Evan McMorris-Santoro September 3, 2011, 4:23 PM

Well, this has the potential to become awkward.

Sarah Palin made her much-anticipated Iowa speech in Indianola Saturday, and the news is there’s not much news. Palin didn’t announce her candidacy for president during her address, though she told a reporter afterwards is she is still considering jumping in.

But what another speaker at the event said before Palin spoke is making headlines, and threatening to add another layer of embarrassment to the strange, petty drama that surrounded the event — and Palin — last week.

CNN reports:

[M]inutes before Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and parent of a child with Down syndrome, made her much-anticipated speech in Iowa, Los Angles-based comedian Eric Golub told a joke that compared left-leaning political ideology to “special needs children.”

After commending Palin on raising her son Trig while balancing other responsibilities, Golub made the analogy.

“For that reason alone, the left should worship Sarah Palin and adopt her as one of their own,” Golub said. “Because the leftist haters are an entire political ideology of special needs children.”

In the past, Palin has protested loudly and publicly when comedy writers have attempted to use her son’s handicaps to make jokes. The special needs community is, perhaps understandably, a particular sore spot for Palin — though her outrage can sometimes shift with the political winds.

Back in February 2010, for example, she excoriated then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for calling liberal activists “retarded.” A few days later, she defended Rush Limbaugh’s use of the same word in a similar context.

CNN reports that Palin did not comment on the remark in her speech, nor did her team respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Update:

The Des Moines Register posted video of the joke:

2012 Presidential Primaries, 2012 elections, Sarah Palin