Voinovich says ‘Southerners’ remark was off-record

Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio may have had an uncomfortable lunch Tuesday with some of his Republican Senate colleagues, but he tried to make amends on the way into the caucus lunch by telling The Hill that his ‘southerners’ remark was supposed to be off-the-record.

Voinovich was quoted in the Columbus Disptach on Monday, blaming right-wing Republicans for the downfall of the party as a whole.

“We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns,” Voinovich reportedly said. “It’s the southerners… They get on TV and go ‘errrr, errrrr.’ People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'”

Voinovich’s explanation: “That comment was made off-the-record and I don’t know how it got in the paper.”

“I have nothing else to say about it.”

–J. Taylor Rushing