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Steady Dose of “F-Bombs”—Is Mom to Blame?
By
Kim Eisler
Published Thursday, December 04, 2008
Barack Obama may have his high-powered White House chief of staff, but he may not want his daughters going anywhere near his top aide. According to The Thumpin’, a portrait of Rahm Emanuel by newly hired Wall Street Journal reporter Naftali Bendavid, Emanuel has one of the foulest mouths in Washington. While a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Bendavid spent months with the Illinois congressman, collecting research on how Emanuel managed to win back the House of Representatives for the Democrats in 2006. In addition to his research, Bendavid received a steady dose of F-bombs that some may consider excessive from a guy who once studied ballet at Sarah Lawrence College. On occasion, Bendavid writes, Emanuel’s language even in public is so extreme that he has driven diners from restaurants. Emanuel’s mother, Marsha, told Bendavid she takes the blame for her son’s language, calling it “my fault” because she had never forbidden her son to curse. But she says she never forced Emanuel to take up dancing, as he has sometimes claimed. Marsha says she told Rahm, “Forgive me—you little s---head, I didn’t force you.” Bendavid says Emanuel objected to “various aspects” of his book, but “usually his complaint was that I neglected to highlight some alleged stroke of genius on his part.”
This article first appeared in the December 2008 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here. More>> Capital Comment Blog | News & Politics | Society Photos
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Comments
My parents forbid me to curse but it just made me worse. I don’t think his Mom is to blame (even if she blames herself), it is a matter of self control.
Posted by: KM, Dec 06, 2008 07:18:20 AM
Whah! He cursed at me, Mommy make him stop! Jeebus, what a bunch of stupid whiners. Some of the most influential people of our time had filthy mouths like uh Dick Cheney, Richard Nixon and lest we forget Richard Pryor and George Carlin. I do however feel that profanity in business or politics is considered unprofessional as I would not use it in such situations myself and tend to think those who do must be inarticulate and crude but man, when I get off work, cover your ears.
Posted by: STFU, Dec 06, 2008 07:15:36 AM
Oh who cares! What ever happened to freedom of speech. There are worse things in this world to worry about right now.
Posted by: Nat, Dec 04, 2008 09:54:03 AM
I am not happy with people who engage in very aggressive talk to get their way. Rahm Emanuel gets his a good deal of the time. If others don’t stand up to him, he will never stop.
Posted by: Candadai Tirumalai, Dec 04, 2008 07:42:53 AM
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