Ashley Holm, an intern at the Statehouse's Legislative Research Department, still has her job. This is something of a testament to cool heads in the capitol, who resisted criticism of Holm for a bumper sticker on her car. In the AP's kind phrasing, "The red bumper sticker contains only two words in white — the f-word followed by 'war.'" :
"It shows questionable judgment," said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, R-Independence. …
The complaint about the sticker came from House Majority Leader Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, a former Marine. He said the language offended him.
"We have a lot of kids coming out of this building every day, and I don’t think it’s appropriate," Merrick said.
Schmidt's judgment kept the Senate from weighing in on the escalation of the war in Iraq. He opposed a measure that would have expressed the state legislature's opposition, telling reporters, "Betts’ resolution was unnecessary because state lawmakers can’t affect the war effort. 'These are serious issues but clearly they are not state issues,' Schmidt said."
A bumper sticker, however …
I don't know whether Ray Merrick is as offended by the disaster of our Iraq occupation as he is by "the f-word followed by 'war.'"
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A f-ing ex-Marine offended by the f-word? Where'd he go to boot camp? Camp John Wesley? Yeah, yeah, on behalf of the kiddies, sure, but my wife teaches in a high school and the f-word echoes in the halls all day long. There's almost literally nothing those kiddies haven't heard and said (and often done) that Schmidt didn't hear and say in boot camp.
Where was Schmidt's indignation when VP Cheney was saying "go f- yourself"?
From Dr. Strangelove: You cant fight in here. This is the War Room!