. . . : "They're [the left who want single payer healthcare] fucking retarded." is a paraphrase of what he said.
Rahm Emanuel "Retarded" Comment Puts Offensiveness in Spotlight
Advocates for the disabled say "retarded" is like hate speech.
By ABC News
February 3, 2010, 11:59 AM
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2010 White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's verbal indiscretion -- referring to some liberal activists as "f**king retarded" -- has shined a spotlight on just how pervasive the R-word is in American conversation, and how offensive it can be for millions of Americans.
The incident reignited a nationwide debate and even spurred a call for his resignation by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose son has Down's syndrome.
Advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities -- the preferred terms to describe individuals with these impairments -- said they aren't surprised by Emanuel's use of the epithet since the word is regularly used in a negative way to refer to things that are "different" or "not the norm."
But Kirsten Seckler, spokeswoman for the Special Olympics, told ABC News that people need to realize the word packs a punch even if it's not meant that way. The group is leading the charge to eliminate the term in casual conversation with its Spread the Word to End the Word campaign at www.r-word.org.
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https://abcnews.go.com/WN/rahm-emanuel-retarded-comment-puts-offensiveness-spotlight/story?id=9738134
This is not about purity of thought or choice of words.
While word choice is important, the presence of a voice which advocated for a system which kept insurance companies in the business of health insurance is the the intolerable part. Healthcare is a human right. It should not suffer under the weight of middlemen who serve no purpose other than to enrich themselves by denying healthcare to others. That is the role that Rahm Emanuel had. He failed to fight for what was necessary when it was possibly attainable and betrayed the progressive goal of getting single payer healthcare for all. Obamacare (the ACA or Romneycare) is a weak substitute which still fails people. Yet, Rahm has failed upwards ever since his role in that. He does not deserve to even be considered for higher office and should not be allowed to fail farther upward.
The evidence shows that he has continued his enthrallment to insurance companies:
Emanuel: Medicare For All "An Untenable Position For The General Election"
Posted By Tim Hains
On Date September 9, 2019
RAHM EMANUEL: The risk you said, and which is appropriate, and it measures up as, health care is the single issue that Democrats have a 35-point advantage on. President Trump's trying to do everything he can to narrow that down. We have taken a position so far, and the candidates have, through the process -- a few have not -- about -- on basically Medicare for all, which is, we're going to eliminate 150 million people's health care, and we're going to provide health care for people that have just come over the border.
That is an untenable position for the general election. As you know, George, I just biked around Lake Michigan, nearly 1,000 miles, through Michigan and Wisconsin, two really important states. Nobody at a diner ran at me and said, take my healthcare away. Nobody. This is -- this is reckless as it relates to -- and you don't have to take the position to win the primary. And you're basically literally hindering yourself for the general election.
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[A comment on his appearance from Twitter at that time: this is linked in the article but I won't link to X.]
Justice Democrats
@justicedems
As Democrats increasingly unite around solutions as big as the problems we face, the media still puts up panels featuring politicians with little relevance like Rahm Emanuel and Chris Christie solely to attack the progressive energy in our party.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/09/09/rahm_emanuel_medicare_for_all_an_untenable_position_for_the_general_election.html
So, once again, screw Rahm Emanuel. His lack of willingness to support progressive causes is more proximal to the reason that we have Trump now than many, many other things.
= new reply since forum marked as read