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- February 3rd, 2010
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Rahm apologizes for using the “R word”
February 3rd, 2010
By Jake Tapper, ABC News
White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel apologized to the head of the Special Olympics today after the Wall Street Journal reported the fiery Chicagoan privately called a group of liberal activists “f—ing retarded.”
Last August, Emanuel “showed up at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides,” the Journal’s Peter Wallsten reported lastTuesday.”Some attendees said they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul. ‘F—ing retarded,’ Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to several participants. He warned them not to alienate lawmakers whose votes would be needed on health care and other top legislative items.”
A White House official confirms that Emanuel made the remark and reports that Emanuel called Tim Shriver last week when the Journal story first appeared to apologize to the disabled community and the apology was accepted.
“The White House remains committed to addressing the concerns and needs of Americans living with disabilities and recognizes that derogatory remarks demean us all,” the official said.
The apology was reported earlier today by Politico’s Ben Smith though it was first reported last Thursday by Disability Scoop, which bills itself as “the first and only national news organization serving the developmental disability community including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, fragile X and intellectual disability, among others.”
Shriver heads the Special Olympics, which has launched a campaign urging people to stop using the term “retarded” as an insult, “Spread the word to end the word.”
Former Alaska Gov, Sarah Palin, who has a son with Down’s Syndrome, was offended by Emanuel’s reported remark, posting on her Facebook page: “Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the ‘N-word’ or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.