3/3/98
WASHINGTON (AP) -- An off-the-cuff comment has come back to haunt presidential spokesman Mike McCurry.
In his new book, Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz harks back to a joke President Clinton told at a May 1996 fund-raiser. Clinton said he considered the well-preserved mummy of an Inca girl ``good looking,'' adding, ``If I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out.''
Kurtz says that McCurry, in a post-cocktail moment of levity aboard a chartered press plane, made an off-color comparison to the first lady.
Correspondents who were aware of the off-the-record remark did not report it.
McCurry said Wednesday that Kurtz included it in a section of his book dealing with press strategy, to illustrate examples of how the White House press corps ``cuts me a break.'' Kurtz never asked about the comment while he was writing the book, McCurry said.
The spokesman said he did make an off-color remark during that flight, though he disputes the R-rated version in Kurtz' book.
``I remember saying something that wasn't so great,'' McCurry said. ``I am as confident as I can be that I didn't say anything like that, because I like the first lady. In fact, if I was a single man, I might take that mummy out.'' McCurry quickly added, ``This is off the record, right?''
McCurry said he has talked with Clinton about the incident, ``even gone so far as to read him the offending passage. He understands what happened.''
McCurry said he lodged his objections with Kurtz, who said he had a source ``with a pretty clear memory'' of the incident and by then the book was already being printed.
``I'm not happy about it,'' McCurry said.
When asked Wednesday whether McCurry is in trouble over the remark, a senior White House official replied on condition of anonymity, ``No. I've often commented on similarities between the first lady and ancient mummies myself.''