McDonnell drops F-word

WASHINGTON - Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell is apologizing for a comment he made during a recent radio interview. He says he accidentally cursed and used the "F" word while doing an interview with WTOP radio in D.C. The candidate and his reps say McDonnell was trying to say the word "funding" and he stumbled and said the "F" word.

"I'm going to find other ways to be able to fund transportation. I' ve outlined 12 f------ funding mechanisms that are creative, that are creative, that are entrepreneurial."

Mark Plotkin, the host of the WTOP show "The Politics Program with Mark Plotkin, was interviewing McDonnell at the time and said it was clearly an honest mistake and the candidate just stumbled over the word "funding."

"I think it's just that simple and I'm kind of disappointed in my colleagues in the media
making such a big thing out of it or making a thing out of it at all, because it was not said in anger or disdain, not said for political purposes, it was just a verbal stumble and people should go on," said Plotkin.

A spokesperson for McDonnell's campaign sent WAVY.com this written response:

It was an unfortunate stumble over the words, and Bob McDonnell apologizes for the mistake. Long and short, the audio clip comes from a friendly conversation on-air between Bob McDonnell and Mark Plotkin about transportation. At one point Bob was speaking quickly and in trying to say “funding mechanism”, he stumbled and accidentally said another word. It was unintentional, and anyone who spends any time around Bob McDonnell knows he does not use such language. It was an accident. It is that simple. However, I do want to note that it does say a lot about the Deeds campaign that they would spend so much time and energy aggressively pushing this absolutely trivial matter to every blog and media outlet they can think of. It’s disappointing that they have so little regard for Virginia’s voters, and the issues that they care about.

-- Taylor Thornley
Spokesperson
Bob McDonnell for Governor

McDonnell's democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds, was in Virginia Beach Monday accepting an endorsement from the state firefighters union and said he believes McDonnell's account that it was just an accident.

"I think you have to take his word on it. I certainly take his word on it," said Deeds.

Now, both campaigns continue on to bigger issues, like transportation.