Well, this post on Tom Watson's blog is well worth reading, especially because of its thorough discussion in the comment thread on the politics of language... as data points spread across the axes of one's gender and political affinity.

The entry was inspired by one on Firedoglake that was also mentioned by James Wolcott, which, coincidentally, is where I came across the brouhaha. Ironic, considering that I am a frequent reader (tho' seldom a commenter) on FDL... I must have skimmed this one, given its "tone," which I also found needlessly offensive, and moved on to something else. Something less coarse-- and less confusing, for that matter-- considering that I was reading a so-called progressive blog, the kind where one expects to find not only civilized discourse, but open-mindedness and tolerance for those with differing opinions.

But don't just take my word for it. The rest of the links are at Watson's blog. And the entire thread of 130 or so comments responding to his post is worth wading through for some real nuggets. Judge for yourselves. We merely link-- you decide.

Frankly, though... finding a man who will hold other men accountable both for their cavalier use of sexist language and their pathetic attempts to rationalize it as merely pushing back against our overly PC world is pretty darn exciting. Reminds me of that Stephen Colbert episode last spring... you know, the one where he held the entire press corps spellbound... HOT!!!