I personally would open up the line with Palin as a 7-6 favorite, but I don't think Emanuel (whom I refer to herein as "Rahm" because it's shorter and easier to type) would be any pushover either. Today's flap between these two: Palin on her Facebook criticizes comments made by Rahm in a "democratic strategy session" discussing a plan by far left progressives to pressure dem Senators viewed as being too centrist. Rahm's comment was that such plan was "F---ing Retarded!" Palin, who obviously has a son with Down syndrome, issued a harsh rebuke on her Facebook, even comparing Rahm's comment to the use of the so-called "N-word" (story linked below).Now, methinks "Sarah Barracuda" needs to settle down a little bit. Obviously use of the word "retarded" has long been considered inappropriate, and Rahm shouldn't have used it. And I certainly understand Palin's sensitivity on the issue given her personal situation. But to compare use of the word "retarded" to use of the N-word -- which in my opinion is the ugliest word in the English language -- is absolutely an inappropriate comparison. Use of the N-word by a white person is akin to an assertion that an entire group of people is inferior to that person based upon the completely superficial characteristic of which color that group's skin happens to be. The same is mindless, ignorant, anti-intellectual, unenlightened and just plain ugly. There's simply no comparison between that and use of the word "retarded" -- a now archaic, non-politically correct word that was "politically correct" not so long ago. Again, Rahm shouldn't have used it, and he should apologize. But step down (as Palin is apparently calling for)? Please.
And finally, while I do not like Emanuel, I have to say that the progressive plan to which he was referring was, indeed, idiotic. In other words, he was right on the substance, although not in his word choice. If there's one thing that sickens me the most about our two political parties, it's how they are controlled by their extremes, which results in each party being very Tiny Tent. The extremes of these two parties more or less hate people who are somewhere in the center and have no place for such people. And since we have a country comprised of about 40% Independents, plus a whole lot of non-liberal dems and non-conservative republicans, we are left with two very out-of-touch parties and a majority of the country that is not represented by either of them. So what Rahm should have said: "That's F---ing Moronic!"
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