Viewers ask FCC to impose fines over Bush’s potty mouth

August 31, 2006

In July, the president was overheard chatting about Hezbollah with British Prime Minister Tony Blair when Bush, unaware of the live microphone in front of him, said, “See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over.”

Unfortunately, most of the media attention focused not on the substantive oddities of the president’s remark, but rather, on the fact that the president said a “bad” word. Nevertheless, Bush’s comments were noteworthy enough to be broadcast widely on TV and radio stations, usually without “bleeps.” Apparently, when the news story is about the president using a certain controversial word, the media is less inclined to censor the word itself.

With this in mind, I suppose FCC complaints were inevitable.

The Federal Communications Commission has been asked by about two dozen people to impose financial penalties in connection with television and radio broadcasts in which President Bush was heard swearing at the G-8 summit in July. […]

His comments came just four months after federal regulators said that the word was one of the most vulgar, graphic and explicit words relating to excretory activity in the English language and would likely trigger fines if broadcast.

Many listeners were offended after hearing Bush’s remarks on channels such as CNN, a cable network whose programs aren’t subject to Federal Communications Commission fines. But at least one person complained that the word was aired on an NBC affiliate – a station that is subject to FCC penalties since its programs air over spectrum licensed from the government.

Who knew Bush’s potty mouth could cause so much trouble?

I think Tom Cleaver was right when he dubbed them “Eliminationists”. It’s an apt term for Turd Blossom and Shithead who dump load after load of guana on us.

  • What comes out of Bush’s mouth is frequently obscene, but it has nothing to do with the word “shit.” This would bring a smile if I could be sure the source of the so-called complaints was the priggish religious right (a little karmic justice), but I worry that it could be some clueless type from our side whose judgment was overwhelmed by his outrage at everything Dubya.

  • You know, this does make sense. I mean, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that Janet Jackson didn’t intentionally expose herself on national television, but everyone & their dog had to pay a fine for that (either for showing it, or the rest of us for having to see it) so just because it wasn’t *meant* to be heard doesn’t mean it wasn’t.

  • CB: Who knew Bush’s potty mouth could cause so much trouble?

    i’ll eat my Mac if this causes any fines or whatever other blowback. i mean, c’mon! two dozen complaints? that’s nothing compared to the bullshit mails, most of which were posted en masse from the AFA or whatever the hell they’re called (y’know, one of those rabid right groups hypocritically using the word ‘family’ in their acronyms.

    i’ll believe it when i see it.

  • George W. Bush’s foul mouth is a major embarrassment Americans will have to endure until his reign of power expires after the ’08 elections. His foul mouth, incompetence, and incoherent babblings do not serve our country well to those abroad whose opinions and actions we want to persuade.

    Let’s just hope that our fellow Americans will replace the callous Republicans in power with caring, responsive, and responsible Democrats in the ’06 and ’08 elections. May true democracy be restored to our shores.

  • Except for their hypocrisy, I don’t have any problem with Bush saying shit or Cheney telling someone to fuck himself. And I don’t think there’s anything more family values than a woman’s nipple. So I don’t like censors when they tell me what I can’t do and, since it’s a principle of mine, I don’t like it when they tell someone, that I don’t like, what not to do. There are lots of better things to dislike Bush for than using language we all use. (Of course his not seeing any nuance in whether Lebanon could actually convince Hezbollah to stop that shit is another matter)

    I think it was Sam Harris in The End of Faith that talked about the irony that “victimless crimes” are contradictions in terms and yet we accept that they are crimes.

    Hey, rimone, I agree with you about the massive slime the right pours out. I do understand, though, that some coprorations have given in to just a few complaints. Can’t cite the occasions right now, but I remember I was shocked at the lack of backbone in the corporate corpus.

  • I love this part of the report:

    If the FCC pursues an investigation, the Republicans who dominate the agency will be in the awkward position of focusing on improper language used by Bush, who nominated them. If the FCC declines, it will leave itself open to charges of playing politics and to complaints from broadcasters who will have more reason to claim that the FCC’s indecency standards are inconsistent.

    I wonder how many of the two dozen complainers had the above thought in mind, or were they just the usual bunch of AFA / PTC click-frauders.

  • I don’t have any problem with Bush saying shit or Cheney telling someone to fuck himself. And I don’t think there’s anything more family values than a woman’s nipple. — Dale – Internet Pipefitters Union Local 23

    No, I don’t have any problem with any of the above, either (love your sig-extension, BTW ). But, if one station is fined thousands of $$$ for showing a no-no nipple (or, even worse, doesn’t show a good program where a no-no-word might be used because it’s afraid of fines), then so ought to be all stations thus constrained — democratically, as it were.

    And those which get nailed for reporting our mightiest (Shrubby and Dick-head) at their crudest, should then ask for recompense from the same. As I intend to, for all the dental work I had to have done since ’03 (teeth grinding is bad for your teeth. Unfortunately, you can’t control it in your sleep)

  • Dale, i’m not shocked anymore–just totally disgusted at the bullshit hypocrisy. and i couldn’t give a flying fuck about the preznit using ‘shit’ on TV or mr 5 deferments ‘fuck off’ apart from the fact that i expected better things from those who purport to be our leaders. *to self* ‘leaders’, my ass.

    libra: for all the dental work I had to have done since ’03 (teeth grinding is bad for your teeth. Unfortunately, you can’t control it in your sleep)

    same here–i’m totally an emotional and physical wreck now thanks to the last six years *gasp–SIX fucking years* the anxiety and that which comes from that have almost destroyed me inside and out.

    IMO there should be a class-action suit aganst the gov’t for the damage (emotional and physical) they’ve done to US. i want ’em to pay for my goddamn dental work &c but most of all, the therapy i so badly need. nb: believe it or not, i was nearly a normal person, trusting and all, and working as a Special Ed teacher in NYC until SCOTUS fucked US back in dec 2K. i continued working until a year later, when i left the States, but inside, i was never the same.

  • ps, and about Janet Jackson’s shielded-breast malfunction thingy, i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: let EVERYONE who was appalled by this come on over to the UK (or EU) and watch TV over here. i guarantee they’ll keel over in disbelief and have heart attacks (she said hopefully).

    i dunno…over here there are TV presenters and their guests saying ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’ and ‘twat’ all night and when i watch films on TV, they leave in /everything/. i’m still waiting to see the British running wild in the streets, raping and pillaging (or whatever the amerikan puritans think would happen).

    someone please tell me—what in fucking fuck did these dickheads think would happen allowing the so-called wardrobe malfunction to escape unscathed and/or unfined?

    i don’t get it and i don’t think i wanna get it but i’m thinking ‘linng the coffers of the already bloated FCC.’ bastards.

    sorry if i’m not making sense but this (still) pisses me off–my friends here are still goofing on me (and my/our country) for this bullshit.

    • Comments are closed.