Washington:
US Vice President Joe Biden is laughing off his protocol-busting profanity captured by microphones and relayed around the world during Tuesday's signing ceremony for a historic health care law.
Biden said US President Barack Obama told him his salty comment was the best part of the ebullient ceremony in the East Room of the White House, and had tried to get him a tee-shirt bearing his now famous remark.
The vice president delivered a gushing tribute to Obama at the ceremony, then told him, in a comment meant to be private "This is a big f...ing deal."
The White House quickly dismissed the incident and Biden told supporters at a fundraiser in Baltimore last night that Obama was not mad at what he delicately termed his "faux pas."
He quoted the president as saying at a morning conference "You know what the best thing about yesterday was? Joe's comment."
Biden said he shot back: "If you thought it was so good, why didn't you say it?" adding that his first thought when he heard about the commotion was "Thank God my Mom's not ......"
The vice president's remarks were drowned out by laughter, but he was apparently saying he was glad his beloved mother, who died in January, had not heard what he said.