Senate Decorum and the Vice President's F-Bomb

My friend, Doc Farmer, takes the Vice President to task on using the "F" word on the Senate floor. I agree with the VP on Leahy, but I do see Doc's point. - Sailor


Senate Decorum and the Vice President's F-Bomb
Written by Doc Farmer
Wednesday, June 30, 2004


I seem to be in a rather odd minority today. A conservative thinker who isn’t excusing Vice President Richard Cheney’s unleashing of a rather strong invective--the BIG one--against Sen. Patrick Leahy (Lib/Dem/Soc/Commie – VT) on the floor of the Senate.

My rep/con colleagues say that since the Senate wasn’t in session, His Veepness wasn’t technically breaking the rules. This is probably true. My colleagues say that Leahy is an annoying little twerp who attacks people at the drop of a hat, lies like a Clinton, and was fully deserving of a good tongue-lashing by Cheney. This is also true. They claim that Leahy and his lib/dem/soc/commie co-conspirators constantly lie, prevaricate, fabricate, and fill that august chamber with deep, fetid layers of male bovine excrement. Of this, there can be no doubt whatsoever.

None of which excuses Mr. Cheney.

I’m neither a prude nor a saint, folks. I’ve been known to swear. At more than a stubbed toe, I might add. My editor has had some wonderful times re-wording my prose, especially when I’m discussing ''blasted'' lawyers. In my misspent youth, I would listen to George Carlin and his ''seven deadly words.'' In fact, I knew these words by heart and in order. When you’re 17, it’s a sort of a status thing. Especially when going to a Catholic school, I might add...

Nevertheless, even I know when to swear and when not to. I try my best not to swear in front of my kids (although an occasional hell or damn [/i]will[/i] escape). I don’t use the ''big guns'' at the office, and certainly not in mixed company. I don’t scream obscenities in a house of worship. I don’t address royalty with the phrase ''how’s it hangin’?'' – especially the elderly dowager types. I may [b][/i]think[/i][/b] it, but I don’t [b][/i]say[/i][/b] it.

And I don’t use such words as Mr. Cheney did. In any case, not in a place as hallowed (in a secular sense) as our Capitol Building.

This is the where I have the problem.

Now, I have a lot of admiration for Mr. Cheney. He’s been in public service for a lot of years, and he’s an honorable man. He is a good vice president and if--God forbid--the worst ever happened, he’d make a good president as well. Personally, I would hope that he would not run in this presidential campaign – not because I dislike him, but because I do have concerns about his health.

However, an honorable man should own up to wrongs he’s done and apologize for them. He had the opportunity to admit openly that he said ''the word'' on the Senate floor and say he was sorry--not necessarily to Sen. Leahy, but at least that he chose that venue to curse like that.

When Neil Cavuto was interviewing Mr. Cheney on Friday, he played it coy. He didn’t come out and say, ''Yes, I told Leahy to (bleep) off '' or whatever he said. He sidestepped the question. He gave an answer worthy of Slick Willie. He did everything but ask for a definition of ''is.'' Moreover, Cavuto (to his detriment) let this evasion pass. He didn’t follow through as aggressively as perhaps he could have. He didn’t pin the vice president to the mat in a journalistic half-nelson, as his mainstream media, Dubya-hatin' brethren might have done.

Maybe Mr. Cavuto was being ''fair and balanced,'' or he was just trying to be deferential to a high government official. As much as I admire his style and his work, I sincerely hope that it was the former and not the latter.

Oddly enough, the mainstream media (see also: lib/dem/soc/commie-based sedition mongers) have not been braying for the vice president’s blood. This is quite unusual, considering most reporters’ treatment of Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, et al. Normally the pundits and politicos would be screaming at the top of their lungs, spraying vitriol like a squadron of commie crop dusters, in a no-holds-barred scorched earth campaign in support of John Kerry’s running mate (whomever that might be). Perhaps the media knows what kind of a jerk Leahy is, and decided that Cheney’s F-bomb was the lesser of the available evils.

I’m a bit surprised, however, that the Kerry campaign is not capitalizing on Cheney’s verbal [/i]faux pas[/i]. Of course, if it did, Kerry’s spin-doctors would have to answer for the rather solicitous use of the term by their own candidate in Rolling Stone magazine and other interviews. As well as other articles and his own website.

However, just because the other guy is worse doesn’t mean that Mr. Cheney’s actions are excusable. Understandable, perhaps, but hardly tolerable.

When President Reagan, God rest his soul, was in the Oval Office, the story goes that he never removed his jacket. He knew that some places are worthy of respect. He knew that some places belonged not to him, but were entrusted to him by the nation.

And so, Mr. Vice President, I would respectfully ask you to apologize to America for using such a term on the Senate floor. You might not have broken the rules, strictly speaking, but you did break the sanctity of America’s legislative cathedral. Whether Sen. Leahy was fully deserving of the term, America was not deserving of the disregard shown.



About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a writer and humorist who is also a moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. He formerly lived in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but now resides in Indiana. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk.

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