Apparently, when it comes to comedy, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo likes to work blue.
Taking the stage at a St. Patrick’s Day political roast in Salem on Friday, the mild-mannered Winthrop Democrat delivered a series of curse-filled lines that could have been ripped from a Redd Foxx routine.
“The governor’s in Israel,’’ he said, according to The Salem News. “The Senate president is going to Helsinki. And I’m in a [expletive] like Salem.’’
“I’m the speaker, and I can do any [expletive] thing I want,’’ he added. “You guys can laugh or not. I don’t give a [expletive].’’
Showing he’s really ready for the nightclub circuit, DeLeo even worked in an off-color joke about actor Charlie Sheen.
“Someone asked me ‘How much cocaine do you think he does?’ ’’ DeLeo asked. “I said, ‘Enough to kill ‘Two and a Half Men.’ ’’
Thank you, folks! You’ve been a great audience! Don’t forget to tip your waitress.
Next up for you tonight: DeLeo’s spokesman, Seth Gitell. Give him a big hand.
“Speaker DeLeo has only the highest regard for the historic city of Salem,’’ Gitell said in a straight-faced statement late Friday. “His comments this morning came as part of a lighthearted St. Patrick’s Day breakfast and were made in that spirit.’’
— Michael Levenson
Newton mayor, Obama talk about upcoming Senate raceMayor Setti Warren of Newton is sending conflicting signals about whether he’s considering a run for the US Senate.
This past week, the Democrat was in attendance when President Obama visited TechBoston Academy, which is in Dorchester — not Chestnut Hill.
When a Globe reporter asked Warren if he had met with Obama before his speech, the mayor said, “Yes.’’ But when Warren was asked if the president had encouraged him to challenge Republican Senator Scott Brown next year, the mayor just smiled.
After a reporter sent wrote on Twitter about Setti’s non-answer, the mayor picked up the phone and called.
Yes, he said, he and Obama had talked about the Senate. No, he said, the president had not asked him to run. Obama simply mentioned he had heard Warren was considering a race, the mayor said.
Little more than a day later, Warren rekindled speculation about his candidacy with a tweet of his own.
“@MayorWarren: appalled @scottbrownma voted for H.R. 1. Would result in 17,000 jobs lost in MA,’’ it said.
— Glen Johnson
Big Dig legacy dogs state, even in IsraelOn his trade mission in Israel last week, Governor Deval Patrick tried to market Massachusetts as a center of innovation, technology, and science.
But the state just cannot shake its legacy as the home of the Big Dig.
The project — with its staggering cost overruns, long delays, and a fatal tunnel collapse — casts a shadow that reached all the way to the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, where Patrick met with graduates of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government on Friday.
One of those graduates, Shlomit Doten-Gissin, told the governor she was working on an 11-mile light rail project in Tel Aviv that will involve building 5 miles of track underground.
“I don’t want it to be like the Big Dig,’’ she said.
Patrick acknowledged the project’s problems. But he wasn’t about to take the blame.
“I did not manage the Big Dig,’’ he told Doten-Gissin. “I just want that to be on the record.’’
— Noah Bierman
Tweet(s) of the weekAs Governor Deval Patrick traveled through Israel last week on a trade mission that included Boston-area business and science leaders, we were impressed by the torrent of tweets from his travel companions. They provided minute-by-minute updates and allowed those of us at home to follow along on the international adventure. Here are two that we felt best summarized the week:
Quoting Israeli venture capitalist Ed Mlavsky, Diane Hessan, chief executive of the market research firm Communispace (@communispaceceo), told us why Israel is such a draw for science and technology types: “Mlavsky: If you’re a techy, Israel is like going to FAO Schwarz as a kid.’’
And Helene Solomon (@HeleneSolomon), chief executive of the public relations firm Solomon McCown & Co., told us how Patrick marks the mission’s success: “Gov defines successful trade mission by how many relationships you make, how many new ideas you get.’’
