A Series of Thoughts: A Blog, A Veep

FIRST:
As a total neophyte to my blogging host ., I'm still attempting to discern how to "make things go," so to speak. I noted this with the very first post but thought: oh well, I just must not have hit the right keys for a hard return. My very first comment did not post with any spaces between paragraphs.

My second post, however, was much, much longer than the first and, upon its first publishing, appeared to be nothing more than one horrendous run-on sentence. Even my family avoided it (and hey, don't we write to family first, in order to proclaim: look, here I am, on the World Wide Web!) -- and rightly so. It was, shall we say, visually ucky. A hint for blogger.com newbies: go back to the tab under "Settings," click the "Formatting" tab and then under "Convert Line Breaks" click on "yes." What you originally saw under POSTING will now miraculously appear on the final post. Voila!

THE F-BOMB:
Some "convservative" or "right wing" pundits and radio hosts have called Democratic candidate John Kerry "John F-Bomb Kerry" for his public usage of the f-word in a Rolling Stone magazine article in late 2003 where he was quoted as saying "I voted for what I thought was best for the country. Did I expect Howard Dean to go off to the left and say, 'I'm against everything'? Sure. Did I expect George Bush to f - - - it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did," Kerry told Rolling Stone.

In a WorldNetDaily article dated 12-06-2003, "Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution presidential scholar, says he can't recall another candidate attacking a president by using foul language in a public interview, according to the New York Post.

" 'It's so unnecessary," Hess told the paper. 'In a way it's a kind of pandering [by Kerry] to a group he sees as hip . . . I think John Kerry is going to regret saying this.' "

Go back to Tuesday, June 22nd, 2004, and Vice President Dick Cheney's f-bomb comment to admittedly dopey Vermont Democratic US Senator Patrick Leahy during a heated exchange on the Senate floor, while awaiting a group senatorial photo out of session. In a terse discussion between the two that touched on politics, religion and money, Cheney told Leahy to "f--- off" or "go f--- yourself." The comment was in response to Leahy's personal attack on Cheney with regard to Halliburton.

"I think he was just having a bad day," Leahy was quoted as saying on CNN, which first reported the incident. "I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language on the floor."

Now fast forward to Fox News' Friday, June 25th interview by Neil Cavuto of Mr. Cheney:

Neil Cavuto: "What happened?"

VP Dick Cheney: "You could say we had a little floor debate in the United States Senate."

NC: "I heard it was more than a debate."

VP: "Well, it was, I expressed myself rather forcefully. Felt better after I had done it."

NC: "Alright. Did you use the "F" word?"

VP: "Ahhh, that's not the kind of language I usually use."

NC: "The reports were that you did."

VP: "That's not the kind of language that I ordinarily use."

NC: "So what did you tell him?"

VP: "I, ah, I expressed my, ah, dissatisfaction with Senator Leahy."

NC: "Over his comments about you and Halliburton?"

VP: "No. It was partly that, it was partly also it had to do with, ahh, he is the kind of individual who will make those kinds of charges and then come act as though he's your best friend, and I expressed in no uncertain terms my views of his conduct, and walked away."

NC: "Did you curse at him?"

VP: "Probably." (laughter by the VP)

NC: "Do you have any regrets?"

VP: "No. I said it. And I..."

NC: "So let me understand. He comes up and he sees you, says 'Mr. Vice President,' and he's a little nice, shakes your hand, and then what do you do, lit into him?


VP: "Ah. Expressed my unhappiness with the way he conducted himself. Part of the problem here is that instead of having this substantive debate over important policy issues, ah, he had challenged my integrity, and I didn't like that, but most of all I didn't like the fact that after he'd done so, then he wanted to act like, ah, now things are peaches and cream, and I informed him of my view of his conduct in no uncertain terms, and as I say, I felt better afterwards."

NC: "Alright. Now they say you broke decorum for normally a Senate or Congressional session. Technically, I guess, it wasn't in session."

VP: "No, we weren't in session. What we were doing was waiting to take our pictures, our official Senate photos, and I go up and sit in the chair as president of the Senate and preside."

NC: "What was the reaction from the crowdd?"

VP: (Vice President laughing) "I think a lot of my colleagues felt that, ah, what I said badly needed to be said. That it was long overdue."

NC: "Pretty feisty guy, aren't you?"

VP: "Well, I am usually calm, cool, and collected, and ordinarily I don't express myself in strong terms, but I thought it was appropriate here."

Okay. So it happened. But Republicans, gather this: don't typify one side of the aisle as an "F-Bomb" dropper then, as Hugh Hewitt did on his Friday, June 25th radio show, attempt to excuse the Veep of the same precise thing -- no matter the circumstances. It simply is a matter of fundamental fairness no matter which side of the aisle one represents. "Leahy has more hair," "Cheney has less hair," it's about "personal attacks," whatever. All immaterial.

If it's not good for the Dems, it's not good for the GOP -- and, after all, isn't it still all about some semblance of decorum and discussion, when all is said and done? Of course it is. Hugh: I feel badly. You've let me down, sir.

A slap on the wrist to Mr. Cheney and, likewise, to Hugh Hewitt for trying to excuse what he would normally lambaste coming from the Democratic side of the aisle.