Ann Coulter is sick of being bullied about her bullying. The conservative pundit defended her use of the word “retard” to describe President Obama, saying that word has been used to mean “loser” for the last 30 years.
Coulter said that she would never use the word “retard” to describe someone with an actual mental handicap. But for someone who’s just being a loser? Well, the r-word is a perfectly acceptable term.
“Look, no one would refer to a Down Syndrome child, someone with an actual mental handicap, by saying ‘retard.’ Where do you think the words ‘imbecile,’ ‘idiot,’ ‘moron,’ ‘cretin’ come from? These were all technical terms at one time. ‘Retard’ had been used colloquially to just mean ‘loser’ for 30 years. But no, no — these aggressive victims have to come out and tell you what words to use.”
Colmes also asked Coulter about John Franklin Stephens’ letter. Stephens, a special Olympics athlete, wrote Coulter an open letter shaming the pundit for the use of the R-word.
Coulter said:
“I do not need to be told this. I was not making a joke about Special Olympics the way our president did, by the way. It would be one thing if I said in my tweet a joke about Special Olympics, a joke about Down Syndrome. No one would call someone with Down Syndrome ‘retard.’”
Colmes pressed Coulter, saying that many people believe the word “retard” is offensive.
Coulter responded:
“Oh, screw them. That’s what they feel I do? I feel they’re being authoritarian bullying victims. This is the other thing about liberal victims — they always claim, like the Jersey Girls, to speak on behalf of all the victims of 9/11. No you don’t, you big bullies.”
The controversy started shortly after the third presidential debate when Coulter complimented Mitt Romney for taking it easy on “retard” Obama.
I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard. — Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
She later added:
Obama: “Stage 3 Romneysia” – because cancer references are HILARIOUS.If he’s “the smartest guy in the room” it must be one retarded room.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
The comments sparked some serious backlash for the conservative pundit. The strongest argument came from John Franklin Stephens , who said that the word “retard” should be a badge of honor and not an insult.
Stephens writes:
“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. 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.”
Are you a fan of Ann Coulter? Is she being bullied because of her word choice?