The work of lobbyists is routinely likened to prostitution in myriad ways. So referring to them collectively as whores probably won't shock and appaul a great many people.
That is, unless you're a public servant and calling an individual woman who used to be a lobbyist a "K Street whore." In that instance, you'll run afoul of a few sensitivity issues.
That public servant was Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, who used the offending phrasing in describing Federal reserve adviser Linda Robertson, a former Enron lobbyist who was brought on this summer to help with Fed relations to Congress.
"I offer my sincere apology," Grayson said in a statement, just hours after his spokesman defended his comments. "I did not intend to use a term that is often, and correctly, seen as disrespectful of women."
It's probably not true that he didn't intend to use the term so much as he regrets employing it now. But, that did touch off another humorous apology, from Rep. Anthony Weiner who made amends for callying Grayson "one fry short of a Happy Meal."
"Alan Grayson is a friend and an extraordinary member of Congress. No obviously playful comment from me should distract from the important role Rep. Grayson has played in focusing on the true and tragic costs of our broken health care system," he said in a statement. "He is a leader and a patriot."
And, of course, he has his full complement of fries.
