White House: Kerry Uses Naughty Language

They need to play some of the old Nixon White House tapes, that man used to curse a blue streak in the Oval Office...

Bush called a reporter an asshole on the campaign trail.

Oh nice, is there a soundclip of that online anywhere?

Couldn't find a soundclip, but they exist

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Reuters) - George W. Bush, who has promised to
bring a new tone of civility to politics, displayed little warmth for
a reporter Monday, whispering to his running mate that the journalist
was a "major league asshole."

The Republican presidential nominee was unaware his microphone was
live when he leaned over to Dick Cheney at a Labor Day rally and
said, "There's Adam Clymer, major league asshole from the New York
Times."

Cheney responded, "Oh yeah, he is, big time."

Bush was unhappy with a series of articles by Clymer that were
critical of the Texas governor's record in Austin.

Bush, whose bid for the White House has been based largely on
"changing the tone" in Washington, told the rally in the Chicago
suburb that it was "time to get some plain-spoken folks" in the
nation's capital.

Later, Cheney was asked by a television producer if "calling people
names" was part of the campaign.

"I won't respond to it," Cheney said of the question. "The governor
made a private comment to me."

Bush's spokeswoman, Karen Hughes, said the remark was "a whispered
aside to his running mate."

"It was not intended as a public comment," she said, adding, "It was
a reference to a series of articles the governor felt was unfair."

The campaign of Bush's Democratic rival, Vice President Al Gore, was
quick to respond.

"We hold virtually all members of the Fourth Estate in the highest
regard and we believe they should be part of the democratic process
day in and day out," spokesman Chris Lehane said.

They want an apology for saying fuck? You mean, had he just not said that one vile word, they'd be fine?

This couldn't be a case of just trying to ignore the topic, could it? Just change the focus from the fuck up that Iraq and Afghanistan are to the naughty language Kerry used.

Kerry is just trying to get attention for his struggling campaign. Now people and the news can talk about Kerry and not the eventual winner-Dean.

Imagine that, politicians may be human beings after all...

By your logic his next step is to get arrested for drunk and disorderly. A presidential candidate dropping the f bomb is NOT good publicity.

Way to turn someone criticizing the current government into an opportunity to suggest Kerry is a bad man for swearing. "Don't pay attention to what he's saying, pay attention to what he said. For the children!"

isn't there an old saying all publicity is good publicity?

And don't you think Kerry knew what he was doing when he said that? He knew it would get huge press. And if by some miracle it was an accident I'm sure Rolling Stone ran the story by the Kerry campaign before they printed it and they said use it.

Besides look at what mag Kerry said it in-Rolling Stone. It's not like he said it in Time or Newsweek.

Yes, Kerry is trying to get attention because he's doing horribly against Dean and now Clark.

Notice his response to the White House :

Not only are they mentioning his Vietnam experience in every sentence, now they are even invoking "close combat" as an excuse for this.

The thing is, he hopes to get attention with this, but it's too little too late, as he has no chance of beating Dean anymore.

In addition, I think the Rove has the upper hand here. If Kerry is damaged goods, why bother responding to this. Because they're not trying to sink Kerry, they're just going to use this effectivly as the "Angry extremeist Dems who hate, hate, hate Bush" which they've been working on for a while and gotten good reponses from. This is just prep, for Howard Dean, to paint him as irrational, unstable and angry.

This worked with John McCain (unfortunately), watch the same tactic applied here. We'll see if it's effective, but I'd say in this round, Kerry just did the opposing side's work for him.

Hypocrites? Newsweek had a quote from Bush, I believe it was:

"Fuck Saddam, we're taking him out."

Nice one.

Uh, why does anybody care about this?

Really. Like Dellamorte said, we've got problem after problem in Iraq right now, and when a public figure speaks about it, they get rebuked for not being polite about it?

No pun intended, but fuck that.

People are dying over there. We change our policy every other week. More Iraqis are beginning to support the insurgency and/or terrorist efforts.

It's not a polite subject, and people need to get over themselves really fucking fast. I don't care that Bush cursed or Kerry cursed or whatever.

I care about SOME President - whether it be Bush, Dean, or Kerry - waking up and putting America on the right path in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. It's not happening now and it really needs to in the worst way.

This was a deliberate decision made to "connect" with the kids, just like how Clark "likes" OutKast. I guess swearing and listening to hip bands is the only way to get the younger people in the electorate now.

Huh?

And I say that both to your post saying it's an idea to connect with young voters AND - if that is indeed true, which I don't think it is - to the jackass who came up with such an idea.

Seriously. It's a ridiculous way of thinking, but generally politicians are at least one generation removed from the youngest voters, so there's that generation gap to cross, and politicians are trying to play more to younger people. That's why the candidates show up on Leno, Letterman, The Daily Show, etc - to appeal to the younger electorate. That's why they let MTV know if they use boxers or briefs. I don't know how they came up with the belief that young people couldn't/wouldn't listen to the issues, but would instead vote as though they were voting for Student Body President and pick the coolest candidate out there, but that's what they think. What are some ways to be edgy and cool? Swear and listen to really heavy music, of course!

This isn't saying that politicians don't swear - I'm sure that they do all the time, but until now it has been removed from their public persona. Even Bush's gaffe wasn't intentional, Nixon's (and the quotes from the Bush White House) wasn't supposed to be heard, but this is the first deliberate attempt. Of course, Kerry has absolutely no traction, so it can't hurt to try something, but in the end he's still not going to win.

If anybody thinks Kerry didn't discuss this with eight advisors before "expressing' himself then they're terribly misinformed as to the nature of media.

Anything to not talk about what he said. Smooth. You're right though, he ran it by 8 advisiors:

1 said the situation is "Totally gay"
2 said the situation "totally sucks balls"
another 2 said it's "more retarded than a crack baby"
and 3 said it's "fucked"
so fucked won like Clinton did in 92.

But they're all saying the same god damn exact thing, and they're all right.

He was being interviewed in Rolling Stone, and I imagine he knew that they'll print plain language, and he used plain language. If everything politicians say is always scripted, how would you account for a calander's worth of malapropisms from Bush?

Gimme a break. He said "fuck". It wasn't some cynical, planned move to "reach America's youth",no matter what PBS boy says about "the nature of media".

Almost all of what they say is pre-planned yes. That Bush screws up says something about his inability to master the English language (nuuuclee-arr).

It very likely was a way to get the media's attention (and that part worked) as he's trailing so badly in the polls.

Ironically, it helps the white house in the way I mentioned before. Additionally, it's great for Dean, as this is protection against the angry extremist accusations Rove is planning to throw at him.

Advantage : Bush, Dean.
Disadvantage: Kerry.

It was nice knowing you Kerry.