Jim Roddey, Comedian

Yes, I realize it's just a joke, but...

A short time ago, Allegheny County GOP chair made a stupid joke (he's since apologized for it) about an Obama supporter being "mentally retarded."  The Republican crowd he told the joke to, for the record, howled with laughter.

Well, he's at it again.  This time on the pages of the Tribune-Review.  The Scaife-owned Trib is publishing a series of commentaries from GOP chair Roddey about his experiences at the Republican National Convention down in Tampa.

And Roddey puts on his comedian hat again today:

The buzz at the DoubleTree Hotel, the temporary home of the Pennsylvania delegation, is mostly about the weather.

At breakfast I overheard several delegates complaining that the party aboard a boat in the Tampa harbor had been canceled.

Curiously, no one seemed to care that the start of the convention had been delayed. There are several theories about the origin of the storm, the most interesting of which was that Barack Obama was born in Haiti, learned voodoo and had put a hex on the GOP festivities in Florida.

Yes, I realize it's just a joke.  And yes I realize Roddey doesn't actually believe President Obama was born in Haiti and is a practitioner in voodoo and can "put a hex" on the weather.

But look at the words he chose: Haiti and voodoo.

Now, you gotta ask yourself, would that joke with those words make any more or less sense if the president were not an African-American?

I am sure the Republicans reading the Trib are howling with laughter right now.

Pennsylvania: State of Embarrassment

Greetings from the Great State of Pennsyltucky!

Time was when Pennsyltucky used to only refer to the more rural "T" section of our Commonwealth, the place where guys like this reside. But, after the last couple of weeks, I think that we can agree that we're all Pennsyltucky now:

A Pittsburgh jury refuses to find fault with three police officers in a civil trial for doing this:

to honor student, Jordan Miles, who was simply walking down the block from his mom's house to his grandmother's house (no criminal charges were ever filed against the officers).

Allegheny County's GOP chair and former county executive Jim Roddey makes a joke that anyone who would vote for President Obama is "mentally retarded."

And, The Daily Show mercilessly (and rightfully) mocks our new Voter ID law. Jon Stewart shows the clip of House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) admitting that the new law was created to elect Mitt Romney. He also mentioned that the state's attorneys stipulated that there was no known cases of voter ID fraud in PA. However, he didn't mention that both our Governor and Secretary of State admitted they didn't actually know what's in the new law -- I guess they'd need to rename it Tragedy Central for that...

If you missed it last night, here's the clips:

More On Jim Roddey, GOP Chair in Allegheny County

By now, you've all seen the story, first reported by Tim McNulty of the P-G:

Allegheny County's GOP chair and former county executive Jim Roddey has long been known for being quotable, and he added to that reputation tonight in a joke equating Obama supporters with the mentally disabled.

Roddey as usual acted as MC at the election night party for state Rep. Randy Vulakovich, R-Shaler, who won the special election to fill convicted state Sen. Jane Orie's seat in Pittsburgh's northern suburbs. Vulakovich beat Democrat Sharon Brown at about 74-26%, which Roddey said "is the largest margin we've had in 50 years!"

That got a huge response from the partisan GOP crowd of about 200 people at Vulakovich's party, whereupon Roddey went into his Obama joke.

"There was a disappointment tonight. I was very embarrassed. I was in this parking lot and there was a man looking for a space to park, and I found a space for him. And I felt badly -- he looked like he was sort of in distress. And I said, 'Sir, here's a place.' And he said, 'That's a handicapped space.' I said, 'Oh I'm so sorry, I saw that Obama sticker and I thought you were mentally retarded."

For the record, he's since apologized:

In email today, Mr. Roddey called his remarks "regrettable," and added, "I have a long record of supporting people with disabilities and should have remembered that before I spoke. My remarks were inappropriate and I apologize."

By the way, the crowd reportedly "hollered and clapped" at Roddey's inappropriate and regrettable remarks.  None of them have reportedly apologized.

I was wondering just how big of an embarrassment was this for Mr Roddey?  That is to say, how far did the story get?  Let's see.

There's the left leaning Huffingtonpost:

A long-time Pennsylvania GOP official reportedly earned a warm reception Tuesday for comparing a supporter of President Obama to someone who is "mentally retarded."

And the right leaning Blaze:

Jim Roddey, reportedly a long-time Pennsylvania GOP official and county chair, is making headlines after implying that a driver is “mentally retarded” for having an Obama bumper sticker on his car.

Do you like how they're distancing themselves from Roddey there? He's not described as the head of the Allegheny County GOP, but "reportedly a long time Pennsylvania GOP official."  As if there's some doubt.

The story made it onto the Political Wire and the Daily Caller and Mediaite.

So the story spread far and wide, at least among political...uh...junkies.  And that's gotta be embarrassing for Mr Roddey.

Hey, did you know that Roddey's on the Board of Trustees for the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy?

That's the local conservative think-tank whose foundation support is made up almost entirely of Scaife money.  The same Scaife that owns the another Pittsburgh News outlet, the Tribune-Review.

Hey, did you know that the Trib has not yet mentioned Roddey's inappropriate and regrettable attempt at humor?

Interesting, isn't it?

Fact-Checking Jim Roddey (I Think)

I happened to catch a few minutes of Jim Roddey and Joe Mistik on PCNC this evening.

As part of the discussion of the necessity of keeping National Defense spending high, I think I heard former County Commissioner Roddey say something like, "Right now China is building more aircraft carriers and submarines that we have."

I must've heard him wrong.  That can't possibly be true.  How do I know this?

Well, let's start with the aircraft carriers.

According to this page, there are 10 active Aircraft Carriers in the US Navy and according to this article at the Daily Mail, China is building its first aircraft carrier.  And ""building" is not exactly correct because:

General Chen Bingde is the first Chinese military official to confirm one of the world's worst-kept secrets, but he refused to say when the carrier - a remodelled Soviet-era vessel - would be ready.

The 1,000ft Varyag, which is being built in the north-east port of Dalian, was originally constructed for the Soviet navy in the 1980s.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it languished in dockyards in the Ukraine before a Chinese company bought it in 1998 claiming it wanted to turn it into a floating casino in Macau.

Refurbishment work is expected to be nearly finished, and the aircraft carrier could being sea trials later this year.[emphasis added.]

So rebuilding is more like it.  10 US carriers vs 1 Chinese carrier and it's not even ready yet.

How about those submarines?

According to, again,The Navy, there are 46 active attack submarines, 14 ballistic missile submarines, and 4 guided missile submarines.  That's 68 active submarines by my count.

According to sinodefense.com, China has 63 submarines - but Roddey said they were building more than we have.  Are they building more than 68 submarines?

I can't see it.

Did you know that, according to global issues, the US accounts for 43% of the entire planet's military spending.  China only accounts for 7.3%.

So somehow I am thinking China is NOT building more aircraft carriers and submarines than the US.

So I must've heard Roddey wrong.  He couldn't possibly have been this wrong.

More On Chuck McCullough (Yet Again)

Today, I am quoting the Trib but not to criticize what it says there. I'm just setting the stage:

What a mess: A judge once again has delayed the felony theft trial of Chuck McCullough of Upper St. Clair. And that means Republican voters could nominate for Allegheny County chief executive a fella in the May primary who, if convicted, would have to be yanked from the November ballot. Mr. McCullough, you'll recall, won an at-large County Council seat four years ago, after the criminal investigation was publicly known. Democrats are highly amused.

There are two more amusing things to be found at the P-G. First some more info from McNulty:

Republican county executive candidate Chuck McCullough got some great news last week.

Just about every story on the attorney and former Allegheny County councilman-at-large mentions two things: that he's awaiting trial on charges he stole money from elderly client, and that the trial is set May 9, just a week before the May 17 primary. Can you take the second half of that out of the boilerplate.

Last week Common Pleas Court Judge Donald Machen granted a postponement of the trial, as requested by defense attorney Patrick Thomassey. They plan to schedule a new one this week.

McCullough was charged in February 2009.

He is running against tech executive and Mt. Lebanon commissioner D. Raja for the party's nod for exec. Tea party official Patti Weaver dropped from the race March 23.

The postponement, we are told, is due to an out of state personal matter Chuck's defense attorney has to attend to.

In case you've forgotten the charges, here's the what the P-G had to say in February, 2009:

The Allegheny County councilman accused nearly two years ago of improperly making $40,000 in political contributions from an elderly widow's trust fund has been charged with 23 criminal counts, including theft, misapplication of property, criminal conspiracy and making false reports.

Charles P. McCullough, who was elected in 2007 after some of the allegations had come to light, was arrested yesterday and released on $20,000 straight bond.

Also charged was Mr. McCullough's sister, Kathleen, who is named in relation to the trust account in the jury presentment. She also was charged in a separate embezzlement case.

His sister's already been convicted of that separate embezzlement case, though Chuck was involved in that case, too.

And why is this so amusing? From the other report at Early Returns yesterday:

The first poll on the GOP side of the county executive race shows Chuck McCullough with a 6-point lead over D. Raja, with a lot of undecideds and high negatives for both candidates, according to PoliticsPa.

An automated poll of 385 registered Republicans by Municipoll for PP showed McCullough with 30% to 24% for Raja, with 46% undecided and a 5 point MoE. The high negatives? 21% for McCullough and 18% for Raja.

From PoliticsPa:

However, McCullough’s pending legal issues seem to have put a dent in his approval ratings. A mere 5.4 percent of voters have a favorable impression of the Councilman, who has been accused of defrauding an elderly widow. (The Post-Gazette reported Sunday that his trial has been postponed until after the May 17 primary). 21 percent have a negative opinion of McCullough, with 73 percent undecided.

The local powers that be in the GOP are not happy. From the Trib:

The delay could bring political help or damage to McCullough, 56, a Republican from Upper St. Clair, said GOP Chairman Jim Roddey. But it's definitely bad for Republicans, he said.

If McCullough would defeat D. Raja, 45, of Mt. Lebanon in the primary, but gets convicted of bilking the multimillion-dollar estate of widow Shirley Jordan before the general election in November, he would have to be removed from the ballot.

"Unfortunately, I think there's a real risk," Roddey said. "I don't know what the contingency plan would be."

So with all that bad press (and some serious legal action pending) McCullough is still 6 points up among likely Republican voters and nearly three quarters are still undecided?

THAT'S amusing. Even from a non-Democrat like me.