Jackass . . .

Warning: this post contains bad words. If you are too precious to read them, stop here.

Yep; I'm pissed.

So, here's the story: Kanye West is a douchebag. If you haven't heard about his little stunt at the VMA's in his ever-constant bid to have himself declared village idiot, then you've probably been living under a rock the last few days. In a nutshell, Taylor Swift, a 17-year-old country star and a rather sweet girl, won her first VMA for video of the year. She goes up onstage to give her acceptance speech, and Kanye joins her, interrupts her, and tells her Beyonce should have won instead. Awkwardness insues. Taylor looks mortified. The crowd boos. Everybody with a keyboard and internet access starts talking about it, and Kanye's general douchebaggery. If you haven't seen it yet, here's Exhibit A:
Video of Kanye being a jackass

So, why am I so royally pissed this morning? I mean, I like Taylor Swift in a general, human being kind of way; her music is not really my thing, but my heart goes out to anyone who is humiliated in front of millions of people. But, I can't say the incident made me livid, or anything. No, I'm pissed off for another reason. ABC staffers are apparently asshole idiot chuckleheads.

So, yesterday, the President sits down with CNBC reporter John Harwood to discuss one of the truly important things going on the country right now, like the new health care plan, or the economy, or the fact that we have three times as many troops in Afghanistan this year as in any year previous. But, before the interview starts, cameras still off, he asks Obama his personal opinion on the Taylor Swift/Kanye West thing. I mean, everybody is talking about it, and Harwood was just making conversation, off the record, about whether or not Obama's daughters were upset with Kanye over it. Most reporters understand that before the cameras roll, the interview hasn't started. Harwood was not asking about peace in the middle east, or economic stimulus. He was not going to report on the President's comments about the VMA's, because who the fuck cares?

He asked Obama why he thought Kanye did what he did, and the President, being a quick, acerbic guy when he speaks off-the-cuff, quipped, "He's a jackass." There was laughter, and Obama quickly asked everyone there to "give the President a break; he's had a rough week." No one there would probably have considered telling anyone apart from their spouses what was said, as a funny anecdote over dinner.

Here's where the stupidity takes over. ABC apparently shares fiber optic line with NBC to save money, so they get to listen in on conversations and such. A few ABC staffers, including Terry Moran, who used to be a White House correspondent for Christ's sake and should definitely know better, heard this comment and jumped on Twitter. Twitter! Yes, the tool of idiot assholes everywhere. He quickly tweeted: "Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a 'jackass' for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT'S presidential."

The man was speaking off the record about a fucking pop culture event. Everyone in the world agrees that Kanye was a jackass for what he did; the man himself went on Leno and cried about it, big crocodile tears in the hope that people will still buy his pretentious faux-rap albums and soccer moms in the midwest won't burn his CD's in fury. It was not the business of the country what the President personally thought about Kanye West, and it was not important!

But now, of course, everyone is up in arms about what Obama said. Cover your precious snowflake ears, everybody! It's okay to listen to Kanye use the N-word in an album heard by millions, but Obama can't say jackass off the record to one reporter!

There was a time when the media had an unspoken rule when reporting on the President: he was to always appear presidential. Even when JFK was sneaking his mistresses into the Lincoln bedroom, or FDR was confined to a wheelchair. There were certain things the public should not know. Then Nixon fucked it up by being a paranoid criminal, and it suddenly became fashionable to make the President look bad at any possible moment. Has America really benefitted from the shift? Are we really better off focusing on one off-the-cuff remark when the real issues are massive unemployment and many Americans have to wait eight hours in an emergency room because they can't afford health care?

Moran should be fired. People should grow up. And the President, apparently, should remember that his every, miniscule moment is subject to criticism.