He said what? McDonnell drops F-bomb in radio interview

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell had a moment reminiscent of former U.S. Sen. George Allen’s famous Macaca moment on live radio in Washington, D.C., on Friday, blurting out the f-word during an exchange with WTOP politics analyst Mark Plotkin.

The Friday-morning interview, for WTOP’s “The Politics Program with Mark Plotkin,” hit on a wide range of topics, and was at the issue of transportation funding when Plotkin asked McDonnell if he would “rule out … any increase in the state gas tax.”

McDonnell: “In this economy, Mark, uh, with, uh, in the midst of a recession, I think we cannot raise, we can’t raise taxes. I’ve outlined a number …”

Plotkin: “That’s for your whole four-year term?”

McDonnell: “Yeah, I don’t think we ought to be raising that tax. That’s …”

Plotkin: “So no tax will be raised during your four-year term?”

McDonnell: “I’m going to find other ways to be able to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined twelve fucking funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial …”

Plotkin: “Well, name me the largest funding mechanisms?”

McDonnell: “Well, we’re going to move – we’re going to make transportation a priority in the general fund. We’re going to float $4 billion in bonds. Three of them should have already been initiated, because we approved it two years ago. We’re going to dramatically increase the use of the public-private partnerships that I think can generate billions of dollars, if you have good leadership and strong businesspeople and people that know how to get things done.”

There was a noticeable if brief pause from McDonnell after he uttered the word “fucking” and before the word “funding.” Plotkin did not appear to notice the F-bomb – judging by lack of a pause in his followup question asking McDonnell to name the funding mechanisms.

You can listen to the exchange here.

[audio:http://icestream.bonnint.net/dc/wtop/politics_program/091109_plotkin.mp3]

The part of the Q-and-A referencing the gas-tax discussion begins at the 18:52 mark on the player.

The link for the WTOP download for the mp3 – http://icestream.bonnint.net/dc/wtop/politics_program/091109_plotkin.mp3.

The F-bomb drop was first reported on the NotLarrySabato political blog.

 

– Story by Chris Graham