It’s a familiar complaint that the political dialogue in this country has become much coarser and less civil in recent years, a complaint that certainly has some validity. On the other hand, with politicians feeling less restrained about what they can say in public these days, we also have a situation where we are hearing more honest and open comments.
Example: Rep. Pete Stark, a California Democrat, was meeting with senior citizens in California when one of the senior citizens began to harangue him.
Senior citizen: “Mr. Congressman, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.”
Stark: “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg. It wouldn’t be worth wasting the urine.”
Okay then. We also had an incident of candor involving President Barack Obama, who was told last week by a Republican congressman, “You lie,” during a speech on healthcare. In an interview with CNBC, Obama referred to Kanye West as a “jackass” after West acted like, well, a jackass in snatching a microphone away from singer Taylor Swift during the Video Music Awards on TV Sunday night.
And finally, there’s Bob McDonnell, the Regent University graduate who’s running on the Republican ticket for governor of Virginia. During a radio interview last week, McDonnell casually dropped the F-bomb while discussing transportation funding alternatives:
“So no tax will be raised during your four-year term?,” host Mark Plotkin asks the candidate.
“I’m going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined 12 f–king funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial,” McDonnell answers.
Leave a Reply