WASHINGTON (REUTERS) — In a rare White House rebuke of a Democratic presidential candidate, chief of staff Andrew Card called on U.S. Sen. John Kerry Sunday to apologize for using a four-letter expletive in an interview lambasting President Bush’s Iraq policy.
Kerry was quoted by Rolling Stone magazine as saying, “Did I expect George Bush to f–k it up as badly as he did? I don’t think anybody did.”
Card criticized Kerry for the using the expletive.
“I’ve known John Kerry for a long time and I’m very disappointed that he would use that kind of language,” Card said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
“That’s beneath John Kerry. … I’m hoping that he’s apologizing, at least to himself, because that’s not the John Kerry that I know,” Card added.
Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter scoffed at the suggestion the senator apologize.
“I could think of a lot of words to add to the one John Kerry used that would be equally appropriate,” she said.
“I think the American people would rather Card and the rest of the White House staff spend more time on fixing Bush’s flawed policy in Iraq than on Senator Kerry’s language.”
The White House and Bush re-election campaign have resisted responding to various attacks by the Democratic candidates, choosing instead to let them fight among themselves.
