How Mavericky!

This should have gone to a cage match - The Rouge Maverick vs The Viagra Kid:

Sarah Palin's campaign against the derogatory usage of the word "retard" collided with her campaign to maintain her popularity with conservatives today, with confusing results.

A Palin spokeswoman seemed to back away from earlier criticism of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday, when asked for comment on Limbaugh's use of the "r" word in a recent broadcast, Palin spokeswoman told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, "Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name-calling at the expense of others is disrespectful." Today, Stapleton claims the statement was meant generally and she was not specifically referring to Limbaugh. Still, she declined to say that Palin believes Limbaugh's statements were acceptable. Sargent reprinted the email he sent Stapleton in which he specifically asked about Limbaugh's statement.

Palin's non-rebuke rebuke of Limbaugh comes after she called on President Obama, earlier in the week, to fire his chief of staff after using the word. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rahm Emanuel called liberal activists who wanted to run ads against conservative Democrats "f------ retarded" in a closed-door meeting at the White House. On her Facebook page, Palin likened Emanuel's "slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities" to using the "N-word," something she deemed "unacceptable" and "heartbreaking." Emanuel later issued an apology to Special Olympics chairman and CEO Tim Shriver.

For what it's worth, both Emanuel and Limbaugh are wrong for using the word, especially when they used it in such a disgustingly derogatory manner.

Of course, the movement for removing the r-word from the common vernacular would be greatly assisted if the mental health professionals and all levels of government didn't use the term.