There was a debate Sunday night at a synagogue between the incumbent congressman from the 8th District in Pennsylvania (with redistricting, soon to be the 1st District), Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, and his challenger, Democrat Scott Wallace.

At one point, the debate became rather heated, and Wallace shocked those present in the house of worship by cussing out his opponent.  He used an expletive and dropped an F-bomb, perhaps forgetting where he was.

Or maybe not.

WBCB:

'Ironically, there was a later question about the need for civility in politics,' Fitzpatrick told WBCB.  'Well, a good start is to not use vulgarities in the sanctuary of a synagogue in the middle of a congressional debate.'

Both candidates were standing on the synagogue's 'bimah,' an elevated platform used for reading the Torah during services, when Wallace used the expletive.  Fitzpatrick was 'stunned' Wallace made the comment.

In addition to Fitzpatrick, people in the synagogue and the moderator took exception with Wallace's obscenity.

'You'll have to ask Scott Wallace what his motivations were,' Fitzpatrick said.

'My sense is he was frustrated because I was cross examining him on the ad he's running, which is a false ad based on my position on pre-existing conditions.  I was asking him a series of questions on what bill he was referring to, had he read it, and he came out with this expletive.'

Wallace has accused Fitzpatrick of voting to take healthcare coverage away from people with pre-existing conditions, even running television advertisements on the issue.  However an article published in the Washington Post's Fact Checker states the advertisements are more than misleading.

In other words, Fitzpatrick called out his opponent for lying, and he responded by using a barnyard epithet.  During a debate.  In a synagogue.

What makes this little campaign sidelight even more interesting is that the article never mentions the party affiliation of either candidate.  I knew Fitzpatrick because he's a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, but the casual reader would never know that Wallace is a Democrat.  I guess the writer, Rick Rickman ("Proud WBCB news director and afternoon News Anchor!"), didn't think it important enough to mention.

Or maybe too important.