{"id":1051,"date":"2008-02-05T23:53:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-05T23:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/02\/politicians-profanity-and-the-prickly-pundits\/"},"modified":"2008-02-05T23:53:00","modified_gmt":"2008-02-05T23:53:00","slug":"politicians-profanity-and-the-prickly-pundits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2008\/02\/politicians-profanity-and-the-prickly-pundits.html","title":{"rendered":"Politicians, profanity, and the prickly pundits."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
I tend not to get into politics all that much at this blog. But I couldn\u2019t resist noting a certain recent item.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apparently Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson said today that he would not vote for John McCain if McCain were the Republican party\u2019s candidate for the presidency. Among Dobson\u2019s reasons? McCain \u201chas a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Ross Douthat<\/a> at TheAtlantic.com remarks:<\/p>\n

Finally, attacking McCain for his tendency to use \u201cfoul and obscene language\u201d seems like the purest form of social conservative self-parody. Particularly given the Bush Administration\u2019s record on that<\/a> front<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No kidding. In addition to the episodes mentioned in those two articles that Douthat links to, there was also that famous moment, pictured above, when Bush flipped a camera his \u201cone-fingered victory salute<\/a>\u201c.<\/p>\n

The reason I bother bringing this up in a film blog at all is because I saw a pro-Bush propaganda film called George W. Bush: Faith in the White House<\/a><\/i> (2004) at the local film festival four years ago<\/a>, and I can remember the audience whooping with glee at many<\/i> points during that film \u2014 not the least of which was the scene in which the narrator says that Bush spent his wayward youth \u201csmoking, drinking, cursing,\u201d followed by the scene in which Bush\u2019s Uncle Bucky says that Bush<\/a>, following his conversion<\/a>, \u201cstopped chewing and cussing and became a totally disciplined guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

I frankly don\u2019t care if Bush or McCain or anyone else uses colourful language<\/a>; I\u2019ve been known to use it once in a while myself, and I think I\u2019m in pretty good company<\/a> on that score. But it is striking to see how a certain segment of the American Christian population needs to persuade itself that \u201ccussing\u201d is only what \u201cbad people\u201d do, and how that same segment of the population not only turns a blind eye to the \u201ccussing\u201d that \u201cgood people\u201d do but actively promotes the falsehood that they don\u2019t actually do it!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I tend not to get into politics all that much at this blog. But I couldn\u2019t resist noting a certain recent item. Apparently Focus on the Family chairman James Dobson said today that he would not vote for John McCain if McCain were the Republican party\u2019s candidate for the presidency. Among Dobson\u2019s reasons? McCain \u201chas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nPoliticians, profanity, and the prickly pundits.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I tend not to get into politics all that much at this blog. 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