LYNN, Mass. -- Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., surprised a business group by joking that the Secret Service is under orders to shoot Vice President-elect Dan Quayle if President-elect George Bush is shot, The Boston Herald reported Wednesday.
Kerry, who made the remark Tuesday to about 120 business professionals from northeastern Massachusetts, immediately said he was joking and later issued an apology through a spokesman, the newspaper said.
Kerry -- elected to the Senate in 1984 after serving as lieutenant governor under Gov. Michael Dukakis, who often criticized Quayle during his Democratic presidential bid this year -- reportedly told the executives, 'Now folks, I don't mean that. I'm just relating what some people are saying in Washington.'
A Quayle aide said he relayed the remark to the Indiana senator and 'he's not going to comment.' But the aide, Jeff Nesbit, said, 'I don't personally think the health of the president or vice president is anything to joke about.'
Two men who attended the breakfast told the Herald they were shocked by Kerry's comment.
'He had just finished an excellent speech on economic issues when he was asked about Quayle's qualifications,' said one of the men, both of whom requested anonymity. 'Kerry said there's a collegial atmosphere in Congress, and they usually don't criticize each other, but that some of his colleagues have spoken out and some Democrats and Republicans have doubts about Quayle.
'Then he said, and I assume it was a joke, 'The Secret Service is under orders that if Bush is shot, to shoot Quayle.''
The remark was greeted with titters of nervous laughter, while 'some of us just looked at each other,' the man told the newspaper.
'That remark might be a great backroom joke among Democratic senators, but I thought it was in poor taste,' the other listener said.
Kerry's spokesman said the senator 'meant no disrespect and he expressed apologies to anyone who misinterpreted him.'
