Cheny's obscenity was a private comment, between two people, that happened to take place in the Senate. Many private conversations take place on the Senate floor, you can see that by watching C-SPAN2. Further, the time of the incident, the Senate was not in session, but had gathered for a "class photo." Cheny's comment was overheard by others (tattletale Senators, no doubt), and gleefully reported and discussed in an effort to damage Cheny.
That the American people don't "get it" (the context of Cheny's remark) is a testimony to their laziness, or stupidity.
Men, if you don't mind, school me here. What are the chances of "Dasshole" getting canned by the voters?
You are absolutely right, and VP Cheney's private comment is nowhere near as offensive (coming as a blunt, frustrated response to Leahy) as the deliberate use of the same word by sKerry in the magazine interview, when he said, for attribution, that President Bush "f'd" up the Iraq war (that he now agrees with, again, for now).
The political discourse is one thing, but I appreciated the fresh air of VP Cheney's honesty to Leahy's hypocrisy while deploring the giggling smugness of those who tattled on this private conversation (while ignoring sKerry's deliberate f-bomb intended for public consumption).