Bill Maher Uses Palin's "R" Word

Sarah Palin is probably sharpening her claws right now while waiting for a chance to berate Bill Maher to the press...after all, he is a liberal.

Maher's new stand up comedy special premiered on HBO on Saturday, Feb. 13, in which he remarked that when he cracks a joke about George Bush, it did not mean the joke was meant for all retards.

Maher's special, "...but I'm not wrong.", took the expected swipes at politics, religion and stupidity. He is quite funny...but I'm waiting for Palin to drop one of her bombs on him. It is obvious that they do not care for each other and she is a constant source of fodder for him, as well as other comedians.

The use of the word "retard" and "retarded" has caused a major blowout in recent days because of obvious reasons...either word can be demeaning and derogatory. The only real problem with the uproar is the fact that the one who spoke first seems to let it slide for anyone other than a Democrat.

Sarah Palin went so far as calling on President Obama to fire his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, for using the word "retarded" in a private meeting almost a year ago. Emanuel apologized for the incident several months ago but Palin felt it necessary to blow it out of proportion since the matter had already been settled.

Rush Limbaugh has, himself, gone on his own tirade in a recent broadcast while using the same words without Palin making any sort of personal campaign against him or the station his radio show is broadcast from. Limbaugh emphatically told his listeners that he would not apologize for using such language. He was referring to "Liberals" as "retards". Palin did not seem to have a problem with Limbaugh using such derogatory language as long as it was political in nature.

Greg Sargent of the Washington post made two attempts to acquire a statement from Palin about Limbaugh's comments to no avail. Palin would call for Emanuel's firing but has nothing to say about Rush Limbaugh's use of the same words.

Why would Palin feel it necessary to go after one but not the other? In real terms, does that not seem exceedingly hypocritical? Is political party the only motivation behind Sarah Palin's enthusiastic outburst against Emanuel and not the fact that her youngest son is mentally handicapped?

The chief consultant for Governor Rick Perry (TX) is the latest to be caught using the word "retarded". Sarah Palin has previously endorsed Perry and was supposed to be in Houston on Valentines day to campaign with him but thus far she has not had anything to say publicly about Perry's chief consultant using the words that she berated Emanuel for. Perry's campaign spokesman, Mark Minor, made a simple apology and that was the end of it. The man who said it was not the one to apologize.

Sarah Palin once again had a spokesperson make a statement, "Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name calling at the expense of others is disrespectful". This is the same type of response to Rush Limbaugh and his repeated use of the word "retard".

Both reactions were far from what Emanuel received which begs the question, is Sarah Palin's outrage at the use of derogatory language all about political posturing instead of her son? Does Sarah Palin use her son's disability only to advance her own political agenda? If she only gets upset enough to go after a Democrat for derogatory language, using her son as an example, yet has no personal comments for a Republican that does the same, or worse, does she truly have a problem or is she blowing smoke at the expense of her handicapped son?

This country has always had a problem with belittling those less fortunate. Would it not be better for us to teach our children about the word and why people use it? If handicapped children were taught that certain words are used by people to "make them feel bad" and that they do not have to let it, our children may be better equipped to cope with insensitivity. Children are smarter than many parents give them credit for and some parents take things personally when children would not bother. Instead of hiding our children, we should teach them how to get along in a world that can be cruel.

The reason people use derogatory terms in the first place is because they heard it while growing up and were not taught any better. The only way we can stop hateful words from being used is to teach our children better behavior and stop leading with bad examples.

If we call someone names our children will learn that it is acceptable to do so. We should not expect our children to stop doing what we teach them to do unless we are adult enough to lead by example.