The Governor this morning said “some of the things I am being asked to do are beyond my ability” and added ‘maybe it is time to move on’. (I would point out that saying that LePage is of two minds still leaves him within the margin of error of having none at all.) First, he goes on the radio and says he’s open to the possibility of resigning.
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But yesterday, he went further, saying it’s a “fact” they came from the two MA cities, as well as NY and CT.
He seemed to toy with the idea of stepping down as governor, saying if he has lost his ability to convince ME residents he’s the right person for the job then “maybe it is the time to move on”.
During an interview with WVOM, a talk-radio station in the city of Bangor, LePage said he was “looking at all options” when it came to finishing out his second term in office.
“When I was called a racist I just lost it, and there’s no excuse”, the governor said. He’s also come under fire for claiming to keep a “three-ringed binder” of all the drug dealers arrested in ME, of which he says more than 90 percent are black and Hispanic.
“He made it seem like he was being force to give an apology to Drew Gattine and I only think the governor should sit down with Drew Gattine if he is actually ready to give a honest apology to Drew”. Gattine denied it, and Maine Democrats called for LePage to stop repeating the claim. He said of the drug dealers, “These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty – these types of guys – they come from CT and NY, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home”. In the message, LePage threatened the state representative and called him a “socialist cocksucker”.
So in a weird way, it might be better for the Democrat’s agenda for LePage to stay on as governor, because with him in office he renders the Maine GOP ineffective and almost useless. “It’s not something that I’ve ever called anybody”, he said. “It’s unacceptable. It’s totally my fault”, LePage said. “Racist is like a word-I just can’t explain it-it’s like calling a black man the “n” word or a woman the “c” word”.
“I still believe that way”, said LePage.
“We deserve a leader who respects all Mainers, not a homophobic governor who uses anti-gay slurs for his petty personal attacks”, said Equality Maine, a statewide LGBT advocacy group, in a message it posted to its Facebook page last week.
“The governor needs to also admit that what he continues to say about race is wrong”, McCabe said. He said state House Republicans indicated they would like to “salvage what we can and move forward”, whereas state Senate Republicans are “making demands”.
In Thursday’s voicemail, LePage urged Gattine to prove he was a racist, and encouraged him to release the recording.
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“And we would have a duel, that’s how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton”. Given LePage’s m.o., it seems just as likely the Maine Republican will wait a while, see if the controversy fades from public view, and hope people lose interest in his self-inflicted wounds.
