Ann Coulter Monday called President Obama a “retard” after his impressive performance at the third and final presidential debate. “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard,” she wrote, via Twitter.
Coulter, whose current book is Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama, is not a Barack Obama fan, needless to say. She is, however, a fan of being non “PC,” because this way you can share what’s truly in your heart. You know, in a Glenn Beck/Tea Party, “Not Racist Not Violent No longer silent” sort of way.
I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
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“Professional troll Ann Coulter,” Neetzan Zimmerman at Gawker notes, “later cemented her status as the petulant child of the punditry world when she replied to a Politicker request for clarification by saying ‘the only people who will be offended are too retarded to understand it’.”
Yesterday, John Franklin Stephens, a Special Olympics athlete with Down syndrome, wrote Coulter an open letter that will break your heart. It would break Coulter’s heart, too, if she had one.
“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?,” Stephens asks.
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.
Indeed.
And we’re still awaiting Sarah Palin’s response…
[crickets…]
Image of John Franklin Stephens via The World of Special Olympics
Related:
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Whoopi Goldberg Tells Ann Coulter Her History Of Black America Is ‘Bullshit!’
Ann Coulter: Civil Rights Not For Gays Or Immigrants, Just ‘For Blacks’