In fact, I wrote it the other way first, and but when I read it on the screen, it looked a lot like I was saying they were an asshole, and so ratcheted it back, since that wasn't what I was trying to say.
You were saying they were an asshole, in both versions. Trying to be coy about it doesn't change it. I'm not sure why you bothered to be coy about it since you regularly get away with incivility on this site.