Stephen Colbert calls Palin the dreaded 'R-word', while Rahm Emanuel apologizes on SNL (with videos)

            Stephen Colbert calls Sarah Palin the "F-ing R-word" in the video below.

First of all, if you're a fan of Sarah Palin, this article is not going to be for you.  This is your first and only warning to head on to greener pastures, perhaps to an older Comedy Examiner article, because you're not going to be happy with the video below, in which Stephen Colbert explodes the whole "R-word" debate by dropping it on Palin.  Oh, and he modifies it with an "F-word", so there's that.  Read on for the footage, my gentle Examiner readers...

Last week, there was some debate over the word "retard", and it wasn't the first time there's been such an argument.  Rahm Emanuel used the term, only to be attacked in the press by Palin, who went so far as to call for his resignation or firing.  Then Rush Limbaugh got in the mix by using the term himself.  It's been a long week for those that don't like the "R-word", folks.  Let's check in with Stephen Colbert and see how he feels about it:

This is just the latest in a long line of debates about which words are "bad" and which ones are "not so bad", and in the world of comedy, it's kind of hard to quantify such a thing.  Sure, one word (for example, the "C-word") may carry far more "punch" than another (such as the "S-word"), but no one seems to realize that words only hurt as much as you let them.  If I dropped, say, the "N-word", that would be just as offensive as the "R-word" to some people, whereas the "R-word" would only be as offensive as the "H-word" to some other people (or maybe even the "D-word").  It's all kind of boring when you think about it, so maybe we should just stop letting words be so troublesome.  After all, they're just words.

Speaking of this whole thing, here's an UPDATE: The sketch from this week's "Saturday Night Live", wherein Rahm apologizes for his use of the word (hint: it's actually Andy Samberg, but if you don't understand the way sketch comedy works, you need more than a hint):

I'm sure that there are more than a few people that'll disagree with this one, but go ahead and leave your comments if you feel moved enough to do so.  If you're fine without leaving some angry rhetoric, feel free to hit the "Subscribe" button up top to get all the Comedy Examiner's articles delivered straight to your email, free of charge, the moment they're published.  Here's some of our other recent articles, in case you missed them:

FUNNY VIDEO: JIMMY KIMMEL MOCKS TIM TEBOW'S ANTI-ABORTION SUPERBOWL AD (WITH VIDEO)-- in which Jimmy Kimmel makes fun of that anti-abortion commercial everyone's whining about.  It's good stuff, click the link, people.

DOES KEVIN SMITH WANT YOU TO PAY FOR HIS NEXT MOVIE? (WITH VIDEO)-- in which we learn about Kevin Smith's idea to fan-finance "Red State", his unproduced horror screenplay.  Got an extra $20?

"MR. AND MRS. SMITH" ALREADY BEING REMADE BY HOLLYWOOD.  REALLY?! (WITH VIDEO)-- in which we learn that Hollywood is truly, finally, seriously out of ideas.  The proof is in this article.

IT'S OFFICIAL: BILL MURRAY WILL APPEAR AS A GHOST IN "GHOSTBUSTERS 3" (WITH VIDEO)-- in which we learn, for sure, that all the rumors are true: we're getting a phantom Venkman in the next "Ghostbusters".

(photo: myspace.com)