Topic: NewsBusters
Did Noel Sheppard even watch the video he's claiming about? We have to wonder.
Sheppard devotes an entire Feb. 9 NewsBusters post to getting huffy over Stephen Colbert calling Sarah Palin a "f**king retard" -- even though he explains the setup for it by noting that Palin excused Rush Limbaugh's use of "retard" because it was satire.
Sheppard even quotes a good portion of the relevent Colbert transcript: "And Sarah Palin knows that it is okay to call someone a retard if like Rush you clearly don't mean it. Which is why we should all come to her defense and say, "Sarah Palin is a f**king retard." Get it."
But Sheppard gets the end of it wrong: "Get it" is not a declaration by Colbert, it's a question, as in "Get it?" Sheppard also conveniently failed to transcribe what Colbert said immediately after that: "You see? It's satire!"
Instead, Sheppard huffs: "And so, it's come this: it is now acceptable for members of the media to say anything they want about this woman no matter how vulgar. Can you imagine the outrage if anyone on television did this to a liberal woman regardless of the comedic intent?"
Sheppard, meanwhile, is silent about Limbaugh's use of "retard," satiric or otherwise -- or, really, anything else Limbaugh has said, no matter how vulgar.
