Washington Post prints the F-word

[dougo]

So, Dick Cheney swore at Pat Leahy on the Senate floor, and the Washington Post printed the epithet ("fuck yourself") without asterisks or other cartoon punctuation. Nothing wrong with that, but I wonder if it will get them in trouble. I guess the FCC doesn't control print media (yet). Some amusing quotes from the story:

As it happens, the exchange occurred on the same day the Senate passed legislation described as the "Defense of Decency Act" by 99 to 1.

[...]

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 Times was more delicate: "According to the aide, Mr. Cheney then responded with a barnyard epithet, urging Mr. Leahy to perform an anatomical sexual impossibility."

Comments

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

Print media, shmint media. People are still using profanity on radio and television with impunity, while Howard Stern is being fined for things that happened three years ago.

Some four-letter words went out on a live sporting event on national TV recently, and Ryan Seacrest's radio show has let the f-bomb slip a few times, but ClearChannel's "zero-tolerance" policy apparently doesn't apply to them.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Do you know if they actually printed it, or if it's only in the online edition?

[dougo.livejournal.com]

No, I don't know for sure. The online version says "page A04", so I assume the article appears in the print edition, but I suppose the content of the printed article could be different from what's online.

My bet...

[mshonle.livejournal.com]

I don't think people will get upset about the use of the F-word, because those who would are likely going to be voting for Cheney and any controversy would just bring the issue more attention. Kind of like how Bush never jumped on Al Gore for saying he smoked pot: Bush didn't want to defend the counter cocaine changes, so they just took the issue off of the table.

So perhaps this will take Kerry's use of Fuck off the table too.