Cesca gave this a mention, and while I'll go a little softer on it than he did (he called it possibly the most ridiculous story of the year; dear God, imagine what that would entail at this point) there's no denying that it's damn silly, especially coming from the Politico -- which constantly alternates between being very smart and painfully dumb.
The topic: Does the Obama administration use too much profanity?
Now anyone who's come to this site -- like, ever -- knows where I stand on the use of foul language. I'm an adult. I talk like one. I swear quite a bit and don't really give a damn whether you like it or not. If you're offended by somebody using grown-up words then it might be time to head over to Fisher-Price's "My First Political and Media Blog" and let your tender sensibilities get the soothing massage they apparently require. I've never believed that somehow a very serious argument can be rendered null and void by the fact that the person arguing it occasionally feels the need to make his or her point crystal fucking clear by saying things like "crystal fucking clear."
Speaking of which, Cesca makes the terrific point that what separates the Obama administration from, say, the Bush or Reagan administrations on the subject of profanity is that guys like Rahm Emanuel never pretended to be the personification of some Norman Rockwellian vision of America. Obama and his staff don't drop the name of their Lord and Savior every five minutes and pretend that how they behave in public is how they behave in private. In other words, they're not hypocritical about the fact that, yeah, they swear on occasion; the same way millions of Americans do; the ones not convinced that at the end of their lives Jesus will run down a tally of all the times they used a four-letter word and cast them into eternal damnation for it.
They're just words, people. Get the hell over it.
The Politico: What's With All the @#%! Language?/10.12.09
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