Dick Cheney: Rush of anger

Washington, June 25 (Reuters): US vice-president Dick Cheney blurted out the “F word” at Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont during a heated exchange on the Senate floor, congressional aides said yesterday.

The incident occurred on Tuesday in a terse discussion between the two that touched on politics, religion and money, with Cheney finally telling Leahy to “f— off” or “go f— yourself,” the aides said.

“I think he was just having a bad day,” Leahy was quoted as saying on CNN, which first reported the incident. “I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language on the floor.”

“That doesn’t sound like language the vice-president would use but there was a frank exchange of views,” said Cheney spokesman Kevin Kellems.

According to congressional aides, Leahy said hello to Cheney following the taking of the Senate group photo on the floor of the chamber.

Cheney, who is president of the Senate, then ripped into Leahy for the Democratic senator’s criticism this week of alleged war profiteering in Iraq by Halliburton, the oil services company that Cheney once ran.

During their exchange, Leahy noted that Republicans had accused Democrats of being anti-Catholic because they are opposed to some of President George W. Bush’s anti-abortion judges, the aides said.

That's when Cheney unloaded with the“F-bomb,” aides said.