George Bush is a [unprintable vulgarity]

Thanks, MRC, for pointing this one out.


From The Washington Post:

Oh, Brother: 'Car Talk' Guy Puts Mouth in Gear

Tom Magliozzi Opines and NPR Goes Into Reverse

By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 4, 2005; C01

The guys who host "Car Talk" on National Public Radio -- brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi -- were in Washington yesterday to visit with some of the powerful government officials whose support for public radio is so vital. They also sat for a rare interview.

"George Bush is a [unprintable vulgarity]," Tom Magliozzi says, about three minutes into the interview.

Rule Number One: When you're trying to ensure government funding, it's best not to refer to the head of said government as an unprintable vulgarity.

Maybe this is why the "Car Talk" guys rarely give interviews.

"Yeah, you probably shouldn't say that," says Doug Berman, executive producer of public radio's most popular weekend show, who is sitting across the breakfast table at Cafe Luna on P Street. NPR spokeswoman Jenny Lawhorn agrees. As do Ray and Tom, aka "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers" at least until Tom essentially repeats himself, twice.

This is the part of the story where NPR officials make it clear that the views of the show's personalities do not reflect those of its management.

"I'd like to point out that 'Car Talk' is editorially independent," Lawhorn says.

"Their jokes and jabs," she further states in a follow-up e-mail, "aren't in any way the official views of NPR and its member stations."

This is an important distinction, since local public radio stations rely partly on the largess of Congress, some of whose members are Republicans. These stations, in turn, pay fees to NPR for programming. So NPR executives are understandably sensitive to what they call their "perception problem" -- that NPR is often considered a bastion of liberal sensibilities that are winning little love from Washington these days, or, for that matter, funding.
________________________________

Well, well. Wasn't it just a few days ago that the liberals were whining about the chill wind of censorship blowing at PBS?

Yes, it was.

Earlier this week, from the New York Times:
By STEPHEN LABATON, LORNE MANLY and ELIZABETH JENSEN

WASHINGTON, May 1 - The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and other conservatives consider liberal bias, prompting some public broadcasting leaders - including the chief executive of PBS - to object that his actions pose a threat to editorial independence.

This is too funny!

Just as Bill Moyers and the liberal elite are trying to make the case that there is a "New McCarthyism" threatening public broadcasting, Magliozzi offers up an anti-Bush epithet three times in one interview.

These NPR guys can't even keep their hate for Bush in check while they're in Washington lobbying for a government check!