Biden's Bomb - A Proud Bipartisan Tradition

So...Vice President Joe Biden sort of put the salty rim on the big margarita of health care reform today by dropping an F-bomb at the president's bill-signing ceremony.

Yes, it's true.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Leave it to Vice President Joe Biden to add a little, ahem, flair to the signing of a health care bill affecting millions of people.

"This is a big f------ deal," Biden told President Barack Obama after introducing him at Tuesday's ceremony at the White House.

Biden appeared to be offering that perspective to Obama privately, but his remark was captured on audio and video.

(The video is below. Caution if you are easily offended and can hear really well) 

Shocking, perhaps. But f-bombs are becoming as common in American politics as sex scandals.

 Biden's not even the first vice president to serve up a high-profile pan of fudge. Vice President Dick Cheney famously told Sen. Patrick Leahy to go (beep) himself on the Senate floor back on 2004. And couldn't have been happier about it.

Stay classy, No 2s. You're just a (beeping) heartbeat away.

And bombs are clearly bipartisan.

Former Florida GOP congressman and MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough dropped one on the air in 2008, as did Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell in 2009. He still won.

California's GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a sneaky f-bomber with this veto message, which included a secret (naughty) message.

But the grand champion is probably impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, who dropped 18 f-bombs in a federal affidavit detailing the couple's wiretapped phone conversations.

I can remember the first political f-bomb I ever heard like it was yesterday.

 It was my first day as a House page in March 1989 and former House Speaker Don Avenson was forcefully explaining legislative procedure to someone just outside the front door of the House. Avenson, who was an imposing figure to a skinny18-year-old, used some words that I had not heard during "I'm Just a Bill" on Schoolhouse Rock.

So that's how a bill becomes a law.

I suppose we should be offended at this steady decline in our public civility. I guess I should be outraged that our leaders would choose to be such bad examples.

But trust me, it's no (beeping) big deal.