very quickly. I haven’t heard it said in 15 years and never did I hear it used in anything but a mocking way. I think you bought into an old joke and due to lack of exposure to liberals in daily life, you thought this is something that people really say in earnest. ---
**Author:** ![alexandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@alexandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alexandra)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/119 "2010-02-04T23:20:25Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#): > > If he had said “I donated money to special olympics because i want to help the retarded”, I don’t think anyone would mind. If he said “quit acting like a fucking retard”, then they would. He’s using the word ‘retard’ as an epithet of sorts. > > I think the word SHOULD be used in its intended setting; to describe those who are retarded. It’s a medical term. Alone with imbecile, moron, etc. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a good descriptive word. What are you supposed to call them? Learning disabled? Er, why not? It’s a word full of contempt (retard, that is) and though I can’t say I’ve never used it, I don’t like it. BTW, I have never heard a disability rights organisation in the UK use the term ‘differently abled’, nor a person who works with the disabled, or is disabled – etc. ---
**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, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503/120 "2010-02-04T23:23:35Z")
I’ve worked with people with disabilities for over 10 years, and I’ve never heard “differently abled.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-rahm-emannuel-called-my-retard-baby-a-nigger/527503.md?page=7)