Associated Press
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) raised eyebrows last week when he called the IRS "the new Gestapo." Soon after, he issued a statement saying "the use of the word Gestapo has clouded my message," but in person, the governor didn't sound especially apologetic.
This morning, LePage appeared in Vermont, where he spoke at a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Brock, and the far-right Maine Republican started the mess all over again (thanks to reader B.S. for the tip).
Standing by Brock's side at the Sheraton in South Burlington, the Maine governor said, "What I am trying to say is the Holocaust was a horrific crime against humanity and, frankly, I would never want to see that repeated. Maybe the IRS is not quite as bad -- yet."
LePage then said, "They're headed in that direction."
Asked if he had a sense of what the Gestapo did during the second world war, LePage said, "Yeah, they killed a lot of people." Asked whether the IRS "was headed in the direction of killing a lot of people," LePage answered: "Yeah."
If you're skeptical that LePage could be this absurd, there's an audio recording of the exchange.
So, in the mind of the governor of Maine, the IRS reminds him of Nazis, then he's sorry, then he's comfortable saying the IRS is headed in the "direction" of Nazis and "killing a lot of people."
During the same appearance, LePage was asked if his comments might be seen as offensive. "Well, let's put it this way," he replied. "I apologize to Jewish Americans if they feel offended. But I also apologize to Japanese Americans that were put in prison during World War II."
Asked whether the IRS is heading in the direction of interning people, LePage said: "I don't know. I don't know."
For the record, LePage did not appear to be kidding.
Leave a Comment:
...And I'd like to apologize to civilized people everywhere for the existance of this walking talking crime against humanity. I mean, he hasn't commited any crimes against humanity...Yet. That I know of. I mean, I don't know what crimes he's committed.
But, he is certainly headed in that direction.
Thank you both for the best joke of the day!
...er...I mean next to LePage
All this does is normalize this sort of speech. Yelling "Socialist" non-stop by the right wing noise machine resulted in what? The Useful Idiot wingnut, ignorant of what a Socialist is, walking around calling any Democrat, especially Obama, or any policy using government, Socialist.
This language is already common in riff-raff wingnuttia. This is their universe. These people are beyond the point of good faith discussion. They need unrelenting public ridicule, scorn, and humiliation. To be shunned. Nothing else will work. Only attacks on their person will work.
Without going all Godwin on you , these were exactly the kind of gullible fools that allowed a certain person , located in a middle European country in the earlier part of the 20th century to come to power.
Feed their stupidity , give them someone to hate , lie to them with propaganda .
Good formula - Works
I am so sick of these angry "up in arms" people saying inflammatory untrue things.
How can it be that they are elected and are we that far gone as to want idiotic ranters to embarrass us all?
Pssstt…. The children are watching.
This particular dumbass was elected because his state has first past the post elections. The Democrat and the Progressive 3rd party candidate together had substantially more votes than he did, but he won the plurality vote and decided that he had a mandate to humiliate the state on a daily basis.
This would be a good time for LePage to stop using Allen West's (R.FL) speechwriter.
For the record, LePage did not appear to be thinking, either, but that's not exactly a surprise.
No, thinking is NOT his strong suit. I've been trying since he got in office to find a strong suit that is not offensive to people. He is such a buffoon.
Once again, these people are an embarrassment to logical, critically thinking people everywhere! Yet another perfect example of why an education is sooooo important!
Can someone tell me why the lunatics are ruining the asylum?
To be fair to mainers, only 38%, of those who voted, voted for the guy...
I suppose he's just been sniffing too much of the lobster sauce lately....
he only won by default...the rest of the votes split between Democrat, independent and green party....I'm hoping we won't be doing that again!
Why do you think that some Republicans have been calling Angus King, the second Democrat in the Senate race? It's because they know that a lot of people are terrified of having a repeat of the 2010 election.
I still haven't decided who I'm voting for, but it's either going to be Dill or King, definitely not Charlie "I see voter fraud when there isn't any" Summers.
Honestly, I don't know how these kooks get through the day. Imagine living, 24/7, in the world that people like LePage perceive when they look around! Imagine what it must be like to struggle through life without the logical skills of a normal 10-year-old! It's gotta be tough.
If I guess to guess, it's the whole holier-than-thou C-street 'no need to practice what you preach' mentality coupled with all the dollar signs they see when selling us out.
Actually, I bet they're blissfully unaware of a lot of things.
The constant paranoid fears should be crippling - but somehow, they keep on living, they actually seem to thrive on "tales of terror" and other nonsense.
Also, one would think their paranoid fears would abate when they keep getting proven wrong, but no - they go to great lengths to keep believing their nonsense in spite of mountains of evidence against it, or else they drop one paranoid fantasy and replace it with a new one.
Thing is, most paranoid nutters like this follow the "Lays potato chip Theory of High Weirdness" - they can't stop at just one. If someone is into UFOs, they're probably also into Astrology, crystal powers, channeling, hidden civilizations, etc. Someone into "IRS=Gestapo" is probably also into birtherism, "9/11 truth" conspiracies, "One world Order", UN taking their guns conspiracies, FEMA death camp conspiracies, Illuminati/freemason/Bilderburger conspiracies, "faked moon landing" conspiracies, suppressed 100 mpg carburetors, etc.
Maybe somebody should ask what other nutty conspiracies LePage is into...
It doesn't seem to be a problem for them. For one thing, if you're really that crazy, there's nothing really holding you back. And with all the unholy terrors they feel they are surrounded by, they must feel they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So they just go for it, full throttle, recklessly gambling every day. When they win, they win big. When they lose, they lose it all.
What a lunatic.
You know if I ran around my workplace shouting about Nazis and the Gestapo I would probably be fired or atleast sent to sensetivity seminars. How do these people get away with this without consequences? The state of Maine is his work place, he works for the people, the people of Maine need to firmly tell this guys he's a vaginal herpie that needs curing.
Really ! You and I would be gone
Has Randy Brock offered any comment yet? What about other Republican party leaders in Vermont? Are they at all embarrassed by all the craziness coming out of Republicans across the country these days?
yeah, randy brock says that a lot of interesting things have been done in maine since lepage became governor, and he'd like to know more about them.
i'm a vermonter, and i always thought randy brock was a fool. now he has confirmed to me he is actually a f**king moron.
smart vermonters have nothing to do with the tea party crazies.
He's a Maineiac, Maineiac on the floor!
And he's ranting like he never ranted before.
LePage, like many other Republicans, provide enough material for Dems to portray the right as a radical fringe. The local Dems need to begin working toward the next state elections with the motto "Vote Dem because we are sane."
I'm sure we'll see quite a bit in the next few months. Maine is going to be an interesting state to watch some the fall, not just with State elections. We have our Senate race which could have a major influence on the balance of that chamber. Plus, there's a marriage equality question on the ballot, so there's all that intrigue, especially with NOM still violating Maine election laws.
Senate and House terms are only two year terms. So, I'm hoping that come November at least one if not both turn over to Democratic control.
It's always amusing to read the conservatives complain about how Maine Democrats have had legislative majorities for 40 years until the 2010 elections, and now they've gone and proven why they don't get the car keys that often. Of course, in that time, there were a couple of Independent governors and a Republican governor, too, not just Democrats. Then again, those pesky facts mean nothing to conservatives.
Yes, that is a good motto. That and "vote for me, I'm not like LePage."
To be fair, "They're headed in that direction" were the reporter's words. The reporter baited LePage. Whether or LePage's comments are extreme, or agreeable, those words should not have been quoted. That's basic journalism.
But LePage did say it and the reporter wanted clarification or context, LePage could answer it in his own words.
I think the reporter was trying to get to the back story or the 5th "W" of journalism, "why", why the IRS is heading the direction of the gestapo?
I applaud the reporter and it is needed to expose the rhetoric for what it is. Why do people feel what they feel, just asking.
And yet, why do I suspect Maine will keep re-electing this fool until he's ready to leave office - probably to run for president.
I'm a Mainer, and I have yet to hear a single person I know utter anything positive about him. It sucks that more than 60% of the voters cast their vote for someone else (and those "someone elses" were mostly all progressives), and we got stuck with this nonsense. He does not represent the majority of Mainers. I am praying he gets tossed out!
@ Meg
He had more votes than the other 2... but don't let your memory get too clouded here. The last 2 governors (King- I, Baldacci - D) also ran in 3 way races, but I doubt that you had a problem with either of them not getting 51% because of the 3 way race.
As a sidebar, I feel the "gestapo" comment was trumped up by a bunch of Dems and Media trying to find something to be offended about. None of them seemed to care about the Nazi refrences made against the Republicans during the Bush years in the STATE HOUSE when the state house in Augusta was spending 100s of hrs of taxpayer time passing resolutions (that had no binding effect whatsoever) against the W admn and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They (Dems and their media lapdogs bought and paid for by Chellie Pingree's Husband) have had a beef w/ Lepage since day 1, and will feign their "offense" at every one of his comments at every turn. face it: when LePage took office over from Baldacci, we were ranked 42nd on the list of best states to have a business (basically the 8th worst), in the 2 short years since, we've moved up the chain to #35....
I have a problem with ANYONE using these terms for any reason other than to teach children a History class. It is not a Gestapo, this is not the Holocaust, someone who disagrees with you politically is not a Nazi.
People speak in extreme hyperbole when they are incapable of clearly communicating their point. It's like dealing with a 4 year old bargaining for a pony.
This guy really makes me ashamed to be from Maine. Please realize that he did NOT win the governorship with a majority. He won by 38 percent in a 4 way contest. I trust the good people of Maine will kick him out in 2014.
To be fair, he did clarify later in the article. I think you should mention that.
I kinda agree w/Brandon (#14). This guy's statements kinda stand on their own; no need to fan the flames. While I'm glad these comments got reported so that he's exposed as an a$$, I'd rather have the reporter ask something like
"Well, what specific IRS actions are you referring to, sir? What is the IRS doing today that reminds you of the Gestapo?"
or, maybe as a follow-up:
"Are you aware, sir, that federal tax burdens are at historic lows; this seems to be an odd complaint, given the circumstances - dontcha think?"
My point is that by baiting this dumb-a$$, sure, the reporter got a more sensational story, prolly got more click-throughs. But we, as a society, as a country, the last thing we need is more sensationalism. What we need is for the press to confront those in power, and hold them accountable for their dumb-a$$ery.
Isn't MSNBC the press? But I agree, the ignoramuses do not need to fan flames. We have to push the media in the main stream to ask for specifics and stop trying to make it funny or sensational to showcase the dumb-a$$ery and say, these clowns are really hurting Americans.
We and the media are doing the country a disservice to allow them to get away with such nonsense without showing what crackpots they are for shaking their fists at America.
But Walker has his schtick down with his blinky eyelids and even tone to say crap that isn't true, to present working people as the problem in a calm manner is just as radical as calling the media an idiot for asking a question and get away with or applause for such crassness.
Again, the children are watching and learning, so is this really the role model you want?
It's not just children. There are plenty of impressionable adults.
True, the reporter asked if they're headed in that direction, but LePage responded by repeating the phrases and said "Yeah, they're headed in that direction." Pretty clear to me he meant what he said.
You would think by now he would just say "I have already discussed this issue at length, no further comment." I am waiting for the next State Republican Op-ed smack down.
Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen again. It was remarkable that they did it in the first place, but it was just for show more than anything. People forget the letter said, they agreed with his agenda, just not how he was presenting it and himself to the public.
There were a few instances where, at least in the Maine Senate, a bill passed unanimously, and then the Republicans voted to uphold the Governor's veto. I don't remember the specific bills off the top of my head, but it showed me how gutless these Republicans actually are. The quotes from some of the prominent Republicans in the Maine Senate and House aren't good enough.
Actually it is the GOP war against Obamacare that would kill way more people tahn the IRS.
Love that "frankly." The word is normally used when you're going to say something that you expect your audience will find surprising or disagreeable.
And bringing up the Gestapo right away is a common rhetorical error with people like LePage. I mean, what's he got left now to compare the EPA to?
This guy was voted in with only 38% of the vote. Unfortunately there were 2 better candidates running and the majority of voters got split between those two (and 4 other candidates that siphoned off some votes). The majority of Maine people (myself included) did not want this guy in office. LePage is an embarrassment. Every time he opens his mouth something completely insane and embarrassing comes out and his job performance is terrible. A recent poll shows that a lot of people who had voted for him would change their minds if they were allowed to go back and do it again.
Do tea partiers have THE biggest mouths of all politicians, or does it just seem that way?
Republican Party nuttiness of the late 1970's, all grown up---in a manner of speaking.