It was kind of a good thing in a couple of different ways when Mitt Romney‘s traveling press secretary Rick Gorka told reporters to “kiss my ass” and “shove it.” First, these were the most human-sounding, refreshingly un-scripted statements to come out of the Romney organization in months. Second, Gorka’s anger is an obvious indicator of stress and frustration within the Romney inner circle (i.e., they’re giving it to Gorka and he’s passing it along).

We’d all love it, I suspect, if more Romney camp statements were on this level. Q: “Governor Romney…? A: “Why don’t you drop to your knees and blow me, asshole?” During the end of the 1972 campaign George McGovern told a heckler to “kiss my ass,” and that was surely indicative of McGovern’s “fuck it, I’ve lost this election” attitude. Profanity isn’t spoken — it splashes out of the bucket and onto the floor. There’s very little lying in it, usually. Richard Nixon‘s use of “cocksuckers” and “Jew boys”…classic stuff.