Has anyone who’s screaming for the resignation Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff, actually read the Wall Street Journal item that first brought his usage of the dreaded “R” word to national attention?

Some attendees said they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul.

“F—ing retarded,” Mr. Emanuel scolded the group, according to several participants.

Some groups were planning to air ads attacking President Obama’s health care overhaul, and a frustrated Emanuel scolded them, calling the idea “f—— retarded.”

So Emanuel didn’t call anybody “retarded.” He referred to an idea to run attack ads on fellow Democrats. Did he mean it in a “derogatory” manner? Absolutely. The idea was “idiotic,” “moronic” even. But, presumably, he shouldn’t use those adjectives either because they were once clinical terms used to describe the intellectually disabled. All the recriminatory outbursts fail to acknowledge that the word “retarded” is unacceptable to refer to the disabled but does have other colloquial usage.

Is it ok to call a person “stupid?” How about a car that won’t start? Acceptable to call a physically unattractive woman a “dog?” How about calling a proposed business deal a “dog?” Who gets to decide we should strike a word from the English language because its use in any context offends them?

I’m sure the group pushing for the elimination of the “R-word” is sincere in their belief that just hearing the word “retarded” is hurtful. People like Sarah Palin, however, are transparently using feigned outrage as a media-grabber. I understand their strategy. But we’re perfectly capable of discerning the difference in the two usages. We don’t need the PC Word Police.