A Pennsylvania Republican official suggested Tuesday that a man was “mentally retarded” because he was a supporter of President Barack Obama.
Jim Roddey, the Allegheny County GOP chair and former county executive, made the joke at a victory party for a candidate for state senate who was elected Tuesday in a special election, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
“There was a disappointment tonight. I was very embarrassed,” Roddey said. “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,'” Roddey continued. “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.”
The crowd was reportedly highly amused, and “hollered and clapped” at the joke.
The Post-Gazette noted that Roddey is a long-time “vocal supporter” of Mitt Romney.
Neither the Romney campaign nor the Obama campaign immediately responded to request for comment.