When my mother told me to “watch my mouth,” I would cross myeyes and literally try to watch my mouth, just to be a smart-aleck.Usually it kept me occupied enough so that I wasn't able to sayanything stupid.

AIG CEO Robert Benmosche should have attempted this strategyinstead of saying what he did in his recent interview with the WallStreet Journal. Instead, he got off this gem about public reaction to the ill-timed AIGbonuses that were granted after the federal government bailed theinsurer out:

The uproar over bonuses “wasintended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there withtheir pitchforks and their hangman nooses, and all that—sort oflike what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think itwas just as bad and just as wrong.”

Benmosche isn't alone in his verbal fumblings. In the mediaworld, Business Insider's former chief tech officer Pax Dickinsonconsistently sounded off on Twitter with “funny” comments aboutwomen, blacks, gays and rape. Maybe it was just another example ofthe casually misogynistic IT culture, but the fact that he did itin a public forum got him fired. Cool story, bro.

There's a plethora of others, from Paula Deen to Anthony Weiner,whose persistent digital antics finally went far enough to hammerthe last nail into the coffin of his political career. But at leastyou can say that in Deen's and Weiner's cases, their commentsweren't intended for public consumption.

I've just interviewed experts about professional liability, sothese egregious cases of foot-in-mouth disease make me cringe—notfor the boneheads who are spewing the stupidity, but for the poorcorporate risk managers (and their agents and underwriters) whohave to deal with the collateral damage. In the words of an expert,“I don't think the U. S. is going to become less litigious, so theneed for these coverages will continue to grow.”

Ordinary Joes and Josephines are always being warned aboutcarefully managing their online images: Don't overshare onFacebook, ditch the party photos, don't make jokes or overtlypolitical statements on Twitter. You would think the big brainswould take that same advice—especially someone who heads a companythat's in the business of protection.

And although it's unlikely that Benmosche's comments will openthe door to litigation, such publicly aired insensitivity doessomething worse: further tarnishes the image of a company thatexists to serve policyholders.