Hypocrisy

I've tried very hard to stay out of the political realm, especially on this blog. This blog is about Down syndrome and awareness. And how Aiden is more alike than different.

When the Presidential elections and campaigning were taking place, I tried hard not to voice my opinion. Sure, a lot of bloggers who blog about Down syndrome were praising Sarah Palin's Republican nomination as Vice President. After all, she walked out on stage to accept the nomination with her son, Trig, who has Down syndrome. She wasn't hiding him away behind stage away from the entire Republican National Convention. She was showing him off. (Well, who wouldn't? Children with Down syndrome are the most adorable little kids. But then again, I could be just a little biased... LOL!)

Governor Palin was "one of us". And proud of it...

During the few days following her acceptance, many friends asked if I were going to vote Republican because of Sarah Palin. I'm an Independent, I can vote however I see fit. I don't stick to just one party. They wanted to know what I thought about her having a child with Down syndrome. My response...

 "Good for her. But I won't be voting on the McCain/Palin ticket based solely on the fact that she has a child with Down syndrome."

I know a lot of people who did.

To me, having a child with Down syndrome may have made her a member in the "club" but that didn't qualify her as Second in Command of the United States. Interviews with her were mind boggling to me.

"But she has a child with Down syndrome and promises to be a friend in the White House for families with special needs". Yes, she has a child with Down syndrome. But is she really going to go through what I've had to go through? I seriously thought not. I'm relatively sure WIC isn't going to tell her "Well, he should be eating solid foods, he's 2." I'm pretty sure she isn't going to have to deal with an educational system who sees her child as a burden. Is she going to have to fight her insurance on more than 30 visits of comprehensive therapies for her child? Yep, that's what my insurance covers. 30 comprehensive visits. That means physical, occupational and speech combined. 4 therapies a week = less than 8 weeks worth of therapies. After that, it's out of pocket and falls on Medicaid.

My thought was "How is she going to understand what families of children with special needs goes through?"

Let's skip ahead a few months....

Barack Obama is appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The show is pre-taped and broadcast several hours later. After the nightly news.

Obama makes a statement in which he compares his bowling score to "something like the Special Olympics."

Before the taping even aired, Obama called Timothy Shriver, head of the Special Olympics and gave an apology for his slip. And he even prepared a formal apology.

Within minutes of the faux pas, news agencies, social websites and online reports of the blunder were spreading like wild fire.

Sarah Palin made a public service announcement. (Unfortunately, the video is no longer available.) She made appearances at gatherings. She was standing up for Trig and his rights.

Fast forward a year....

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel used the term "f#cking retards" in a closed door private meeting regarding the Liberal stance on health care reform.

Obviously, the term wasn't used in the correct medical diagnostic sense.

Holy Hell breaks loose.

Timothy Shriver refuses to accept his written apology, saying he can't accept it. (But he did accept Obama's apology?) Several days later, the board of the Special Olympics accepts the apology.

Sarah Palin calls for Emanual's head on a platter by demanding he be fired.

Rush Limbaugh calls the Special Olympics summit at the White House a "retard summit".

Where is the fall out on this?

There is none.

Palin defended Limbaugh's use of the word as "satirical".

Satire = funny. And she's okay with that.

Excuse me?

How is offending a group of people satire? Why is it wrong for the Democrats to use the word, but perfectly okay for the Republican party?

And Limbaugh isn't the only Republican Palin has defended for use of the word in a flippant way.

There is Glenn Beck.With whom Palin works with.