best part of the election guide

told this joke before the stranger even ran it

would tell it again

Retarded people don't care if you make fun of them. That's why they're retarded.

I substitute the word "gay" whenever the Stranger throws around the word "retarded." Same thing, really.

I laughed because I'm a terrible person, but I, too, was a bit surprised by how tasteless this was.

It was a tasteless, insensitive joke that almost made me fall out of my chair with laughter.

I hate myself for recognizing how wrong this joke is, but still seeing the humor in it. My internal dialog goes something like this:

"HA HA HA OMFG HAoh that was wrong, so so wrong."

Let's face it, that was funny.

People who are outraged by it are seriously humor-deprived.

I certainly hope you've all had a long think about what you've done.

I was kicked of the "Republicans for Obama" website (comments) for questioning whether someone who said her son had a "missing chromosome" was telling the truth or not. I thought it was a joke because I had never heard of such a disease and when I looked it up they said that it was extremely rare and survivability was a few months.

However, she took great offense (not for making fun of it, but for questioning her veracity) and made me apologize (which I did) sent me a picture of her son (which I sympathized with) and then had me blocked from the site (which I trolled on a daily basis).

So, when it comes to touchiness about these things, I'd have to say the Republicans are far more flexible and reasonable than high strung Democrats who want to vote for the Hawaiian preppie spawn of bank vice president.

Did this joke come out of Palin's vagina?

Yep. It was tasteless. And hilarious. And unfortunate.

The Stranger has plenty of room for tasteless humor. It doesn't belong in the election guide.

Worst. Joke. Ever.

(And yes, I already passed it along...)

Palin is a tastless, insensitive person and the joke fits her to a T.

Yeah, I mean if I was retarded I too would find any association with Palin very embrassing and in bad taste.

What crazycatguy @10 and Doug @11 said.  Tasteless even by Stranger standards.

It isn't funny.

And yes, grow up........

I yeevun lavved. Dadleased Dobama isund mblag GAND dreedarded.

Count me on the side of Liz. There are lots of tasteless jokes in the world that are funny.

Her son's lifelong condition is not funny at all.

I saw a 60-year-old woman and a 40-year-old woman with Down syndrome (obviously a mother and daughter) silently eating lunch together at a restaurant today and I cried thinking about what they've been through.

That joke is only hilarious if you do not know any developmentally disabled people and therefore have no idea of the difficulties and prejudice they face.

You can be a hipster without being a complete fucking asshole.

abe @ 18:

you "cried thinking about what they've been through"

how do you know waht they've been through? it's possible they were brought up in very loving families and are functioning and have a happy life, as my cousin does.

you are projecting what you think they are missing out on in life, when the truth is they may have a much better life than you do.

I missed this one the first time around. Hilarious. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Liz.

I'm with Liz on this one, and I give her props for speaking up.

Stranger writers are allowed to make retard jokes just like gay people are allowed to make gay jokes and black people are allowed to make black jokes.
Besides, "A: not everything that comes out of her vagina gets knocked up by 17" isn't funny at all.

Tasteless and funny, but that's actually one of the few things I like about Sarah Palin: she was (before her son was born with Down's) and after an advocate for better lives for kids with disabilities. So...there! OR something. Still happy to have her returned, postage due, to Alaska.

I thought it was lame. Funny can be lame.

i'm used to the stranger's tasteless humor and generally don't find it that offensive. however, i'm also used to their election guide being pretty well-written and i often vote an almost straight stranger ticket. this year, i came to that joke, stopped reading, and didn't use their election guide in my evaluation of the races this year. i don't know why it pissed me off so much, but it really did. it made me completely unable to take the endorsements seriously. knock it off, guys, or just leave that shit in the rest of the paper, which is often tasteless and offensive and also funny and where we're expecting it.

It just makes me sad to hear jokes like this. Why do people have to be so mean and hurtful? We're liberals, we should be taking the upper road. Making fun of the disadvantaged? Hypocritical.

In fairness, people like #27, the only disadvantaged person the Stranger was making fun of was Sarah Palin. There was nothing in there making fun of Trig.

That being said, I'm frankly with Liz and the rest who think that this joke steps just a bit over the line. Obviously that line can be difficult to find, but I think a bit more thought about this joke before it was published might have led to that conclusion.

I sent that joke to everybody I really like, and got a thread locked on another website over it.

It still cracks me up every time I read it. So, so happy.

And look, you humorless douchebags, it's NOT making fun of retarded people! It's MAKING FUN OF SARAH PALIN!!!!!!! She's STUPID, not RETARDED, and there's a DIFFERENCE. Fer fucking fuck's sake. Stop insulting retarded people by failing to get the fucking joke!

Stranger = gay retards.

sheesh. stop being so butthurt over a harmless joke (that was totally funny).

@29 is right, it's bagging on palin, not her kid.

We're no 100% sure that the one you're talking about actually came out of her vagina or her daughter's.

But, anyway, I've got to agree with this chick. It's clever, but it's too much.

I am so with you, Liz - so fucking sick of this word being used as a joke. @2, you are an asshole, as are the rest of you who think it's funny to make fun of people whose IQs are supposedly lower than yours. Fuckers.

It's human nature to make sick jokes about things that scare us. We may love our grandparents but still make jokes about senile elderly people, for example, because one day we're all going to be there. We make sick jokes about Sarah Palin because there is a possibility (not a huge one, admittedly) that she may be elected VP on Tuesday, and that scares any thinking person. Humor is a universal way of dealing with our fears. The retarded joke really was over the line, but I'm not going to be too hard on myself for finding it funny.

don't you all know the only subgroup that can be safely ridiculed is hillbillies?

A friend pointed the joke out to me, I was completely shocked and fell out of my chair laughing. I proceeded to share with co-workers (including my boss' boss!) and family.

Everyone was shocked and just about fell out of their chairs laughing.

Thank you for publishing that highly offensive and hilarious joke.

@31 - calling Trig Palin a retard is "bagging on Palin, not her kid"? please, indeed. there are a billion ways to be funny and hip and edgy without insulting the disabled - but the stranger goes for the gratuitous laugh. again.

i agree with liz, anna @ 26 and what unfortunately looks like the minority opinion here.

Another thing for Seattle liberals to cry about...

You stupid fucking Seattle hipsters think you're all so fucking hip just because you're hip. Well, listen here, punk-ass hipsters, I can see right through you. So there!

Go Knuckledragger/Cousinfucker in 2012!

I'm with Liz, #26 and others who found that joke tasteless and offensive. I was in the middle of taking the election guide seriously and it really turned me off. There are plenty of things to make fun of Sarah Palin for, but a mean joke like that reminds me of the disrespect dished out by a playground bully.

If i'm not mistaken they also made an awful joke in the slog using Palin's baby as the butt of a joke...and it didn't go over so well there either.

I guess some people are just hypocrites, they want to defend minority groups from oppression...unless that group is unable to stand up for themselves...then apparently it's fair game.

What a bunch of losers, get a life.

It's not funny, because it's not true. So far, everything that has come out of her vajayjay is retarded, and everything that has come out of her mouth is retarded. Ergo, there is no difference between her vajayjay and her mouth. I don't really have a point here, I just like typing "vajayjay" on the hope that some humorless douchemonkey will find that offensive as well.

VAJAYJAY

What did the blind, deaf special-eds kid get for christmas?

Cancer.

Why did the blonde crash her car?

Because she had down syndrome.

I have to wonder when progressives are going to start caring about people with cognitive disabilities. Not yet, I guess.