#129 - Cheney's Choice Words

Now that Bush can say "condom" (see #130), Cheney blazes ahead:

A brief argument between Vice President Cheney and a senior Democratic senator led Cheney to utter a big-time obscenity on the Senate floor this week.

On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush's judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.

"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.

[...]

There is no rule against obscene language by a vice president on the Senate floor. The senators were present for a group picture and not in session, so Rule 19 of the Senate rules -- which prohibits vulgar statements "unbecoming a senator" -- does not apply, according to a Senate official. Even if the Senate were in session, the vice president, though constitutionally the president of the Senate, is an executive branch official and therefore free to use whatever language he likes. (the Washington Post, via Wonkette)

Sure, we believe the VP should be able to utter a phrase including "fuck" when it is appropriate - though the Senate floor is not the first place that comes to mind when we imagine appropriate venues. What we take issue with is the grand morality espoused by this Administration, and the many, many ways that Bush et al. use their sense of exceptionalism only when it is convenient for them.

Update, via the Washington Times:

The U.S. vice president is defending his use of profanity during a sharp exchange with Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., the Washington Post reported Saturday.

Dick Cheney said he "probably" used an obscenity during an argument Tuesday on the Senate floor with Leahy, after Leahy apparently needled him about his relationship with the scandal-plagued Halliburton Corp.

"I expressed myself rather forcefully, felt better after I had done it," Cheney told Neil Cavuto of Fox News.

Cheney said those who heard the putdown agreed with him.

"I think that a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."