Michelle Malkin criticizes Ann Coulter for calling Obama 'the retard'

The Hill ^ | 10/23/12 | Alicia M. Cohn

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Ann Coulter is under fire from a fellow conservative on Tuesday after calling President Obama a "retard."

On Monday night during the final presidential debate, Coulter used the long-considered derogatory term for mentally handicapped individuals. She tweeted that she thought Mitt Romney was handling the debate well, apparently by not engaging Obama too aggressively.

"What a stupid, shallow thing to say, Ann," fellow conservative pundit Michelle Malkin tweeted in response early on Tuesday.

"She sure doesn’t speak for us," the staff of Malkin's social media site Twitchy wrote in an article headlined "Groan: Ann Coulter calls President Obama a 'retard.' "

The site also noted that it may be the first time Malkin has agreed with some of the pro-Obama celebrities also criticizing Coulter's comment on Twitter, such as CBS's "Partners" actress Sophia Bush, NBC's "Up all night" star Christina Applegate, singer Michelle Branch and actress/deaf advocate Marlee Matlin.

Malkin and Bush were already engaged in a heated Twitter debate over their policy differences, but Malkin noted that she agreed with Bush that Coulter went too far in her tweet.

[dalereed]

bullshit. she’s right calling him a retard!!!

Shove your PC crap up your backside!

[Delhi Rebels]

I know that Ann Coulter is supposed to have dated Bill Maher, but is that any reason for her to become Bill Maher as well?

[NormsRevenge]

sounds like Ann started the drinking game a day early..

Thanks to Michelle for all she does!

[An American In Dairyland]

The next time any of you is tempted to use the terms “are you crazy/nuts” “did you go off your meds” “that’s insane” and so on...keep in mind that your remarks are offensive to the mentally ill and you are all insensitive for doing so.

But I bet most people use terms like that all the time and never think twice. I’ve never heard or read of Malkin voicing opposition to these kinds of comments that “demean” the mentally ill.

And no, I don’t really believe there is anything wrong in using terms like those above but then I don’t find the word retard objectionable either. PC police work is so Lefty.

[Smedley]

I want to see the two women confront each other in a pillow fight.

[paul51]

most ignorant post of the day week

[Milton Miteybad]

I think it's a bit unkind to associate mentally challenged individuals with a retard like Barry Soetoro.

But Ann Coulter was technically correct in her description. ;-)

[dalereed]

I don’t give a rats ass about anyones feelings!!!

[Enterprise]

Word is that Ann misspoke and didn’t mean to call Obama a retard. She meant to call him a steenkin’ retard. I hope this clears up this little matter.

[SarahPalin2012]

This again. So we have to talk about Ann’s comment while Obama lies and covers up and lies some more?

What Ann said is PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE and is an accurate description of Barack. Stop with the sissy Log Cabin Republican Boo Hoo Schtick. Come on FR.

[EnigmaticAnomaly]

"I don’t give a rats ass about anyones feelings!!!

That's painfully obvious...

Apparently, most FReepers on this thread have no one close to them who IS mentally retarded. Continue using the term at your own peril, FReepers...it is juvenile and beneath intellectual discourse...

You just give the left all the ammo they require...

[Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears]

Ann Coulter makes good points, but she can’t resist being a nasty, hateful, sharp-tongued shrew.

She seems at her core to be an angry, bitter woman.

Michelle can say things equally devastating and effective, but she does it without having to get in the gutter.

Michelle has one thing Ann does not: class.

[DesertRhino]

I refuse to give up the word retard. Even using it for fun and ridicule is fine. The world is not made to make sure you are never offended. If i go up to a handicapped kid and call him names with the intent on hurting him, fine, crucify me.
But if i decide someone is stupid like Obama and call him a “retard”, then thats fine.

[pilipo]

You wouldn’t understand. Carry on.

[New Perspective]

Good post, great comment from Michelle.

I would expect to see some of these posts on DU but not here. Very disappointing.

[hawaiianninja]

LOL! MM, I admire you for taking the high road, but this is freedom of speech. Many of us would love to (and do!) call the President much worst things.

Besides, for Coulter to call the President a "retard" is not far from the truth. He, and the media who helps him, retard the minds of people all day, every day. ...Actually, then, I guess Ann should have called him a "retardant."

[hosepipe]

Malkin plays to the choir, Coulter plays to the retards..

The choir is already voting smartly.. (Most of them)..
Its with the retards votes can be gained..

You know.... the retards those with Obamaesia.. the Obamaoids..

[gundog]

Hereabouts he’s refered to as “that f***ing n*****” by people in respectable positions. But I guess he’s not retarded, so maybe she has a point.

[hoagy62]

Perfectly legitimate? Oh, really...?

(From the Special Olympics Blog on Wordpress.com. Written by John Franklin Stephens, a young man with Down Syndrome.)

Dear Ann Coulter,

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

[SarahPalin2012]

Actually, “perfectly legitimate” as in a factual, scientific term. Below classifications are from Assessment Psychology:

V62.89 Borderline Intellectual Functioning IQ 71-84
317 Mild Mental Retardation IQ 50-55 to approximately 70
318.0 Moderate Retardation IQ 35-40 to 50-55
318.1 Severe Mental Retardation IQ 20-25 to 35-40
318.2 Profound Mental Retardation IQ below 20 or 25

So Barack gets a score somewhere below 70.