Ok, ok, let's forget about Bush's mistakes in prosecuting the War on Terror from mismanagement in Afghanistan to deceipt and underplanning in Iraq. That doesn't matter any longer. Neither does the incompetent response to Katrina matter. These aren't things worth investigating.
At approximately 7:30 AM Hawaiian Std. Time, I heard the President say "shit" on CNN. This indecency must not stand. So I propose that all Kossacks
file a complaint w/ the FCC. Think of it as an experiment in the moralistic astroturfing that right wing groups regularly engage in when pressuring the FCC. Follow along after the flip for some satire & a somewhat tongue-in-cheek call to action.
In case your not already aware, Bush accidently swore in a conversation about Hezbollah with Tony Blair while mic'd. For more info, read
this. Anyways, many of Bush's political foot soldiers and even his wife have condemned this sort of behavior. To wit:
"[R]ecent events demonstrate [that] some broadcasters have failed to meet [their] public trust by airing increasinglycoarse and at times indecent broadcasts."
- Commerce Secretary Don Evans
"Regardless of how the word's used, it's offensive. To split hairs whether the word is an adjective or a verb is ridiculous."
- House Commerce Committee Chairman Rep Billy Tauzin
Source Concerned Women for America
"'We all as a society have a responsibility as to what images and messages our children hear when they're likely to be watching television. He wagged his finger some more, adding, '"I don't think that's being moralistic, and I don't think that's government trying to tell people how to run their businesses'"
- FCC Chair Mike Powell
Source Boston Phoenix
"What it represented was a kind of television viewing that you don't want little children to see. ... It was at a family time of day, a time when many, many families were together"
- First Lady Laura Bush
Source CNN
Of course, this kind of ire is only reserved for the (fairly mild) gaffes of hollywood liberals, not Dear Leader. If it were otherwise, we could probably expect that censure we've all been salivating for, because bad words (not wars of choice or craptacular emergency management) threaten the moral fiber of our nation.
Nonetheless, I think it'd be great if we astroturfed the FCC with tales of faux-outrage with some of these quotes thrown in for good measure. As I recall, an overwhelming fraction of the nipplegate complaint letters were filed at the behest of one of "Concerned Families" or "Concerned Women" or some organization that's deeply concerned with BS (somebody please back me up). I think they may have even been carbon-copy letters.
Well, I think we shouldn't cede the market on phony righteous indignation. If we can get a few thousand letters up there (wild hope) fuming about this bit of flimsy indecency, then hopefully we can force the FCC to respond.
I'm guessing that most of us don't think that Bush's use of "shit" rates very high on his laundry list of crimes. However, we're Americans mother fucking goddamn it and we have the right to flip the fuck out like fucking hysterical dickheads over the tiniest fucking shit. Exercise your muthafuckin' rights and eliminate the greatest goddamned threat to the country (after terror, poverty, israel/palestine/et al, Kim Jong Il, fucked up NOLA infrastructure, governmental encroachment, the sinking dollar, the health care crisis, predatory lending, job outsourcing, declining real wages...) - NAUGHTY, NAUGHY WORDS.
Link to
file a complaint w/ the FCC