Watt asks Reagan to forgive remark

Interior Secretary James Watt, facing calls for his resignation, asked President Reagan for forgiveness Thursday for his latest gaffe, which he acknowledged could be viewed as ''morally offensive.''

Five Republican senators and a GOP congressman called for Watt to leave the Cabinet for describing the members of an advisory board as ''a black, a woman, two Jews, and a cripple.'' They were Sens. Warren Rudman of New Hampshire, Slade Gorton of Washington, Lowell P. Weicker Jr. of Connecticut, Alfonse M. D'Amato of New York, and Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota and Rep. Ed Bethune of Arkansas.