I’ll be the first to admit that Seth MacFarlane goes way too far sometimes. On the other hand, I’ll admit that I laugh every time I watch Family Guy, no matter how absurd or crass the jokes are. Yes, I am a bad person, but then again, so is just about everyone else who’s ever laughed when they watched someone take a fall on an icy parking lot.

MacFarlane and crew have made fun of everything from pedophilia and religion to cultural differences and the war in the Middle East. I could fill this entire post with the list of offensive material Family Guy has mocked for eight seasons. Instead, I’m going to talk about Sarah Palin. Palin has been the butt of television and media jokes since she first announced her Republican candidacy for Vice President during the 2008 election.

Saturday Night Live got a lot of attention, casting Tina Fey in her likeness, and just this past summer William Shatner mocked her almost regularly on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien.

Despite the jokes made about her intelligence (or lack-there-of,) Palin took everything in stride, and wasn’t afraid to laugh at herself. This last Sunday, Family Guy went too far, according to Palin. In a scene, the Griffin’s teenage son, Chris (Seth Greene), went on a date with a girl who had Down Syndrome. While on their date, Chris asked his date about her parents, to which she replied, “My dad is an accountant and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.”

Palin made a statement on her Facebook page, noting that the dig felt like another kick in the gut. Palin’s son Trig is a special needs child, and Palin’s daughter Bristol was the one who brought the issue to her mother’s attention. Instead of answering her daughter about how it made her feel, Palin asked her what she thought, posting Bristol’s assessment of the situation on her page.

The Facebook post has received nearly 5,000 comments, with many readers agreeing that once and for all, MacFarlane and the producers of Family Guy have gone too far. What do you think?