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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Late Night Open Thread: Oh, the Vulgarity!

Late Night Open Thread: Oh, the Vulgarity!

by Anne Laurie|  October 26, 20122:35 am| 52 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Excellent Links, Open Threads, Readership Capture

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First Lena Dunham, the Joyce Maynard of a new generation, does a YouTube ad for the Obama campaign, and Foreign Policy asks “Is the Obama campaign taking commercial ideas from Vladimir Putin?” Not just commercial ideas, the commentors assure each other! Garance Frank-Ruta (perhaps ironically) also brings out the Cavuto Mark — “Lena Dunham’s New Obama Ad—As Controversial As Everything She Does?” — linking to the well-known moralists at Breitbart.com and RightScoop, who are appalled by the filthy sluttiness of it all. (I suppose I should look for Ross Doubthat’s opinion, but there’s only so much I’m willing to withstand for you guys.) Of course, as GQ‘s Reid Cherlin helpfully points out, “People who see this video and are outraged were going to vote for Romney anyway. “

Then Douglas Brinkley, sercon historian guy, does a Rolling Stone cover interview with President Obama (which you should definitely read if you haven’t already), and includes a throwaway line:

… As we left the Oval Office, executive editor Eric Bates told Obama that he had asked his six-year-old if there was anything she wanted him to say to the president. After a thoughtful pause, she said, “Tell him: You can do it.”

Obama grinned. “That’s the only advice I need,” he said. “I do very well, by the way, in that demographic. Ages six to 12? I’m a killer.”

“Thought about lowering the voting age?” Bates joked.

“You know, kids have good instincts,” Obama offered. “They look at the other guy and say, ‘Well, that’s a bullshitter, I can tell.'”…

Worse things have been said about Willard Mitt Romney, of course, but the President used a naughty word, on the record! eleventy-one! The Latino Rebels blog has a pretty good collection of links to the various MSM reactions. The Daily Mail points out that noted Christianist and prominent moral scold Rick Santorum has also used the bs-word in public, as recently as last March. Dave Weigel at Slate has the best capper:

… The late-game presidential cuss word is a factor with some precedent. In the last week of the 1968 campaign, Richard Nixon slipped and said that the campaign was “getting down to the nut-cutting.” In 2000, most famously, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were unaware that a mic was picking up their conversation about New York Times reporter Adam Clymer. “Major league asshole,” said Bush. “Big time,” said Cheney. And Politifact wasn’t even around to discuss whether this was true.

And, hey, look! Both Nixon and Bush won close elections.

Incidentally, one of the earliest political anecdotes I can remember hearing as a small child involved another Democratic president, the then recently-retired Harry Truman, who was said to have offended some ladies at his wife’s tea party with a reference to “manuring the lawn”.

“My dear,” said one of them to Bess, after Harry left, “Couldn’t you get him to say… fertilizer?”

To which Bess replied, “It’s taken me forty years to train him to use ‘manure’.”

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Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    Hill Dweller

    October 26, 2012 at 2:40 am

    I have a feeling the new shiny object for the cable hacks will be the disastrous rendition of “America the Beautiful” at Willard’s rally Thursday night. Meatloaf and the lead singer of Alabama are obviously drunk. Calling it a train wreck is an understatement.

    ETA: I suspect the Obama campaign are more than happy to have the media parrot his remarks. Willard is a bullshitter.

  2. 2.

    Spaghetti Lee

    October 26, 2012 at 2:41 am

    “My dear,” said one of them to Bess, after Harry left, “Couldn’t you get him to say… fertilizer?”
    To which Bess replied, “It’s taken me forty years to train him to use ‘manure’.”

    Oh my, that is hilarious, even if it is apocryphal.

  3. 3.

    Nemo_N

    October 26, 2012 at 2:44 am

    Even Romney supporters know he is a bullshitter.

    Hell, they are going to vote for him because he is a bullshitter.

  4. 4.

    Spatula

    October 26, 2012 at 2:49 am

    Lena Dunham’s existence and celebrity is yet another sure sign that this nation is doomed.

  5. 5.

    James E. Powell

    October 26, 2012 at 2:50 am

    @Nemo_N:

    I don’t know about voters, but the Village Courtiers certainly admire Romney’s ability to lie right to their faces.

  6. 6.

    amk

    October 26, 2012 at 2:52 am

    To paraphrase quote darth, they can go fuck themselves.

    And as hill dweller points out, way to spread the meme, you assholes.

  7. 7.

    Hill Dweller

    October 26, 2012 at 2:57 am

    @amk: Can you post the link to the Meatloaf/Willard meltdown on this thread? That thing needs to go viral.

    What were Willard’s handlers doing? Meatloaf and the lead singer of Alabama are obviously hammered. Why did they let them go onstage?

  8. 8.

    Spatula

    October 26, 2012 at 3:04 am

    @Hill Dweller:

    Kind of bums me out.

    Meatloaf has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction for many years and was clean for quite a while and looking good at one point.

    He’s not young anymore; this is a bad sign.

  9. 9.

    Eric the infrequent

    October 26, 2012 at 3:11 am

    No idea who Lena is but the ad made me giggle.

  10. 10.

    amk

    October 26, 2012 at 3:12 am

    @Hill Dweller: Here ya go.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    October 26, 2012 at 3:13 am

    @Spatula: In all fairness, neither you nor I are in her target demographic, are we?

  12. 12.

    SectionH

    October 26, 2012 at 3:14 am

    Little girl calls her brother “penis breath” in a Spielberg film from the ’80s, and these clowns are pretending to faint over small beer like this? Well, fuck, of course they are.

  13. 13.

    Joseph Nobles

    October 26, 2012 at 3:30 am

    @SectionH: No, it was Elliot calling his older brother “penis breath.”

  14. 14.

    bad Jim

    October 26, 2012 at 3:45 am

    Truman was the kind of guy who would call a spade a goddamn shovel.

    Romney’s the sort of guy who would actually say “gosh” at home.

  15. 15.

    Groucho48

    October 26, 2012 at 4:01 am

    Nice that the right is melting down over the video, but, to be honest, I didn’t like it much. Smarmy, precious and too prolix.

  16. 16.

    SectionH

    October 26, 2012 at 4:02 am

    @Joseph Nobles: I say it’s spinach, and I say to hell with it.

  17. 17.

    tjmn

    October 26, 2012 at 4:18 am

    President Obama is right about the very young having very good BS radars. Added bonus they don’t have the filters and blinders in place needed to refrain from telling it like it is.

  18. 18.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 26, 2012 at 5:11 am

    ITT: Everyone out on the lawns chasing the kids off of them.

  19. 19.

    TR

    October 26, 2012 at 5:33 am

    Go ahead and freak out over the “bullshitter” line, teatards. It just means everyone will be talking about whether or not Romney is in fact a bullshitter.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    October 26, 2012 at 6:00 am

    You have to love the symmetry of the GOP touting the presidential endorsement of a singer most famous for a song about premarital sex in a car while simultaneously complaining about this ad.

  21. 21.

    Marty

    October 26, 2012 at 6:45 am

    The ad is cute. It sort of takes “Who would you rather have a beer with?” to the next level.

  22. 22.

    Aimai

    October 26, 2012 at 6:47 am

    God I think she’s adorable. but then I have teenage daughters who are upset they are too young to vote for Barack. I think this is a great ad for a crucial voting block which is never going to go back and start voting republican.

  23. 23.

    Lurking Canadian

    October 26, 2012 at 6:51 am

    @Joseph Nobles: Just a man in a raincoat, honey.

  24. 24.

    Princess

    October 26, 2012 at 7:31 am

    The right hates the Lena Dunham ad? Wow, it must be more effective than I thought.

  25. 25.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 26, 2012 at 7:44 am

    People find this upsetting? Have they seen the Sarah Siverman stuff?

  26. 26.

    Ash Can

    October 26, 2012 at 8:03 am

    When I was a young teenager in the early 70s, my friends and I listened to recordings of George Carlin and Cheech and Chong (we were just young enough to have missed out on the Lenny Bruce craze). I remember how many grownups were shocked at these off-color comics. The people who are shocked now by the Lena Dunham ad and Obama’s bs-word must all be in their eighties and using walkers.

    And BTW, the prez is right — kids really are like that, and he really does know them well. :)

    And fInally, @SectionH: Hats off for a reference to a true classic!

  27. 27.

    Uncle Cosmo

    October 26, 2012 at 8:19 am

    Anyone who is offended by that clip is a fucking waste of C, H, O, N, trace elements & ambient energy.@Princess:

    The right hates the Lena Dunham ad? It must be even more effective than I thought.

    Ayup.
    @Omnes Omnibus:

    People find this upsetting? Have they seen the Sarah Siverman stuff?

    We need to send them links to Sarah’s clips–probably induce enough incapacitating strokes in the Romnoid base to turn the election into a landslide.

  28. 28.

    shpx.ohfu

    October 26, 2012 at 8:29 am

    Let’s see…which party was just fine with the vice president telling (on the floor of the United States Senate) a member of the opposing party to go eff himself?

  29. 29.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 26, 2012 at 8:30 am

    I’m an old fogey and I thought the ad was cute.

    The speaker is a cute young lady, too. Hope she has a good career.

  30. 30.

    RedKitten

    October 26, 2012 at 8:32 am

    Seriously? Right-wingers are upset about that ad? Maybe I’m just desensitized, but I thought it was cute and tongue-in-cheek. She hit a few too many points in a short time for it to really resonate, in my opinion, but really…scandalous and immoral? Really? From the party that touts family values while making an absolute mockery of them?

  31. 31.

    MrSnrub

    October 26, 2012 at 8:50 am

    Was listening to Right Wing radio this morning. Apparently this ad shows Obama’s contempt for women. This is what he thinks of your daughters.

    The faux outrage was pretty solid this morning.

  32. 32.

    Marty

    October 26, 2012 at 9:06 am

    Commenter at RedState:

    As the father of two daughters I am so offended by this I can’t even put it into words. I just never thought the office of President could be denigrated more than Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinski, but this is worse in my opinion. At least Clinton tried to keep it a secret. Obama is also the father of two daughters and I can’t believe this is how low an opinion he has of young American women. Makes me sick to my stomach.

    “Denigrated”. Get it?

  33. 33.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 26, 2012 at 9:08 am

    @Marty:

    I just never thought the office of President could be denigrated more than Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinski, but this is worse in my opinion. At least Clinton tried to keep it a secret.

    Wow. Just wow.

  34. 34.

    Yutsano

    October 26, 2012 at 9:21 am

    @arguingwithsignposts: Ohhh so close!

  35. 35.

    pseudonymous in nc

    October 26, 2012 at 9:23 am

    @Marty:

    As the father of two daughters

    There’s a medical condition found among wingnut fathers-of-daughters; it’s known as “Purity Balls”.

  36. 36.

    pk

    October 26, 2012 at 9:28 am

    People who see this video and are outraged were going to vote for Romney anyway.

    Well I don’t like the ad. Outraged is too strong a word, but it’s annoying. It shows a certain contempt for women and that’s not what I expect from Democrats. Smart women are fully capable of understanding the issues without reducing it to a choice about finding the right man. How would it sound if it was addressed to men and insinuated that voting was about getting laid. And I don’t know who Lena Dunham so maybe makes a difference.

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 26, 2012 at 9:41 am

    @bad Jim:

    No wonder Rmoney avoided military service.

    Apart from the possibility of getting his ass shot off, he’d be exposed on a daily basis to all sorts of language that would cause his precious ears to fall off.

    This also explains the shocked fuckwits of the Village.

  38. 38.

    RedKitten

    October 26, 2012 at 9:45 am

    @Marty: Um…wut? Does this imbecile actually think that Lena Dunham’s ad is saying that she SLEPT with Obama? Srsly?

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 26, 2012 at 9:46 am

    @pk:

    It shows a certain contempt for women and that’s not what I expect from Democrats.

    So, a woman says it, and does it in what I consider to be a charming manner, and it shows “contempt for women”?

    Meanwhile, Rethuglicans are openly saying that rape is the will of God and you’re concerned about this ad?

    Someone get the clue by four. It’s needed to school pk here.

  40. 40.

    divF

    October 26, 2012 at 9:50 am

    I think that the best part of the ad was the pivot, where she explicitly referred to the first time she voted. She went into the voting booth a girl, came out a woman. It came across to me not as sexual innuendo, but a genuine expression of a rite of passage to adulthood (try replacing “girl” and “woman” with “boy” and “man”).

    My first election was 1972 – I was 20, it was the first election after the voting age had been lowered to 18, and it was at a time when the country was as bitterly divided as it is today. I remember the feeling of responsibility, of adulthood, in that first vote (well, voting for McGovern for President, and Ron Dellums for Congress helped.).

  41. 41.

    pk

    October 26, 2012 at 9:57 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Meanwhile, Rethuglicans are openly saying that rape is the will of God and you’re concerned about this ad?

    No, I am not concerned by the ad. It’s annoying, that’s all. I can be pissed off and outraged by republicans and annoyed by a democratic ad. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    October 26, 2012 at 10:00 am

    @pk:

    How would it sound if it was addressed to men and insinuated that voting was about getting laid.

    I’m confused. Would the ad be Lena insinuating she’d bang me if I voted for Obama? Or would it have a couple young studs doing a kind of Penthouse Forum about how their first time went, when they pulled on that big lever and “punched” the ticket?

  43. 43.

    Joel

    October 26, 2012 at 10:02 am

    @Spatula: Worse things have been said about Jerry Garcia.

  44. 44.

    Liberty60

    October 26, 2012 at 10:39 am

    This is all just Cleek’s Law in action- they are outraged over whatever Obama does, updated daily.

  45. 45.

    Maude

    October 26, 2012 at 10:40 am

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    34
    He doesn’t remember Reagan, obviously.

  46. 46.

    Tim I

    October 26, 2012 at 10:56 am

    @Linda Featheringill: Lena is doing just fine. She’s 26 and has already produced a movie and a hot TV series. I believe shes won 4 Emmy Awards for the TV show. I think she’ll do just fine.

  47. 47.

    danimal

    October 26, 2012 at 11:13 am

    I’d believe they were really upset if I didn’t hear, every time one of these mofos repeats a racist/sexist/obnoxious joke, that liberals “don’t have a sense of humor.”

    Let’s turn their crocodile tears into actual tears; two weeks to go before their four-year project to destroy Obama (and the American people, if necessary) goes up in smoke!

  48. 48.

    YellowJournalism

    October 26, 2012 at 11:41 am

    What’s funny is that the conservative parody responses to the ad have more innuendo and some nastier insinuations than Dunham’s (President as a one-night stand), yet they keep getting linked to and lauded by the same people who are OUTRAGED! at the original ad. (See Erik, Son of Erik. And does he know his Twitter handle fittingly starts with “EW?”)

  49. 49.

    MKS

    October 26, 2012 at 12:05 pm

    Not outraged, just sad. Many young 2008 contracted the Socialistic Transmitted Disease of unemployment and malaise from the Obama administration, and it’s sad that another crop of innocents may be vulnerable.

  50. 50.

    Jay in Oregon

    October 26, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    @RedKitten:
    As I said over at TBogg’s joint, I wonder how many of these moral scolds have retreated to the fainting couches over the GOP’s willingness to have a national conversation regarding which types of rape are acceptable and/or God’s will.

    Because that is far more vulgar.

  51. 51.

    Mike G

    October 26, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    Hell, they are going to vote for him because he is a bullshitter.

    Repukes love bullies, assholes and liars. The non-rich Repuke voters are just stupid enough to think that they’re in the club, that it’s this rich Mormon vulture capitalist and them against all the heathens/darkies/broads/furriners, his aggression benefits them and that he’ll make sure they get special privileges as they rejoice at the punishment unleashed on people they don’t like.

    It never seems to penetrate their skulls that to the Repuke powerful they aren’t pets, they are livestock like the rest of us.

  52. 52.

    shortstop

    October 26, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    @Jay in Oregon: Sex is only vulgar when women consent to and are enjoying it. Otherwise, it’s just god’s will.

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