Did President Biden's Language Offend You?
Did President Biden's Language Offend You?
President Biden made a comment in response to Fox News' Peter Doocy yesterday that has some people offended and many faux-fended.
During a press briefing at the White House yesterday, President Biden called Fox News’ Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch” after Doocy yelled a baiting question at the president as reporters were being ushered out of the room. “Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?” Doocy asked Biden.
This is the complete exchange, which you can also watch in the video embedded in the Tweet below:
President Biden concludes his remarks and ends the press conference with, “thank you.”
Reporter asks: “Will you send troops to Ukraine, sir?”
Another reporter asks: “Why are you sending 8,500 troops to Ukraine, possibly?”
Peter Doocy asks: “Will you take questions on inflation then? Do you think inflation is a political liability ahead of the midterms?”
President Biden: “No, it’s a great asset — more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”
It’s important to note that this does not appear to be a hot-mic moment when someone was unaware that they would be amplified — Biden spoke right above his microphone. Joe Biden is someone who is known to get into heated exchanges with the press and often uses familiar colloquialisms to verbally spar. The president has also had similar, less profane exchanges with reporters from other outlets, including CNN.
This is not the first time that Peter Doocy has been called out and called stupid and/or dumb by a politician. In 2017 John McCain, while on-air, asked Doocy why he would ask such a stupid question. You can watch a video of the exchange embedded in the tweet below:
It was not long before Fox inflamed the Biden event by announcing the exchange on their chyron with: “Biden blows up at Peter Doocy.” Jesse Watters, a Fox News host who was talking to Peter Doocy on the air about the briefing, made a joke himself about the exchange saying, “Doocy, I think the president’s right — you are a stupid SOB.” Doocy gave a lighthearted reply: "Yeah, nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it's not true."
Doocy explained to Sean Hannity (see video above) that President Biden had personally called him later on Monday to apologize saying, “He cleared the air —and I appreciated it — we had a nice call.” Doocy continued: “[Biden] said it’s nothing personal, pal. And I told him that I appreciated him reaching out.
Peter Doocey surprisingly put the moment into a better context: “…the world is on the brink of like World War III right now with all the stuff going on. I appreciate that the president took a couple of minutes out this evening…to give me a call and clear the air.” I doubt Doocey minds any of this at all — it has gotten him a lot of traction and attention and he appears to be quite happy about that.
This is hardly the first time a sitting president (or vice president) has used salty language and the recent tenure of Donald Trump saw that boundary extended by miles. An analysis conducted by GovPredict, a government relations software company, revealed that lawmakers have increased their use of swear words, a trend that has been building steadily since 2014.
GovPredict’s data shows that obscene language (that does not include the words "shit" and "fu--") saw an all-time high in usage by politicians in 2019, with 1,225 instances on Twitter from January to the middle of August, as compared to a total of 833 times in all of 2018. Ben Bergen, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California San Diego, confirmed that certain four-letter words rarely came out of politicians’ mouths in public years ago. One could also say that this new swearing trend is one that has only been emboldened following the 2016 election and the era of Trump.
Much like the political trend for candidates to openly admit what kind of illicit drugs they have taken, the freedom to swear seems to rely directly on what one’s predecessor was willing to do. Trump was famous for swearing at his personal rallies, which he continued to schedule throughout his entire presidency. In a single speech in May of 2019 alone, he managed to throw out a “hell” and “ass” and several “bullshits.” During one rally in Panama City Beach, Florida within the same time period, Trump used 10 “hells,” three “damns” and a “crap.”
It was also thanks to Donald Trump that the word “pussy” became part of our everyday American vernacular during the 2016 election, forcing many in mainstream media to repeat the word when covering Trump’s candidacy and presidency. Let’s also not forget the time that Presidential Candidate Donald Trump, speaking at a rally in South Carolina in 2015, mocked disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has a chronic condition called arthrogryposis which affects the movement of his arms.
There were so many offensive moments from Donald Trump, that went well beyond swearing, that McSweeney’s (a non-profit publishing house founded by writer Dave Eggers in 1998) had to catalog all of them, complete with an “atrocity key” that was color-coded for clarity.
Melania Trump was also recorded as the First Lady while saying the following: “I'm working…my ass off on the Christmas stuff, that you know. Who gives a fuck about the Christmas stuff and decorations? But I need to do it, right?” the first lady is heard telling Winston Wolkoff about her much-criticized White House decor. She goes on to rail against critics who expected her to do more to intervene in the Trump administration's family-separation policy by saying, “Okay, and then I do it and I say that I’m working on Christmas and planning for the Christmas, and they said, ‘Oh, what about the children that they were separated? Give me a fu**ing break.”
While the usage of modern slang and swearing vernacular from politicians on all sides was most definitely emboldened by Trump’s Presidency, not everyone agrees with where our discourse is headed. “No one has debased the civil discourse in this country more than President Trump, and the president really does set the tone in the country,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-CA) in May of 2019. “We see it reflected in our offices by the hateful, belligerent, obscene, and violent calls that we get now that we didn’t use to get.”
This statement from Schiff is an important reminder about standards and whether we are advancing them or letting them slip. The question then becomes whether this kind of swearing discipline is now practical, especially considering that elected officials, and some running for office, have not agreed to follow certain rules of civility. The ability to pull in the swearing reins, once they have been unleashed and become a culture standard within politics, is also not something all Americans have the willingness or discipline to master.
I was personally fine with Biden’s retort yesterday and did not see the comment as something that was controversial, especially considering things Biden has said in the past. I did, however, wonder if that exchange would have had the same kind of reception within the Democratic Party had the same comment come from a woman, specifically the first female serving as president.
There are likely people who disagreed with Biden’s decision to let his temper get the better of him yesterday, while secretly being glad that the president had told Doccey what many of us have been thinking for a while now. The real issue is not so much about whether we are collectively offended, but if we all think that this is a path on which we should stay.
Michelle Obama’s quote, “When they go low, we go high,” is the perfect model we should all be employing, but it sometimes feels aspirational and out of reach when faced with the deplorable behavior and language that often faces us. I would like to think Ms. Obama would also add that it is at the time when diplomacy and respect seem hardest to model, that we must temper some of our instincts and insist on showing our better selves. Based on this, my conclusion is the following: what President Biden said to Peter Doocy yesterday did not offend me, but for many reasons — that include my gender and personal standards, I would not have said it.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter and is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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I find it FAR more offensive that the likes of Fox News & OAN are given the degree of access that they are to Biden & his administration & that they choose to do nothing but squander it with their partisan-slanted idiocy, willful ignorance, & attempts at "gotcha" moments. President Biden, like so many of us, is clearly tired of it & reacted as many of us likely would in the same situation, when we don't care to suffer fools. Should he have? Probably not, because now conservatives will beat this story to death.
BTW, I think it was last week on The View that Jen Psaki hinted that she may be stepping down as Press Secretary to focus on her family. Though that's understandable & she's fortunate to be able to do so, I'll be so disappointed if & when that happens, not only for the way she effortlessly handles chuckleheads like Petey, but for her general composure, wit, professionalism, & grace under pressure. She's rad.
The selective outrage on the part of the Right in this country is just a marvel to behold. The Former Guy was one of the most vile, profane individuals to ever inhabit 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and they had nothing to say then--in fact, the response from so many of them was often "f-ck your feelings". Now, they're all worked up because President Biden called out Peter Doocy for being the stooge that he is? Give me a break...............