The 'R' Word

I was just watching Ann Coulter being interviewed on Piers Morgan's show on CNN.  Morgan is one of the most insufferably PC characters on TV today.  He was berating Coulter for using the word "retard" in a recent tweet.  He couldn't resist copping a "more-sensitive-than-thou" attitude - averring that "retard" is as offensive to disabled people as "the 'n' word" is to blacks.  Coulter had several reasoned responses to Morgan's charge.  She pointed out that she had never heard a disabled person complain about the use of the word "retard," only self-appointed spokespeople for the disabled.  She also noted that retard is no different than idiot, imbecile or moron; all of which were once clinical terms for persons with mental disabilities.  But she uncharacteristically missed an obvious rejoinder.  How can retard be equivalent to "the 'n' word" when Morgan can't bring himself to say the 'n' word but he apparently has no problem throwing the word "retard" around.  This is prima facie evidence that Morgan's outrage is completely manufactured.

Aqui y Ahora

It's very sad that if an American citizen wants to see his president face serious questions from a professional journalist he has to learn Spanish.  Now Univision has shown up its English-language counterparts again by airing the results of its investigation into the impact of the Justice Department's "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation on Mexicans.  The short answer: dead Mexican teenagers.

Since the Fast and Furious story first broke, I have thought that this story is in many ways even bigger than the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.  I have also found it interesting that the Mexican body count attributable to Fast and Furious has gotten little or no press up to now.  The only conclusion I can arrive at is that the groups that would be expected to raise the issue, the American press, Hispanic organizations and the Mexican government, have been more interested in protecting Obama than in exposing the ATF's contribution to the unbelievable violence in Mexico.  Obama must have thought, when he agreed to be interviewed by Univision, that he would be fielding the same softball questions he gets from the View, the Pimp with a Limp and Brian Williams.

As usual Mark Steyn gets right to the gut of the matter and pulls no punches tying this story together with several other that seem to have escaped the attention of the elite media:

So the Left’s it’s-different-when-we-do-it card applies not just to unmanned drones on Waziristani villagers, but Mexican adolescents gunned down at a birthday party. Would it be too much to ask one of the Pulitzer-laden bores at the New York Times or the Emmy-garlanded chaps at the network news divisions to look into this? Oh, no, wait! Look, over there! The coolest president ever is doing a photo-op with Beyonce!

How many dead Mexican teenagers does it take to change a light news day? As the Pundette says:

I guess none of those 14 kids killed or 12 injured looked enough like Obama’s hypothetical sons to matter?

Indeed. If only George Zimmerman had shot Trayvon Martin with an ATF gun, all his problems would have gone away . . .