sisyphusshrugged | we must have standards

it's just that our standards for the comics page are higher than our standards for the conduct of the Vice President on the floor of the US Senate

At least 20 newspapers are objecting to Saturday's "Doonesbury" comic strip because it features a profanity, uttered in the strip by Vice President Dick Cheney.

Editors told Universal Press Syndicate, the comic strip's distributor, that if their reporters aren't allowed to use profanity in stories, they don't think "Doonesbury" should, either.

In Garry Trudeau's comic, the voice of Cheney directs a caricature of President George Bush to tell a reporter to "go f--- himself."

A spokesman for Kansas City-based Universal Press Syndicate said at least 20 newspapers have contacted the company to complain about the cartoon for Saturday editions.

"In this particular instance, we have a strip known for strong political satire," said Lee Salem, editor at Universal Press. "In this case, as in many prior instances, we assume editors will make the decision on the local level whether they use it or not."

The comic plays off two controversies. In June, Cheney directed a similar profane comment at Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy during a confrontation on the Senate floor while members were having their annual group picture taken.

Technically, that's true. It was only similar.

Cheney said fuck.