Last week, I posted on Barbara Walters’ and Whoopie Goldberg’s bizarre defense of Bill Maher, who had apparently called out Sarah Palin’s Down Syndrome child as “retarded”. A quick refresher:

Walters speculated that Maher did not know the word [ed: “retarded”] could be hurtful…

Goldberg lamely tried to assist Walters, saying “we, society took the word ‘retarded’ and made it into something derogatory…When I was a kid, it wasn’t derogatory…”

Now MN State Rep. Ryan Winkler (D/Labor Party) has called Justice Thomas an “Uncle Tom.” His defense? Guess.

[from Twitter] I did not understand “Uncle Tom” as a racist term, and there seems to be some debate about it…

[from Winkler’s weak ‘apology’ statement] I was very disappointed today in the Supreme Court decision…In expressing that disappointment on twitter, I hastily used a loaded term…

I see a trend!

Now, let’s be clear. Winkler didn’t use “a loaded term”, he used a racial slur.