"My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

In apologizing, Byrd -- the Senate's senior Democrat -- said the phrase dated back to his childhood. In the same interview, Byrd also talked about joining the Ku Klux Klan in his youth, describing it as a mistake.

Interviewer Tony Snow did not ask Byrd about his use of the expression. But after the videotaped segment was played, Snow noted that Byrd had later apologized for his choice of words.

In a statement released by his office and read on Fox, Byrd expressed regret for the words.

"I apologize for the characterization I used on this program," he said. "The phrase dates back to my boyhood and has no place in today's society.

"As for my language, I had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone of another race," he said. "In my attempt to articulate strongly held feelings, I may have offended people."

"Unfortunately," he added, "there are people in every race who would rather attack others simply because of ill-conceived, false stereotypes based on skin color. People who do this are obstacles to positive race relations and become the stereotypes that they despise. But by working together and continually improving the understanding between the races, we can overcome these narrow-minded people and the obstacles that they represent."