Two points, neither of which should be construed as condoning Mr. Cheney's
choice of words--although I would condone the underlying sentiment...
1.  It wasn't Mr. Leahy's "continued discussion of Cheney's ties to
Halliburton Co." that so upset the Vice President.  It was the fact that
Mr. Leahy on one hand calls Mr. Cheney a corrupt lying cheat and on the
other hand tries to gladhand him on the floor of Congress.  Mr. Leahy, go
pack sand.
2.  I don't remember anyone complaining about John Kerry's use of the
F-word.  Before a conservative newsite made it public, Mr. Kerry's official
website had links to several of his quotes that included the offending
obscenity.  As of yesterday I was still able to search for sh-t and p-ss
and come up with quotes, however they had taken down the f-word quotes.

Everyone in the public eye should keep in mind the effect that their words
and deeds might have on "impressionable youth", not just Mr. Cheney.

At 03:19 PM 6/28/2004 -0400, Henry Spratt wrote:
>Any media bias related to Michael Moore's new movie aside, I was
>wondering if anyone else noted a news article on WRCB's (TV Channel
>3) 11PM news show this past Friday (6/25).  The topic was last week's
>outburst by Vice President Cheney towards Senator Patrick Leahy where
>Cheney used the "F" word to chide Leahy's continued discussion of
>Cheney's ties to Halliburton Co.  Interestingly, rather than indicate
>any sort of dissatisfaction with the VP's very public use of far from
>"compassionate" language, Channel 3's article lambasted the
>Washington Post for printing the "F" word in their quote from the VP.
>They did mention that Cheney said that he felt better after the
>outburst.  For our own good health I know that we shouldn't ruminate
>on nasty thoughts, letting them out can help lower blood pressure.
>However, I wonder if Channel 3 would agree that the example the VP is
>setting, especially for our impressionable youth, is less than
>stellar.  How  should a fourth grade teacher respond to the
>ten-year-old who uses the "F" word to describe a classmate, saying
>that he's only following the VP's example to help himself feel
>better?  What Channel 3 is guilty of doing is "shooting the
>messenger" without giving any credence in the VP's misstep.
>
>Needless to say, I've lodged a complaint with Channel 3 to be a
>little more forthcoming in the focus of their reporting.
>
>You can check out the Washington Post's report at the following URL:
>
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3699-2004Jun24.html
>--
>______________________________________________________________________
>
>Henry G. Spratt, Jr., Ph.D.
>Professor
>Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
>University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
>615 McCallie Ave.
>Chattanooga, TN 37403-2598
>
>Ph:     (423)425-4383
>Fax:    (423)425-2285
>e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>http://www.utc.edu/~hspratt/

Suzanna Nichols
Office Manager
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