Washington (CNN) - In comedy, timing is everything.
And minutes before Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and parent of a child with Down syndrome, made her much-anticipated speech in Iowa, Los Angeles-based comedian Eric Golub told a joke that compared liberal political ideology to “special needs children.”
After commending Palin on raising her son Trig while balancing other responsibilities, Golub made the analogy.
“For that reason alone, the left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as one of their own,” Golub said. “Because the leftist haters are an entire political ideology of special needs children.”
Golub continued by saying that liberals are needy and feel entitled.
“And unlike Trig, they aren't very lovable,” Golub said. “All you hear from them is give me, give me, I need, I need, I want, I deserve, I’m entitled – no you don’t.”
Since announcing she had a child with Down syndrome in 2008, Palin has defended the special needs community in a number of instances.
In February 2010, Palin called for Rahm Emanuel, then-White House chief of staff, to be fired after he called liberal groups thinking of running ads against Democratic lawmakers “retarded.”
When an episode of Fox’s “Family Guy” mocked Trig that same month, Palin wrote in a post to her Facebook followers that it felt like “a kick in the gut.”
She also included a response to the "Family Guy" episode from her daughter, Bristol Palin.
“As a culture, shouldn’t we be more compassionate to innocent people – especially those who are less fortunate,” Bristol wrote. “Shouldn’t we be willing to say that some things just are not funny?”
Palin never mentioned the remark while speaking at the tea party-affiliated “Restoring America” rally in Indianola, Iowa.
Charlie Gruschow, co-founder of Tea Party of America, said he never heard the comment or met the comedian before the event.
"Some of the people on staff had heard him speak before and thought he would be a good person to break up and entertain the crowd," Gruschow said.
This isn't the first time Golub made the comment. He also used it while speaking at a 2010 convention for the conservative organization Young America's Foundation.
Palin's team could not be reached for comment.
CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
From CNN Politics
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I am so tired of the hateful rhetoric coming from the tea party wing of the Republican party. Whoever hired that Golub as a comedian showed poor taste because Golub is just plain not funny. Insulting, but not funny. This kind of speech contributes nothing positive to solving America's problems.
I am so tired of the hateful rhetoric coming from the tea party wing of the Republican party. Whoever hired Golub as a comedian showed poor taste because Golub is just plain not funny. Insulting, but not funny. This kind of speech contributes nothing positive to solving America's problems.
OMG another Palin Mishap?????? I never get tired of CNN's nit pircking of Palin. Oh the drama.........
Joke??? Not at all- just sick and attention-getting. And Sarah palindrome is definitely not raising trig or any of her other children.
Anyone who has ever had a 'special needs' person in their circle knows they warm one's heart and soul more deeply than a lifetime's worth of religion, philosophy and meditation-combined. Mistreatment, or misrepresentation of a 'special needs' person is among the cruelest of cruelties and most catastrophic errors a human being can make.
Is he kidding? The right wing are sheep and way more like special needs people.
Anyone who has ever had a 'special needs' person in their circle knows they warm one's heart and soul more deeply than a lifetime's worth of faith, philosophy and meditation-combined. Mistreatment, or misrepresentation of a 'special needs' person is among the cruelest of cruelties and most catastrophic errors a human being can make.
Palin is a special needs joke.
Mistreatment, or misrepresentation of a 'special needs' person is among the cruelest of cruelties and most catastrophic errors a human being can make.
Anyone who has ever had a 'special needs' person in their circle knows they warm one's heart and soul more deeply than a lifetime's worth of faith, philosophy and meditation-combined.
How pathetic that the Repubs would dare to describe Democrats as "Give me, give me" people after all they've done and are doing for the betterment of all Americans. It has always been the Repubs that have coddled the wealthy. Listen all you middle and lower class Republicans, don't think that the Repubs in Washington are looking out for your best interest, YOU ARE WAY OFF in thinking that. They are looking out for THEIR best interest and for their Rich buddies best interest. Good luck and take my advice, VOTE for President Obama in 2012 for a better America.
O.M.G. A special needs joke. Crucify her! And "thinkagain" (quoted above) is trying to praise the Kennedy's for their special Olympics thing... another typical libacrat shooting himself in the foot. The fact is, the perhaps too vivacious Rosemary Kennedy was an embarrassment to her ex-bootlegger father, and he had her brains scraped out by some quack doctor in an experimental lobotomy. She spent the rest of her long life staring at a blank wall. The good ole Kennedy's.
Why on earth would any intelligent person care at all what comment was made at a Palin Political Event?
Funny how the tealiban and so-called "conservatives" always talk about "bleeding heart" liberals who want the government to take care of people who have difficulty taking care of themselves and then turn around and attack the liberals as selfish. The utterly delusional inconsistencies in tealiban philosophy are a monuments to cognitive dissonance.
HArd to take someone seriously who took her child over the border to Canada to defraud them of healthcare dollars paid for by the citizens of that country.... and then to object to public healthcare over here.... after all, children with needs often need aid from parts of the medical community in some cases – certainly when they are infants –
I am suprised Canada hasn't issued her with a summons for this fraud – statutes of limitations in most countries ONLY count days spent in the jurisdiction the offence was commited (so people can't hide in other countries)
Sure it is likely a minor thing...but using public healthcare for yourself and then opposing it for others seems a bit ludicrous
But then – that is Palin's middle name
Never before have I had the feeling that I needed to post, but this goes beyond the pale. I have five children, two of whom are severely autistic. I watched as that moron used her special needs child as a campaign prop, and it disgusted me. You don't take an infant (especially one with Down syndrome), and expose him or her to bright lights, raucous crowds, and late nights where an infant should be sleeping. My wife worked her way out of poverty and having been victim of crime in the south Bronx to a successful career in financial services, only to have her quit her job to take care of our disabled children. With out getting into the details, caring for a special needs child is much more demanding than anyone who hasn't had the experience would know. If there's any justice in this world, Eric Golub will find out some day. Otherwise, he'll enjoy his eternity in hell. Comparing a political ideology to special needs children? Typical of the Tea Baggers.
Bill Maher who is a liberal and is very funny and makes jokes about almost everything would never use the phrase special needs people in any of his jokes . He knows where to draw the line. The tea baggers are just plain nut jobs.
The downfall of this country will be a pasty skin man or woman. We have seen it with pasty skin Bush and his team fabricating two wars and responsible for killing thousands of young American servicemen and servicewomen while also killing hundreds of thousands of Middle Easterners before Obama even took office. The white man/woman is the biggest blight to humanity. China society is following in the white mans greedy crapitalistic, and oppressive archaic footsteps.
When does Sarah take time to raise her special need child? There must be a nanny of some type raising this poor child. It's not Sarah.
@star; I believe all democrats and their surrogates need to start asking repbulicans to take stand on whether to eliminate free ride (such as healthcare) for Alaska indians.
There's no way CNN can continue to cover for obama and his "special olympics" comment. What a classless scum bag!
I'm not offended because of the special needs joke. I'm offended because both that joke, and every other joke that Eric Golub made that was in this CNN article, are horrible jokes. Just hacky in general.
Do you Palin haters really have a clue, or are you just so filled with hate that you lash out irrationally at the mere mention of her name? Shame on you all!
Palin is a hypocrite. Next time she criticizes anybody for telling those kinds of jokes NOBODY should pay any attention to her.
Well, I have said it time and again. There is no such thing as a good or a smart republican. (Well, okay...Lincoln and Eisenhower were both).