Campaign Action
Paul LePage, the clearly incompetent and forever erratic Republican governor of Maine, says that despite earlier reports (from himself), he will not be resigning from office. In the wake of the release of an obscenity-filled tirade of a voicemail message LePage left for a Democratic state representative, however, he has settled on another solution.
“I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today,” he said.
“And I’m serious. Everything will be put into writing. I’m tired of being caught in the gotcha moments.”
LePage has indeed been "caught" in a steady stream of "gotcha moments" of his own making. The one intertwined with the aforementioned voice message, for example, would be his press conference assertion that "the enemy right now," in his state's war on drugs, is "people of color."
For at least a year, in fact, the press has been openly questioning his competence, his integrity, and even his sanity. He's avoided impeachment so far solely because state legislators could not muster the collective will to do so.
All right, so now the sitting governor of a state says he'll no longer be speaking to the press at all, because his continually saying stupid and racist things is, of course, their fault. Got it. Oh, and he says he won't be seeking "professional help,” as lawmakers urged him to do, but will seek "spiritual guidance." Presumably so that his next racist tirade will sound more holy, or ... something.
“I’m not an alcoholic and I’m not a drug addict and I don’t have mental issues,” LePage said. “What I have is a backbone, and I want to move Maine forward.”