amused"Fuck yourself," said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.
Leahy's spokesman, David Carle, yesterday confirmed the brief but fierce exchange. "The vice president seemed to be taking personally the criticism that Senator Leahy and others have leveled against Halliburton's sole-source contracts in Iraq," Carle said.
Heinz Kerry and the reporter, for the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, clashed after she had urged the Pennsylvania delegation "to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics," and he repeatedly pressed her about what she meant by "un-American activity."
"You said something I didn't say, now shove it," Heinz Kerry said.
So... If someone accuses your company of being war profiteers, essentially, you can tell them to fuck off in the Senate. And if some sleazy reporter tries to get you to paint you as a McCarthyist and put the phrase "un-American activity" in your mouth, you can tell him to shove it at the Democratic Convention. I can't wait to see what happens next month!
My two cents? The Halliburton thing is deplorable. Shame on you, Dick Cheney. However, I don't care that you told Leahy to fuck off. It's inappropriate, but whatever. Politics lost all its class quite some time ago. As for the Heinz Kerry debacle, you can't tell me all her pot-stirring isn't deliberate, but I would've told that reporter to shove it, too. Hell, I might've used a more Cheney-esque phrase myself. I hate reporters, and I hate the Trib. I also hate that politics usually degrades into third-grade name calling.
