The dirty bomb

Cheney dropped it, but the media has picked it up and ran with it:

Vice President Cheney today acknowledged that he had a bitter exchange on the Senate floor with a senior Democratic senator, in which Cheney uttered a big-time obscenity, but said he had no regrets and that he "felt better after I had done it."

I watched the talk news shows this morning as I was waiting to leave work. Those over at FOX News seemed to justify the action by saying Leahy probably deserved it. It's also the excuse most bloggers for Bush seemed to use. Only after I read the article did I see why:

Later in the interview, Cheney added, laughing, that "a lot of my colleagues felt that what I had said badly needed to be said, that it was long overdue."

And Orrin Hatch weighs in too:

Republicans did their best to defend the vice president. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), while pointing out that he was unaware of the incident, described Cheney as "very honest" and said: "I don't blame anyone for standing up for his integrity."

So that's it then. No apology. No indignation from fellow Republicans. No shame on his part at all. He's a man of integrity for using the "F" word. Guess that absolves John Kerry, too then, huh?

But maybe that's why Cheney doesn't want to release all those energy documents. Maybe they are laced with profanity.