Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult?
I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night.
I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.
Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift.
Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more.
After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV.
I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash.
Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor.
No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.
Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged.
A friend you haven’t made yet, John Franklin Stephens
Global Messenger
Special Olympics Virginia
wee-bidoo…wee-bidoo…wee-bidoo….
The friction was laid bare in August when Mr. Emanuel showed up at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides. Some attendees said they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul.
…wee-bidooo…
…President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.
Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.
He bowled a 129, the president said.
“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.
It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said…
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15 Comments!
Yes, but after Rahm compared liberal democrats to “retards”, he at least apologized (to the “retards”, for comparing them to democrats, apparently)
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/02/rahm-apologizes-for-privately-calling-liberal-activists-retarded/
Lost the coveted Retard vote, you say?…
^ owie:)
I’m the dad of a son with severe autism. I don’t get all up in arms about this kind of thing but I do wish we would stop trying to demean people by referring to them as retarded. By proxy it’s picking on someone who (usually) cannot defend themselves. From where I stand it seems both callous and uncreative. Coulter is supposed to be some sort of professional snark and retard is the best she can come up with?
Just my $.02.
Oh, I’m not condoning Coulter’s comment in any way.
It’s just that it only becomes a huge deal when a conservative does it.
It’s either ok or not ok. Not sometimes or depending on who says it.
Altho I do still LMAO at JR’s mentally handicapped uncle who told JR that the idea of an internet radio show was “retahded” :)
The audience laughed out loud at Obama’s bowling joke………
Not only would they abort John; we’d pay for it.
And JustMe…sorry for your troubles with your son. My very good friends have a severely autistic boy and I cannot believe how much he consumes their lives and what they’ve gone through………
I’m calling bullshit on the letter. Smells like dem desperation to me. Either that or the guy faked it to get into the Special Olympics because that’s the only way he could ever win anything.
Thats gay
Yeah, so Coulter said a Mean Thing and we’re all supposed to point and scream “Burn the witch?”
Hell with it. Right now Obama’s goons are beating the crap out of people who object when their Romney yard signs are stolen. Screw the caring tolerant progressive left and their fascist wet dreams. They’d abort people like John (well, John, since he’s already alive, would probably get terminated by some panel of bureaucrats) and march the rest of us into camps.
Oh, and where was the outrage when the Dems ran ads saying “Voting for Bush is like participating in the Special Olympics – even if you win you’re still retarded?” Who censured the Dems who set up a web site soliciting money to pay for Bristol Palin to have an abortion? How about the hilarious tweets about raping Ann Romney, killing Mitt Romney, death threats to Mia Love or Stacey Dash, or for that matter anyone not marching in mindless lockstep with the statists?
Fuck these people. With a chainsaw.
I don’t call people who have Downs or Autism retarded, because they’re not. They have a disorder, and most of the ones I’ve known are great regardless.
The President is a retard. That’s very different.
Everybody wants to carve out portions of the language and annex them like Germany annexed Poland. It doesn’t belong to you, you don’t get to say other people can’t say words.
Even words you don’t like.
If I recall, many of these terms are medical/technical terms with specific definitions that reflect the behavior of the ones so labelled.
That was before the jackbooted pc thugs marched in and began to carve out portions of the language and annex them like Germany annexed Poland.
That is beautiful. Almost brings a tear to my eye.
I raise my glass to you, Merovign.
What Steve and Merovign said very well.
Thanks Sondra. I somehow missed the point you were making. The whole thing is blown way out of proportion. We’re also seeing the same thing with this “shuck and jive” stuff now too. Carney says it and the world yawns. Palin says it and they get the vapors.
Can’t wait for the end of silly season.