Beto Lets Loose On A Heckler, NPR Clutches At Pearls

On Wednesday night Beto O’Rourke held a town hall meeting and spoke very frankly about the Uvalde tragedy. He’s angry. We’re all angry. But Beto is uniquely positioned to actually do something about it. Well, not yet. I guess a better way to put that would be to say that the voters of Texas are uniquely positioned to weaponize Beto’s righteous anger over Uvalde by electing him the next governor of Texas.

I know, I know, a Democrat winning the Texas gubernatorial race is about as likely as hell freezing over. But we all know how much Texas loves a “straight shooter” and someone who “speaks plain.” So maybe, just maybe, Beto dropping a Samuel-Jackson-worthy MF’er at a heckler is exactly what he needed to do.

Tonight, in Mineral Wells, Texas

When a @GregAbbott_TX supporter laughs, yes, laughs out loud so everyone could hear, while Beto described the massacre of 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Beto quite appropriately lets loose with a MF.
Yep.
It was a pretty good one too. pic.twitter.com/t5LLMIPXeP

— BetoMedia (@BetoMedia) August 11, 2022

That is the angry, Gen-X, energy the Democratic party needs right now. But if you ask NPR, Beto might have taken it too far.

Voters like to see a sense of authenticity in candidates, especially in Texas. But cursing and vulgar language in front of children and the elderly more often than not crosses the line. https://t.co/wq2QvEF0mL

— NPR (@NPR) August 12, 2022

One of the pearl-clutchers interviewed for this piece, Cal Jillson, is a pasty-faced Political Science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas:

“Light cursing can make you seem more authentic to your supporters, but there are shades of language that are dangerous..”

No, sir. What’s dangerous is allowing the continued purchase of weapons of war by untrained civilians. GTFO with this nonsense.

Also quoted in the article is Rice University Political Science professor Mark Jones. He’s got to be the whitest chair of Latin American Studies in the country:

“These are voters who are Democratic voters, Republican voters, who don’t have an issue with profanity in their private life but hold public officials and those making public pronouncements to a higher standard.

Sir, perhaps you slept through the four years of Trump’s White House, which makes this statement absolutely meaningless? You are also dismissed.

Twitter rightfully dragged NPR on this one. Take it away, Twitterverse!

Fun fact: the author of this piece is the same one who published a pro-gun propaganda piece immediately after the Uvalde shooting where he interviewed a bunch of gun owners who were like, "Nah, no more laws, plz." https://t.co/e09Qnz1L0O pic.twitter.com/eB76nPFo80

— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) August 12, 2022

Here to tell you that this kind of disconnected pearl clutching is a big problem across journalism … it’s paternalistic bullshit. https://t.co/fRdq2PJ8gV

— Helen Ubiñas (@NotesFromHeL) August 12, 2022

We really need to rethink notions of vulgarity, if essentially laughing at slaughtered children is less vulgar than the response to it. https://t.co/0Rzq9cdy93

— Kenyon Farrow (@kenyonfarrow) August 12, 2022

Counterpoint: I’d rather children hear the word “motherfucker” than tolerate laughter from some motherfucker about dead children. https://t.co/r0d2y5FuTP

— Daniel Summers, MD (@WFKARS) August 12, 2022

This is why I don’t fucking work for NPR. https://t.co/bKLD81uGNL

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) August 12, 2022

I seldom swear, but when I do, it’s with accuracy and velocity. Mr. Beto was in the right. @NPR, in its cumbersome effort to “bothsides” the slaughter of children, has fucked up. https://t.co/Eia2GlpVdU

— Molly Cantrell-Kraig 🇺🇦🌻 (@mckra1g) August 12, 2022

This is like a @DougJBalloon headline. “Beto O’Rourke called someone who is objectively a motherfucker, a motherfucker. Here’s why that’s bad news for Joe Biden.” https://t.co/A3LsugARKb

— Torsten (@thestainsports) August 12, 2022

"A man laughed at the massacre of a dozen children, but the real villain here is the guy who dropped an f-bomb"

Mother fucker, what?! https://t.co/fFaR7uYAt0

— Felonious Munk 🇪🇹 (@Felonious_munk) August 12, 2022

Grow the fuck up, both the people who think vulgar language is a reason to vote for fascists AND whoever decided a respectability politics article was an actual worthwhile story. https://t.co/vcq7W8yBzB

— Hillary Monahan (@HillaryMonahan) August 12, 2022

Does the NPR office have any normal seating in it, or soley Victorian fainting couches. https://t.co/8g5w3A3NEs

— CHAOTIC NEUTRAL arrives 9/20 (@edburmila) August 12, 2022