who blogs at Dirigo Blue and Kennebec Blues
It seems our Governor up here in the upper right hand corner (Maine) and a certain scary ex-Senator have some common ground, they both lose their cool and swear at reporters using the same vocabulary:
The real concern on this matter is not really the cattle yard word choice or even getting all hot and bothered. It is the fact that each just outright refuse to answer a direct question by blowing off reporters in anger.
Paul LePage told an Maine Public Broadcasting Network reporter, “Let’s stop the bullshit and let’s answer the questions the way they should be answered.” LePage wanted to control both the question and answer, a complete failure in understanding public accountability.
Rick Santorum goes a little further with his meltdown opinion of reporting in angrily dressing down New York Times reporter, Jeff Zeleny, “Quit distorting ‘our’ words…if I see it, it’s bullshit. Come on man what are you doing?” Santorum is using the same impulse as BS Brother Paul, devaluing and dismissing reasonable journalistic inquiry.
Despite the caveat that BS Brother Rick deployed to say his comment about Romney was very specifically tailored to only health care, it is clear that is unclear, making Santorum and LePage brothers-in-lies as well.
And Santorum went on to try to make macho sound bite hay about this on FOX by saying:
“If you haven’t cursed out a New York Times reporter during the course of a campaign, you’re not really a real Republican is the way I look at it.”
Mr. Sanctimonious Santorum also used his meltdown in an email fundraising appeal reported by The Hill asking for $30 (a NYT subscription price):
“Earlier today, while campaigning in Wisconsin, I criticized Romney and Obama for their outrageous healthcare legislation. Predictably, I was aggressively attacked by a New York Times reporter all too ready to defend the two of them, and all too ready to distort my words. Let me assure you, I didn’t back down, and I didn’t let him bully me. I think it is high time that conservatives find the courage to expose the liberal press for what they are, a defender and enabler of Romney’s and Obama’s liberal agendas.”
Mr. Santorum’s thin skin and open press bashing is being appropriately exposed. We in Maine do recognize and warn all of the folly and danger of a Santorum run should he be nominated, based on our unproductive experience with his fellow curser, our misfortunate for us tea party Governor, Paul LePage.