Old people like me can only shake our heads at learning that Sarah Palin is criticizing Rahm Emanuel for calling people he disagreed with f*cking retarded in a conversation not intended for general public consumption. Not for "f*cking", which would have got you sent to detention when I was in school, but "retarded."
"Retarded" is a euphemism. It means "stupid," and was devised by well meaning people who didn't want to call stupid people "stupid." Unfortunately, as with so many euphemisms, after time it becomes associated with reality and people start to use it as such. Then we decide we won't call stupid people "retarded" either.
Now we have moved to "challenged," which has already moved to the joke level and will sooner or later become an insult. There is a silver lining to this. Eventually, the original words become so dissociated with reality that nobody remembers and they can be used freely. For instance, nobody complains if you call an idea "lame" or a person an "emotional cripple," although both words succumbed to euphemisms generations ago.
Maybe like Gaia, the English language has built-in response mechanisms to attacks on its integrity.
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