Jim Webb claims he never called the President “a dick”

November 30, 2006

Jim Webb claims he never called the President “a dick”

by Tom Toburn

Senator-elect Jim Webb (D-VA) is denying that he used the words “a dick” about the President in the context of a face-to-face meeting between the two Tuesday, since a controversy has erupted surrounding the encounter.

“I may have used the words ‘pants pisher,'” Webb said through a spokesman, “but people know it is highly improbable that that other derogatory term could have come from me, salty Navy language notwithstanding.”

The widely reported story involves pleasantries between the Senator-elect and the President at a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress. The President reportedly asked Webb, “How’s your boy?” to which Webb replied that he would like to see the troops pulled from Iraq, and he would like to see Cindy Sheehan come along for a sit and chat about issues of the troops return. Bush said back “I didn’t ask about that, and Ms. Sheehan is hysterical numbskull,” before spitting at Webb’s feet and leaving. Webb reportedly took exception to the ill-advised charactization of anti-war protestor Sheehan and said, “What a dick,” but his representatives are now disputing this claim.

Some have made pains to point out that many characters in Mr. Webb’s novels have used terms like “dick,” “prick,” “schmuck,” and “proboscus,” but Webb’s representatives insist that the word probuscus “is another word for nose.”

The Senator-elect is expected to address questions about the encounter in a press conference later today.

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