Wonkette
Politico’s Kenneth P. Vogel, who from now on shall be referred to as “Kenningtonpants,” has been on quite a hot streak at his news pamphlet. First that story, and now this one, about dirty words! Naughty naughty, Kenningtonpants! “President Barack Obama called rap star Kanye West ‘a jackass.’ Vice President Joe Biden told a senator to ‘Gimme a f—-ing break!’ Economic adviser Christina Romer declared that Americans had yet to have their ‘holy s—-’ moment over the economy.” It’s a new national trend! We blame the blogs.
Those who pay attention to political rhetoric say an unusual amount of profanity has emanated from this White House – even without counting famously colorful White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. But before this statement becomes fodder for yet another partisan debate (with conservatives saying Obama is disgracing the presidency, and liberals that the media are once again being unfair), they quickly add that Team Obama is no crasser than administrations past. It’s just that they are being quoted more accurately.
What’s different, according to linguists, media analysts and reporters who’ve covered past administrations is the media: Networks and newspapers have become far more willing to run with quotes, video and audio of political figures and their aides saying things that never used to be repeated. They attribute the growth of the political potty mouth alternately to the proliferation of recording technologies; intense interest in all things Obama; the explosion of new media platforms that both circumvent and push traditional media while sharpening competition; a general coarsening of the public dialogue; or some combination of all of those factors.
So adults are just speaking with their adult words, which is the only advantage of being an adult. Got it. But still, we blame the blogs. You know how “states’ rights” is just shorthand for “kill the blacks,” basically? Well, “the explosion of new media platforms that both circumvent and push traditional media while sharpening competition” is media shorthand for “kill the dirty fucking hippie liberal bloggers to death.”
What’s with all the @#%! language? [The Kenningtonpants' Kracker]
These people understand that Lyndon Johnson named his penis and used to speak about it in the third person to staff members, right? I mean, isn’t that the gold standard for profanity?
PS: He named it Jumbo.
Politicians swear? Quelle Suprise!
Way to win the afternoon, Politico.
Those Richard Nixon tape farts are the best.
How the hell reads that trashrag &*!^%$’0 anyways?
What the fuck ever, Politico.
Eh…. suck my cock, motherfuckers?
I’ve noticed that on network television, the characters on some TV shows say words like asshole and shit. This is bad for America.
Kenningtonpants can just go At-Number-Percent himself.
whenPUMAsattack: mine’s called “the Octagon.”
Not one mentions of “go fuck yourself” Cheney? What the fuck?
wait, what’s that “moran” tag? I am not clicking on the clicky and giving them a fucking peso.
Un-fucking-believable! I damn well can’t abide those cocksuckers in the motherfucking White House talking like a bunch of shit spewing ass-fucking sailors!
widget09:
I can easily imagine Nixon asking Kissinger to pull his finger.
You know who else were prissy, prudish nancy boys squeamish about sex and swearing? Hitler & Stalin. That’s right. Rahm = Hitler & Biden = Stalin. And Politico is the Voelkischer Beobachter.
At least Obama doesn’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt.
Holy fucking shit! Some stupid candy ass dipshit cocksucker panty waist pussy doesn’t fucking like motherfucking swearing? Douchesack.
Dear Kenningtonpants,
Suck, and then eat a bag of dicks, fucktard.
Cussing is fun.
Ha ha ha. See you on the unemployment line, sucker–erm, I mean, motherfucker.
“Jackass” is a curse word? It means fucking DONKEY. I hate when news organizations fire their copyeditors (me) and decide they can do it themselves.
Sorry, Politico, this piece of shit article just lost you the fucking morning.
Native of SL UT: If only we could return to those lost years of decorum. If only!
Thanks for the sentimental cophragy, Kennington Vogelspantingson.
~
Eh, I’ll take credit for the whole trend, if nobody else wants to.
SHITCOCK
CUNTSCUM
TAINTBLASTING SKULLFUCKING SMEGMASNIFFING BASTARDS
Fucking righteous indignation. I fucking love it so fucking much. Fucking.
WTF?
I wish these people would just go be fruitful and multiply themselves.
Colorful language? Doesn’t he know the White House is now run by people of color? Even Joe Biden.
Like “@#%!”, Politico is nothing more than a shitty bunch of goddamn fucking characters.
come on guys/gals, we all know that standard repubelickin terminology goes something like: making love=fucking, and cum=mike duval. and something, not sure what, is “eye patch underwear.”
cheney telling leahy to go fuck himself on the senate floor AND shooting his friend in the face get a pass.
I was shocked that the print media quoted President Obama’s “jackass” remark verbatim.
They should have written “jack###.” That would have been far less controversial.
I find Politico’s use of the adjective ‘crasser’ to more offensive than anything Rahm is likely to spew.
spymoose: Dammit, stop being so funny, I’m in the middle of a lecture, and I nearly laughed out loud.
Also, excuse me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t one of the top official Republican lie-memes “Boo Political Correctness!”? Get your talking points straight, Politico. You fuckbags.
What the fucking fuckity fuck?
Everyone just calm down. Tipper Gore and I are all over this. We’re forming an advisory panel made up of white suburban moms that will review all Internet content. Each blog will be required to affix a warning sticker to their URL announcing whether or not the content is safe for tweens. The blogging lobby will be assessed 0.00000127 cents per blog hit to cover the costs of this program.
It’s a matter of parlance, really. Whilst sitting upon it it’s a “rear end” or “butt.” When someone’s nailing it it’s an ass.
Buttsecks!!!!11!
Formerly Known as KevoTron: How about “the diplomat”?
Why can’t this country get back to the decent, clean, peaceful ways of Dick Cheney?
And then there was Shrubby and Darth Cheney’s open-mic oopsie about that asshole from the NYT, yeah big-time.
After all the “teabagger” filth, this seems mild.
Extemporanus: By the way, a string of characters standing in for profanity—especially in comic book settings (i.e. Politico.com)—is called a “grawlix”.
Check out this book and partial list of other delightful comicana.
One of my favorites is “squeans”: “Little starbursts or circles that signify intoxication, dizziness, or sickness.”
And you thought they were called “Lowrys”.
(Another great book on the subject is Squeans, Plewds and Briffits, or How to Be a Cartoonist by Charles D. Rice, but I can’t find the @#%! thing online.)
On the subject of euphemisms, here is CNN’s summary of a current story:
-Thousands of golf balls have been found at the bottom of Loch Ness
-Golf balls found 300 yards from beach and 100 yards from the shore
-Conversationalists say the golf balls are not an environmental threat
If CNN would simply be frank with us and call their sources fucking treehuggers we wouldn’t be confused by thinking they’ve consulted with chatty bon vivants.
Wow — Vogelschnitzel did a three fucking page, well-researched, detailed, and completely pointless article about cursing and its increasing prevalence. And as a bit of icing on the cake, he secondarily proved that Marx’s basic theory of economics was wrong: when human labor is added to a thing, it makes that thing proportionately more valuable. And as a tertiary benefit, I’m sure many people are thrilled to realize that their Columbus Day weekend was much more exciting and fulfilling that Kenningtonpants’ was.
so….basically it’s not anything that hasn’t been going on for years, just the MSM is reporting it more. And the fucktards at Politico consider this newsworthy why? stfu already you fucking, piece-of-shit idiots. Jesus fucking Christ.
oh, you guys are working today. good for you. don’t work too hard. (stretch).
and Bush sayin’ that some dudes in the Middle East should cut out that shit.
Politico should start a swearing jar, eveyone gets charged a quarter if they cuss.
that could solve our deficit problem in no time at all……brilliant!
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Wonkette community. I’ve just read this thread and I’m fucking dyin’ here! Ya’ll make my day.
Since when is “jackass” a swear, anyway? I think I first saw that word in an issue of “Uncle Scrooge.”
fartshitpoopeecockpussydribble, also
What’s with republish*ng all those d*ck-f*rting G*P talk*ng p*ints, you c*llection of w*rthless asswip*s kn*wn as P*litic*?
dekko: since barry said it! remember, they made “um” a sign of retardation.
Why is this a surprise to Politico, unless it’s just part of their ongoing quest to WIN THE MORNING?
Biden has always sworn like a sailor. It’s just that he didn’t get a ton of press outside Delaware in his pre-VP days, except when he was committing a gaffe (see, e.g., “I come from a former slave state so I know teh blackz” and “You can’t enter an 7-11 without sounding like Apu”).
Lionel Hutz Esq.: Not to mention the halcyon days of the [expletive deleted] Nixon tapes.
Yes, it’s exactly because the media is reporting it more. They started doing that on January 20th of this year. Cocksuckers. (no offense intended to actual cocksuckers)
Seriously. Whose idea was it anyway? “Henceforth, these arbitrarily chosen synonyms for feces, coitus, and donkey will be considered ’swear words,’ and those who use them can be looked down upon by those who don’t.” Fuck that shit, you can wash a kid’s mouth out with soap a million times and the whole ridiculous taboo still makes no sense.
hobospacejunkie: Vogelkischer Beobachter.
I do love that Romer said “holy shit” because she really looks like a kindly kindergarten teacher.
Thanks for fucking reading fucking Politico so we don’t fucking have to.
whenPUMAsattack: When you talk about “staff members,” I assume you’re referring to other penises.
whenPUMAsattack: “Say hello to my leetle friend!”
I think the proper name is “KenningtonPAJAMApants.”
Deadwood:
Al Swearengen: Underarms clean? Cunts braided?
From Trailer Park Boys:
Bilble guy: Can you even read my son?
Bubbles: That depends, can you go fuck yourself!?
the best culture of the 21st century involves creative cursing…politico, for fucks sake, buncha cocksuckers, can go fuck their mother in laws with a fucking brickbat lubed up with superfund sludge from a 50 gallon barrel before fucking off to all fuck all…..
Shennanigans.
user-of-owls: I, personally, hope this trend continues and infiltrates all parts of American life–like when I spilled a little tempera paint in my pr-K &K Sunday school class and a mother caught me saying “shit” under my breath. Very same church is under attack from the conservatives (all of who are over 60) who want us to be more like they remember the fifties.
Right now, nothing would fit the conversation more than saying “shut the fuck up, aged dickwad” but, you know, while the sentiment is apt the message would get lost in the number of people diving under their chairs in hope the inevitable lightning strike only gets me. Yes, more fucks–but I’ll pass on cocksucker and motherfucker because I’m over 60, as well–but just barely.
I endorse generous public use of dickwad, douche and asshat (which was one my daughter had never heard) along with fuck this shit and STFU and WTF, but say it in full. Because the wingers have driven me to the edge of insanity and I want to make their heads explode. Having written this lengthy essay on the subject, I’m wondering if the NYT will offer me Safire’s column. Don’t even get me started on “thank you, thank you, no thank you” when things should fucking end with “you’re welcome.”
DustBowlBlues: Thank you. And you’re welocme.
My “Taintblaster” google alert went off, and here I am.
Politico loses its way when it strays from its Liz Becton coverage.
Those cocksucking, motherfucking, shithead assholes at Politico spread this fucking article over three goddam fucking webpages!
1687 fucking words.
No fucking single page view unless you click on print.
Fuck you Politico!
Fuck you, you fucking fuck.
Looking at YOU, Kenningtonpants.
fuckin-aye!
The Aristocrats. Also.
The fact that people think about this kind of stuff in DC is why I will never, ever move there.
Gives a whole new meaning to “Swearing in ceremony”
Each shit and die, you fucking, cock-sucking, fuck-bagging “The Politico”. Ass-pussy-dick nasty, also.