Alex Constantine - October 22, 2012
He also told the NAACP to "kiss my butt" ...
By Alex Constantine
(New Castle, DE) -- Delaware's Democratic Party has asked GOP candidate Jeff Craig, "along with all Republicans in Delaware," to denounce recent inflammatory statements made by Maine Governor Paul LePage, who is backed by the state's Tea Party.
LePage recently compared the IRS to the Gestapo, reports the Portland Press Herald: "Regarding the Supreme Court’s upholding the Affordable Care Act, LePage said, 'you must buy health insurance or pay the new Gestapo -- the I.R.S'.'"
LePage subsequently apologized for his “Gestapo” statement. "But," notes the Washington Post, "the apology apparently was directed to the Jewish community, and not to IRS federal workers, as their union demanded."
In September, Governor LePage said that he would tell President Obama to “go to hell.” He also referred to the NAACP as a "special interest," and suggested that the civil rights organization “kiss my butt” when he announced he would not be attending an event honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The examples of Governor LePage’s hostile comments are pretty endless,” said Delaware Democratic Party Executive Director Joe Aronson. “Above all, comparing the IRS to the Gestapo is not only unfounded, but also insulting. Governor LePage trivialized the experience of Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans who witnessed true terror. We ask simply, is this the kind of degrading and extreme attitude Jeff Cragg condones?”
The Kenbebec Journal reports that Gov. LePage's "blunt, straight-talking style and occasional ideological stubbornness have earned him both praise and disappointment among Mainers." The governor's constituency approval rating stands at 37-39 percent, per the Maine People's Resource Center and North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling. Only "somewhat conservative" to "very conservative" voters approve of the Governor. The Public Policy poll showed the Tea Party incumbent trailing a generic Democratic contender by a 48-to-40 margin.