Everyone made fun of his language, which was oblique and indirect even by Washington standards. Some people thought he was putting on airs and deliberately trying to be incomprehensible. Perhaps the most famous example of McFarlanese occured when he testified under oath before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on December 8, 1986. In response to a question about third-country support for the Nicaraguan resistance, McFarlane replied, 'The concrete character of that is beyond my ken.' This statement was one reason that Bud pled guilty to a charge of with-holding information from Congress.