In 1998, Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, a truly loathsome character at the time but now almost angelic in comparison to today's characters, told the Indianapolis Star that Bill Clinton was "a scumbag" and that's why he was "after him."
It was a really big deal. It sent shock waves through Washington. I recall being gobsmacked at the language. It triggered intense political backlash, with Democrats attempting to remove him from his committee chairmanship. He was never formally investigated, as the Dems demanded. The House Republican leadership ultimately blocked all disciplinary resolutions, allowing him to retain his position despite his potty mouth.
My oh my oh my, have we come a long way in terms of GOP potty-mouthing.
Yesterday, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri sat in a Senate Judiciary hearing and told former Special Counsel Jack Smith he would "go down as a total dirtbag." He called Smith a "villain" and said he had "already perjured" himself.
To prove it, he rolled out a poster board of text messages allegedly showing Smith traveling to Atlanta to collude with local prosecutors. In basketball parlance, it proved to be a game-ejecting flagrant foul.
The stupid Schmitt — dare we call him a dirtbag? — had confused the Atlanta Hawks with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Smith had been at a college game in Maryland. The great dirtbag exposé rested on a mascot mix-up.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar said an apology was in order. Schmitt went on The Charlie Kirk Show and refused to give one.
This isn’t Schmitt’s first time at the raunchy rodeo. In September 2025, in a hearing with FBI Director Kash Patel, Schmitt snapped at Democrats, "Check yourself! Don't give me this both sides b------t." He then claimed the left and George Soros were "dropping off bricks at riots."
I’m sorry, but can anyone see the 96-year-old Soros carrying bricks?
Schmitt’s blood and mouth are riddled with contempt. At the National Conservatism Conference, he declared that "America doesn't belong to them — it belongs to us."
Everyone who heard "them" knew who it meant: immigrants, minorities, LGBTQ+ Americans. In 2022, the Missouri NAACP called his campaign ads "Jim Crow-style racist political ads."
So, beside being a dirtbag and a BS artist, Schmitt is also apparently a racist.
Schmitt is also following a naughtiness that started with Burton’s scumbag. Even John McCain — who privately, I was once told, had a mouth like a sailor — called anti-war protesters "low-life scum." Sen. Markwayne Mullin called Teamsters president Sean O'Brien a "thug." I know, I know, thug is child’s play, but still.
Sen. John Kennedy used the Senate floor in 2024 to say President Biden was "letting a dirtbag run the FDIC." So, let me get this straight, Kennedy not only helped Schmitt with his Hawk hi-jinx by holding up a BS poster-board (was this for Donald Trump?), but he also helped Schmitt with his dirtbag term.
But, folks, we’ve been down the dirtbag road before, and surprise, surprise, a Republican used it appropriately. Then Connecticut governor and former GOP Sen. Lowell Weicker called Trump a dirtbag and a bigot. Oh, I miss moderate, sensible Republicans like Weicker.
Now, here’s something that won't surprise you. Schmitt's "dirtbag" actually sounds tame. That's because the bar has dropped through the metaphorical House floor. An April New York Times review found that GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden had used the F-word at least 35 times in his public communications.
To be fair, because vulgarity now seems so commonplace, Van Orden’s Democratic colleague, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) used the same word on X 30 times over the six-year tracking period, according to the Times analysis.
Consider Rep. Lauren Boebert. In June 2026, a reporter asked her about allegations involving her and Rep. Thomas Massie. Her answer: "F--- you, first of all." As a journalist, I would have probably thanked her for being so kind. No, seriously, I would have got in the game and gave it right back to her.
Rep. Nancy Mace, you might say, takes her cues straight to the people. In 2025, she posted video of her own confrontation with a constituent in a South Carolina store, in which she snapped, "F--- you. You are absolutely f---ing insane." She didn't hide the footage. She published it.
And prior to Schmitt’s, the Senate’s most infamous trash mouth belonged to the ribald Ohio GOP Senator Bernie Moreno. During the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci in July, Moreno crudely asked, "Do you feel like you're in deep s--t?" He followed up with, "Who the f--k do you think you were for doing that?" That was a U.S. senator, in a formal hearing, addressing a witness.
Dan Burton's "scumbag" once made the headlines of Beltway newspapers. Now a Republican can curse out a reporter, a constituent, and a witness and it enjoys a slight blip on social media “trending” pages. Let’s see how long Schmitt stays at the top of the ever-evolving and changing GOP sewer-mouth list.
Burton's "scumbag" was shocking because it was rare. Schmitt's "dirtbag" is unremarkable because it's now so routine that you almost expect GOP MAGA motormouths to spew salty language.
As Louisiana’s crazy-crackpot (see how I refrained from using an expletive?) Senator John Kennedy might say, “It makes me want to throw up in my mouth.”