Vice President Drops F-Bomb – Big Fucking Deal Indeed

March 26, 2010 in America The Fucked, Health Care Crisis, Politics

You might have heard, if you strained your ears and got them as close to your laptop speakers as possible and turned up the volume to max and had someone else point out what Mr. Biden said or saw a video who’s audio was enhanced and played it again and again like the following clip:

And people are freaking out about it, saying things like “What did he say?” or “Holy shit, Joe Biden said ‘fuck’!” or “Classy, Joe, and I’m being sarcastic here if you couldn’t tell,” or “NSFW.” In any case, people seem to think the vice president’s so called ‘gaffe’ was in poor taste and surprising, even given Biden’s track record of saying things he really shouldn’t and promptly inserting his foot into his mouth.

You know what they’re not saying? How the last vice president, the ever-classy man himself, Darth Cheney, used the same word in what I would consider a more aggressive or provocative way and without the assumption that he couldn’t be heard (as Biden was possibly under). To accentuate the ridiculousness of the matter, here’s an excerpt from the wikipedia page on the word “Fuck” from the sub-section of it’s use in politics:

In June 2004, during a heated exchange on the U.S. Senate floor about Halliburton‘s role in the reconstruction of Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney told Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, “fuck yourself”. Coincidentally, Cheney’s outburst occurred on the same day that the Defense of Decency Act was passed in the Senate.^[18]

Wiki-fucking-pedia. Granted, Biden’s gaffe is already listed in the same section, but the word ‘heated’ is not used.

My point? I dunno. Maybe something about double fucking standards, analogous to the whole “Holy fuck, Obama smokes cigarettes! I don’t approve!” versus, “Oh, Geedub snorted crack cocaine? Eh, it was the fucking eighties. Who didn’t?”

Maybe my point is more along the lines of how Biden’s use of the word was in this situation, I would dare say, fucking appropriate. The Obama camp can finally put a tally mark, hard won yet impotent it may be, on their side of the board. A big fucking deal indeed.

Or maybe my point is that this country needs to grow the fuck up.

Yeah. Let’s go with that one.

Image via dealbreaker.com; video via teh fucking youtubes.

Tags: featuring the best wikipedia page ever, fuck, impotent tally marks, Not in this white house!, sweet nothings

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http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/katekate/ katekate is squared

Also, as long as politicians are still fucking whores and whoever else on the regular, I’m not so worried about the f-word.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/strawberry-shortcake/ Strawberry Shortcake

Yes we FUCKING can has a nice ring to it.
http://wordsmoker.com/ BookishLookish

Nice, S&P500!

If you’re actually fucking someone, or a few someones, the word “fuck” is a nice word. A word that has a powerful thrust, yes, but no negative connotations whatsoever, especially used as an intensifier. The way Cheney used it? To dismiss another human being outright? Yeah, Repugs are good at that.

Should “fuck” be part of polite society? Eh, maybe not. But you can say it to your bud when you’re really stoked, off mic, and that’s what Uncle Joe did and he’s cool in my book.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/chillbearlatrigue/ Chillbear Latrigue

Sam:

You forgot about this one:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Witnesses report that Vice President Dick Cheney said “fuck you” as he shot and wounded a campaign contributor during a weekend quail hunt on a friend’s South Texas ranch, local authorities said Sunday.

I don’t think this is a big deal. I did think it was a big deal when Rahm Emanual referred to Congress as “fucking retarded,” but I am a little sensitive to the issues of the developmentally disabled as I am sure that many of you are.

This isn’t the 1700′s. Our elected officials say “fuck.” As long as they have a reasonable expectation that they are saying it in a private setting, then they’re behavior conforms with social forms. If they go on The Daily Show and try to curse along with Jon Stewart, then in my humble opinion, they are disrespecting their office.

I tell my people my people that they should conduct themselves like they are being filmed, because they probably are.

Glad to see you have time to post more, SPP.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/mama-penguino-2-2-2/ Mama Penguino

This may be fine for the media, but Mr. Joe Fucking Biden better not plan on ever sitting by me and Little Penguino at the local Chinese buffet. /self-deprecating humor
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/nefariousnewt/ NefariousNewt

Joe Biden swore. Big whoop. I’m pretty sure that during the heat of the health care battle, there oaths longer and more voluble that a lone “f*cking” uttered in what he thought was a moment of confidence. That, and it was about something — as opposed to Cheney’s, which was to someone, someone I deeply respect and admire (Sen. Leahy used to be my Senator way-back-when), because he was being pissy.

People have long labored under the illusion that our elected officials are somehow the best specimens of humanity, only to be disillusioned by their actual behavior. They are, after all, human; they have the same complement of foibles and habits and predilections that you will find in the general population. It should come as no shock, really. So, the only thing I can say to those scandalized, or otherwise over-hyping it:

Shut the fuck up.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/chillbearlatrigue/ Chillbear Latrigue

@MamaP: That wasn’t self-deprecating humor; it was awesome self-deprecating humor. No explanation needed.

The more I think about this the more I think that it’s fine for the Republicans to attack him in this manner so long as they are absolutely sure that none of the 178 Republican members of the house, 41 members of the Senate and couple of dozen governors (didn’t want to research) eradicate the word from their vocabulary. This is my least favorite political tactic. My second least favorite it the old “slyly wiping hand on shirt” gag.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/sarahheartburn/ SarahHeartburn

You know? Fuck them. This pussy-assed horseshit on the part of the Left/Liberal world, which ologizes to the alleged mainstream every time something brushes an elbow against their perpetually wounded and oozing sense of decorum, is strangling discourse and the beauty of English.

And as Malcolm Tucker would say, “Fuckety-bye!”
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/sarahheartburn/ SarahHeartburn

@SarahHeartburn: AP ologizes. I promise. New glasses coming soon.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/perverseus/ perverseus

So the vice president said a bad word. It’s inappropriate but it’s no big deal. I just find the whole thing hilarious — after all these years in the public eye, why was Biden dumb enough to say it in front of a bunch of microphones? He should know better.

@Mama: Well done.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/gerbilsinlove/ gerbilsinlove

“I am a little sensitive to the issues of the developmentally disabled as I am sure that many of you are.”

Wait; did Chillbear just say he’s sure that many of us are developmentally disabled? I might could be really bad at math and shit, but I ain’t that stoopid.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/whyamihere/ WhyamIhere?

@Gerbils: That is the only topic I know of that he will not joke about.
http://wordsmoker.com/help/members-3/gerbilsinlove/ gerbilsinlove

Why: Thanks, I found it a little confusing. I am confused about most things lately, though.

Wordsmoker