"To write and publish this book before the criminal trials of these guys is concluded is an absolutely reprehensible thing to do," Mr. McNamara said.

Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, called the revelations "absolutely reprehensible" and would not rule out a takeover, said a spokesman, Ted Royer.

Speaking at the Center for American Progress on Tuesday, he called such comparisons "absolutely reprehensible."

Rudy did something absolutely reprehensible with Piccoli, and she was the fall guy, or woman.

He is an absolutely reprehensible person.

But I find it absolutely reprehensible just to fill a role.

That was absolutely reprehensible of you, Julian.

"Here's what's absolutely reprehensible," Mark Barrett, one of the prosecutors, told the jury.

"So what appears to us on the outside as absolutely reprehensible, might look to a prosecutor like bad behavior that, under the circumstances, would not convince a jury."

If it has been going on, which I doubt, it is an absolutely reprehensible matter.