Terry turns D.C. air blue in dispute with driver

WASHINGTON — The word that came out of Rep. Lee Terry's mouth Friday wasn't “filibuster,” but it started with the same letter.

The Omaha Republican was crossing a street Friday near the U.S. Capitol when he got into a verbal altercation with a D.C. driver.

According to a story by Congressional Quarterly, one of the paper's reporters overheard the driver taking Terry to task for jaywalking. The reporter recounted this exchange:

“Can't you read the sign?” the driver shouted at Terry.

“(Expletive) you!” Terry retorted.

“Really?” the driver asked.

“Really,” Terry said.

Terry confirmed the incident to The World-Herald, but with a couple of caveats. First, he said he wasn't jaywalking — he was in the crosswalk with 10 seconds left on the light.

Second, Terry said the driver yelled profanities at him first.

“I just was walking by and all of a sudden this guy starts yelling at us and cussing at us, and so I just turned around and gave him it back for a second, turned around and left and that was it,” Terry said.

Terry said that he normally would not have responded to “some weird guy yelling at people” but that it had been an intense, frustrating week.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been engaged in lengthy and contentious debates as they wrestle with matters such as health care and climate change.

In retrospect, would Terry have used some more PG-rated wording?

“In retrospect, I would have just kept ignoring him,” he said.

Contact the writer:

202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com