Not Just Another Sob Story

FED UP WITH reporters' pestering queries about the Philippines, President Reagan retorted with a casual expression of discontent. He swore.

"Sons of bitches," were the exact eloquent words he pronounced at the end of a picture-taking session on Friday. It's nice to know that the top dog in the White House is as human as the rest of us foul-mouthed Amercans. But the Gipper certainly doesn't think so.

Instead of admitting to his little outburst of normality, Reagan and his staff sought to maintain his superhuman status. Just as he tries to fool the country with fountain-of-youth hair color and make-up, the 75-year-old chief set out to snow the public by denying he had ever uttered the phrase.

Perhaps inspired by their predecessors of the early '70s, who shreaded paper and erased tapes, White House aides unplugged some of the television crew's hook-ups to the microphone system, which prevented the press from getting Reagan's expletive on tape.

THE CHIEF HIMSELF claimed that the same journalists against whom he had directed his nasty words were themselves the guilty ones. He enlisted the aid of his official accomplice, Larry Speakes, who said that the elderly leader of the free world actually did not recall anyone ever uttering the invective.

But the press had crucial evidence to the contrary. Reporters heard the historic profanity carried over the microphone, and they videotaped Reagan's lips forming the naughty words--though their sound was cut off by the White House staff.

Reagan blamed the press. Speakes blamed amnesia, then later conceded that--if he said anything at all--the President had uttered, "It's sunny, and you're rich.

BUT THE FACTS prove them all wrong.

So why the bumbling cover-up over a measly three-word obscenity?

The former film idol is not used to acting out a role, like the presidency, without censured script in hand. In past microphone tests, not knowing that he could be heard, he threatened to bomb the Russians and treat terrorists with-like vengeance. When off-the-cuff remarks mar the wholesome image he tries to project, he expects a purged "take two." But the chief exec is under the constant, unforgiving spotlight of live TV. Goof-ups are on the record, like it or not.

Still, swearing is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a harmless way for anyone to release feelings of anger and recklessness. But swearing and then lying about it break two, not just one, of society's mores. In his attempt to fabricate an artificially pure image of himself, Reagan reverted to the fantasy world of a Hollywood sound stage instead of facing up to what was hardly a controversial act.