Racism

Local Press Apologize For Paul LePage

Dear America: we're sorry for Paul LePage.

That's the message of the Portland Press Herald editorial board which published an editorial apologizing to the rest of the nation for electing Paul LePage twice.

It would be nice to think that Le-Page would reflect on what he says and learn from these incidents, but he appears to be completely incapable of change. He will probably blame the media again for any embarrassment he suffers, but everyone has heard the tape and knows what the governor said.

What tape is the editorial board referring to?

It could be this one:

LEPAGE: "You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy, and the enemy right now -- the overwhelming majority of people coming in -- are people of color or people of Hispanic origin."

You could be forgiven if you thought the state of Maine had hit rock bottom on Friday morning when LePage openly fantasized about shooting a state lawmaker, but the above video made its way across the web Friday night.

Many people, including myself and the Democratic party of Maine, called on LePage to resign before any of us saw the above video, because saying you want to shoot and kill a representative in a duel is quite enough. LePage's insistence that people of color are "the enemy" was actually his attempt to apologize for saying he wants to kill a state lawmaker.

LePage hasn't resigned yet and I don't expect he will because he has no shame or integrity, but he should be asked to resign every time he shows his face in public. Some Democratic state lawmakers are exploring the option to impeach LePage while Republican lawmakers consider a vote to censure him.

The ACLU of Maine has filed an open records request for LePage's binder full of black and Hispanic drug dealers because, if such a thing really exists, it could be evidence of unconstitutional racial profiling.