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PrintFebruary 5, 2010
Emanuel trapped by his own PC rules
Rahm Emanuel has run afoul of the PC police, causing the left to cannibalize one of its own and Emanuel to make the rounds on the apology circuit. Carl Franzen of AOL News has the story of the furor over the White House Chief of Staff's choice of words in addressing liberal groups during last August's strategy session to combat the rising populist anger over Democrat-led heath care reform:
Emanuel is reported to have told several liberal groups their idea was "f---ing retarded," during a political strategy meeting in August.
The groups wanted to air attack ads against Democratic lawmakers who were unsupportive of President Obama's health care reform initiative, which was already facing tough opposition from town hall protesters and Republicans.
The Wall Street Journal's Peter Wallsten broke the news of this incident last week in a story about Emanuel's escalating conflicts with the progressive factions that make up Obama's base. Now the story has taken on a life of its own, provoking a controversy across the political spectrum about the use of the "R-word."
Emanuel was describing an idea, and not any individual persons or groups. Apparently, if the polls, tea parties, and electoral results have been any indication since, a large swath of the American people also believe that many of the liberal polices and solutions are indeed, "retarded." Rush Limbaugh said as much in his remarks concerning the uproar and in fighting among liberals:
"I think the big news is the crack-up going on," Limbaugh said on his radio show. "Our political society is acting like some giant insult's taken place by calling a bunch of people who are retards retards. I mean, these people, these liberal activists are kooks, they are loony tunes. I'm not going to apologize for it, I'm just quoting Emanuel, it's in the news."
Political correctness and identity politics have severed words from their individual meaning and attached them to groups in such a way that the words themselves can no longer be used independently without fear of censure.
Fifty years ago, Emanuel might rather have been censured for his use of the "F-word," instead of the remote implication that he was disparaging to people with disabilities.
We have become oversensitized to political correctness and desensitized to the profane. Here's to Emanuel not letting this - his own crisis - go to waste.
