Swearing Politicians - a good harbringer or not?

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http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/24/politicians-cursing-tom-perez-democrats-215068

Politico has an interesting article (a rarity for that rag given the half-baked gossip it normally passes for analysis) about a recent phenomena: the potty-mouthed Democrat. It names Gillibrand, Perez, Senator Murphy, Rep Lieu, Perriello (and could have mentioned Beto O'Rorke for that matter). The theory goes as the public and media have got more swear happy, the politicians have followed them. In particular, the young Democratic electorate prize authenticity and willingness to shake things up -  and a well-timed swear is basically the equivalent of the now ubiquitous "I'm going to rip my jacket off and stand around in a shirt with rolled-up sleeve". Probably a fitting coda for the denouement of Clintonism  - I can only imagine the hysterics that the Tipper Gore crowd would have had if all this foul mouthedness had come about.

One problem with this (like the jacket ripping) is that it runs the risk of becoming just as choreographed and fake as the smiling, banal non-entity I guess its supposed to deconstruct. There is actually a great Australian example of this with Kevin Rudd, whose decidedly off-beat, weirdo-in-chief persona was itself a cover for a man who was, err, slightly insane. He even did the swear trick in a particularly brilliant example. In the middle of trying to get a rather unpopular part of the budget through the media cycle, he said something like "there's going to be the usual political s***storm, oh whoops, sorry-" and the "flub" became the news of the night rather than the unpalatable policy. It works, yeah, but one feels the strategy has diminishing returns - it's one thing to deliver a passionate f bomb or folksy "goddamit", quite another to go full Duterte and publicly declare you want to eff your rival's wives and mothers or whatever.

What do you guys think? Fan of political profanity or not? Bet Dave isn't, it ruins the family-friendly forum if it becomes commonplace. He may even have to ditch the filter,

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Decline of our national dialogue, symptom, not the cause, etc.

[ApatheticAustrian]

republicans have lost all rights forever to complain about anything, so let's see how it goes.

[publicunofficial]

Politicians should be more candid and speak less formally in general. But every time Perez says "s**t" it feels like the most forced thing ever.


I think a politician like say Brian Schweitzer should swear often because it fits their Man of the People vibe If Elizabeth Warren or Chuck Schumer tried to swear in an interview it comes off as ingenuine.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

 I personally think the big problem is less informal language and more the lack of basic diplomacy and genuine respectability(Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnel are miles away from respectability). As superflash said, politicians aren't statespeople now, they're complete hacks. Things weren't great in the 50s and 60s, but the country was functional. There were senators that deserved some level of respect, even if you disagreed with them. There were politicians with some semblance of maturity. There were nonpartisan experts that guided and informed congresspeople. Politicians had at least some sense of fair play.

[Mercenary]

Bad.

It shows immaturity, lack of verbal creativity, and general lacl of class not authenticity.

You can be informal without being crude.

[ApatheticAustrian]

the american voters have proven 2016 that they are schlonging noble politicans.



hot take:

trump's midwestern base cares least about such stuff.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     It's a hard concept for them to get in the age of demagoguery, but politicians should be talking about issues and policy. Profanity is not needed for such discussions, and in most cases only detracts from the argument being made.