Talk about things getting out of hand. The phrase "politically correct", when used by someone who takes it seriously, shows little more than Standard-Issue
Merkin Ignorance. I seem to remember it being used tongue-in-cheek,
back in the day - to refer to those who read the "right", trendy
political book or author of the day, supported the
leftist cause-of-the-month, or wore the right t-shirt.
It was a subtle (or not-so-subtle) dig at folks like Maoists, for example (didn't you have a Maoist cell in your neighborhood when you were a kid?), who themselves were only aping the parent company in Beijing (circa the Cultural Revolution). But subtlety and Merkins are an oil-and-water thing, at least in political matters.
I may not have all my data straight - I was young then, and then I was dropped on my head during adolescence. But I equate people who, sans humor, sans irony, use the phrase "politically correct" with mouth-breathers, people who chew their gum like cows, script kiddies, and slack-jawed yokels. Grow the fuck up, all of you!
And, on a related subject: while "vertically challenged" is a stupid phrase, I don't seem to see very many people take issue with the hundreds of equally-stupid euphemisms that have littered the English language long before "politically correct" constructions became an issue. Read the New York Times, watch CNN, listen to a day or two of speeches on C-SPAN - but with a pair of open eyes and ears, for a change - and you'll be amazed at the amount of glib, shorthand, malevolent obfuscation you'll find. Political and socio-economic discourse has suffered a lot of collateral damage over the past 35 years. We should send in the freedom fighters to rectify matters; one hopes the liberal media and the feminazis won't stand in our way.
Grow the fuck up, all of you!