'F-Bomb' Or Not? Candidate's Slip On WTOP Makes News

Bob McDonnell

Did VIRGINIA Republican gubernatorial candidate BOB MCDONNELL drop an F-bomb in an interview on BONNEVILLE News WTOP/WASHINGTON FRIDAY morning? The liberal Democratic blog NOT LARRY SABATO posted a clip of MCDONNELL telling "THE POLITICS PROGRAM" host MARK PLOTKIN, "I’m going to find other ways to be able to be able to fund transportation. I’ve outlined 12 f---ing funding mechanisms that are creative, that are entrepreneurial..." The "F-bomb" appears to be a stumble over the word "funding."

"At one point BOB was speaking quickly, and in trying to say 'funding mechanism,' he stumbled and accidentally said another word," spokesman J. TUCKER MARTIN told CNN. "It was unintentional, and anyone who spends any time around BOB knows he does not use such language. It was an accident. It is that simple." MARTIN criticized the campaign of MCDONNELL's opponent CREIGH DEEDS for spending "so much time and energy aggressively pushing this absolutely trivial matter to every blog and media outlet they can think of."

WTOP Managing Editor DARCI MARCHESE said that the incident was "a simple stumble" and not a news story, and VP/News and Programming JIM FARLEY told DCRTV.COM, "No, he didn't (say the word). I've listened several times. He stumbled on two words, but it was not an expletive. Not true."

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