It’s on. A little.

I asked Palin spokesperson Meghan Stapleton for comment on Rush’s rant, and she emailed me this:

“Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name calling at the expense of others is disrespectful.”

It hardly has the passion of her response to Rahm, and there’s no call for him to step down. But given Rush’s stature among conservatives, it’s pretty interesting that she went this far, denouncing his on-air rant as “crude and demeaning name-calling.”

His “on-air rant” was just an extended goof at Emanuel’s expense for describing lefty activists as “retarded,” but having chosen to pick this fight, I guess Sarahcuda can’t make exceptions for humor. This is the second prominent conservative her team has had to chastise in two days: An advisor to Rick Perry, whom she’s supporting, was upbraided in similar terms yesterday for using the word “retarded” on a conference call (it’s now become a minor issue in the Texas Republican primary). Ted Nugent, who’ll be playing at a Perry/Palin rally this weekend, has also been quoted using the term in interviews, so presumably he’s next. I wonder how much mileage Olby will get out of all this before the scoldings are finally done.

Audio of Rush’s “rant” below. You know we’re going to have to poll this one, don’t you?