WASHINGTON, March 3 (UPI) -- Three top GOP presidential candidates Saturday repudiated best-selling U.S. author Ann Coulter for calling former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., a "faggot."
Coulter, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday, brought Edwards' name up during her remarks.
"It turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I'm kind of at an impasse -- I can't really talk about Edwards," she said.
"Rehab" may have been a reference to "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington's decision to go into rehab during a public relations firestorm after he called one of his co-stars a "faggot."
A spokesman for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told The New York Times Coulter's comments "were wildly inappropriate."
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, "The comments were completely inappropriate and there should be no place for such name-calling in political debate."
A spokesman for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said: "It was an offensive remark. Gov. Romney believes all people should be treated with dignity and respect."
Coulter told the Times the remark was meant as a joke.
"I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards," she said. "That would be mean."
