Satirical or not, Ms. Palin, this is not a political issue where its okay for one side to use it and the other side not.  Using this word in any way as a slur is wrong and hurtful to people with disabilities, their families and their friends.  It’s not about political correctness or politics, or freedom of speech, it’s about respect.  You do a disservice to those individuals and families by not standing up for what is right.  You have in fact just thrown this issue and those individuals and families under the bus for your own political aspirations by condoning the use of this slur as long as it’s satire.

We would ask you Ms. Palin, for  your child’s sake, and for all of the other people out there who look up to you as a champion for those with disabilities to re-think this issue.

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Palin now excuses Limbaugh’s use of “retard”: “He was satirical in that” :
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002070004

From Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/07/palin-considering-2012-ru_n_452602.html

On Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel, she said his comments calling liberal groups “f-ing retards” was “indecent and insensitive” and cause for his dismissal.

But the former governor went to great and sometimes awkward lengths to insist that when conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the same exact term to describe the same exact group, it was simply in the role of political humorist.

“They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh,” she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups “retards.” “Rush Limbaugh was using 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, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there.”