Speaking with NewsBusters at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer reacted strongly to the offensive joke made by ousted Yahoo News Washington bureau chief David Chalian that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his wife Ann.
"It baffles me that somebody like that could even be hired in the first place," Fleischer said.
"You don't hear that type of rhetoric coming from the other direction in newsrooms, do you? But you hear it regularly in the direction of anti-Republican."
Chalian's remark, which was first reported by NewsBusters, was originally intended as a joke to co-workers but was broadcast over the internet via a microphone which was active unbeknownst to him.
