Sarah Palin Sexism Watch, #18

[Trigger warning.]

Why, Sandra Bernhard, why?

In one of the most scathing and arguably vulgar personal attacks on the Republican vice presidential nominee yet, Bernhard lashed out at Palin during opening night of her one woman show in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night. Among other controversial remarks, Bernhard called Palin a 'turncoat bitch' who "would be gang raped by blacks in Manhattan."

In one particularly abasive [sic] rant, Bernhard attacked everything from Sarah Palin’s fashion sense and hair style to her political views and religious beliefs.

"Now you got Uncle Women, like Sarah Palin, who jumps on the shit and points her fingers at other women. Turncoat bitch! Don't you fuckin' reference Old Testament, bitch!" Bernhard said. "You stay with your new Goyisha crappy shiksa funky bullshit! Don't you touch my Old Testament, you bitch! Because we have left it open for interpre-ta-tion! It is no longer taken literally! You whore in your cheap fuckin' New Vision cheap-ass plastic glasses and your [sneering voice] hair up. A Tina Fey-Megan Mullally brokedown bullshit moment."

There is video at the link, should you be so inclined. It does not include her comment that Palin "would be gang raped by blacks in Manhattan," so I have no idea what the specific context is for that line—although I quite honestly can't imagine a context in which it would be anything less than deeply misogynist and racist.

I also can't imagine a person as clever as Bernhard has always struck me to be honestly believing that making fun of a woman's appearance and calling her a bitch and a whore is somehow "edgy." That shit's about as cutting edge as the fucking wheel, okay?

Meanwhile, I'll leave you to dissect the jaw-dropping irony of a woman calling Sarah Palin an "Uncle Woman" while using the tools of The Patriarchy^TM herself.

And once again, I am amazed at the sheer number of comedians who are willing to risk triggering sexual assault survivors in their audience in order to use one of the most horrific things a human being can experience as the butt of a fucking joke.

[H/T to Shakers Katie, Medusa, Juliemania, and Holly in Cincinnati. Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen. We defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because we endorse her or her politics, but because that's how feminism works.]