Recently, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel made a comment in a private meeting about liberal activists, calling them “fucking retarded” — comments Sarah Palin called “unacceptable… it’s heartbreaking.” Palin — whose youngest son, Trig, has Down syndrome — later called for Emanuel to be fired or to resign from his position, comparing the use of “retarded” to that of the n-word.

And that’s about the time Rush Limbaugh felt the need to weigh in and said, “Our politically correct society is acting like some giant insult’s taken place,” and went on to use the r-word 27 times on his nationally-syndicated radio show the day after Emanuel’s comments were reported..

Palin responded to that, too, and said, “He was satirical in that … Rush Limbaugh was using satire. So, I agree with Rush Limbaugh.” Umm. What? This ridiculous politically correct merry-go-round kept going last weekend, when a new episode of “Family Guy,” titled, “Extra-Large Medium,” aired. In the episode, Chris Griffin reveals that he is infatuated with a girl in his class, Ellen. And, as harmless as that may seem, when we are first introduced to the object of Chris’ affection, we find she has Down syndrome.

In normal “Family Guy” fashion, outlandish and potentially offensive jokes ensue — as well as an elaborate musical number about “that Down syndrome girl,” — and, at one point in the show, she adds “my father is an accountant, and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.”

Naturally, the Palins didn’t appreciate the stab at their family. Sarah’s oldest daughter, Bristol, called the show’s creators “heartless jerks” on her Facebook page Monday morning. The former governor also chimed in and said, “This world is full of cruel, cold-hearted people,” and demanded to know when society was going to say “this stuff isn’t really funny?” In place of the word “stuff,” I believe the what you were looking for there, Sarah, is satire. Let’s take a look at these comments from the actress who was both the model and voice for the Ellen character in the now-infamous episode of “Family Guy,” Andrea Fay Friedman.

Andrea, herself, has Down syndrome.

“I guess the former Gov. Palin does not have a sense of humor,” Friedman said. “I thought the line, ‘I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska’ was very funny. I think the word is ‘sarcasm.’ In my family, we think laughing is good.”

The actress went on with her own satirical stab at the former governor and said: “My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread, the way former Gov. Palin carries her son Trig around, looking for sympathy and votes.” While we agree that sometimes satire can be boorish or lack tact, we cannot choose when we want to see something as “satire” and when we want to see something as “unacceptable.”

Sure, maybe Seth McFarlane and the writers of “Family Guy” had some fun at your expense, Sarah, but sometimes we all just need a good laugh, sometimes we need to be able to laugh at ourselves, too.

Sometimes, we need to be able to find joy in our lives. Even if it comes out of the tougher things we face each day.

Take a page out of Friedman’s book and “have a sense of humor and live a normal life.”