Maine Governor Paul LePage Attacks Opponent With Homophobic Slurs, Wishes He Could Shoot Him

Gov. Paul LePage (R-Maine) is a well-known nutjob who sticks out as a lunatic even by the very low standards of America’s Republican party. Here’s a representative quote from him, on the heroin epidemic in Maine:

“These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty – these types of guys – they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home. Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road.”

Earlier this week, he suggested that 90 percent of people arrested in Maine for selling drugs were black or Hispanic, based on some binders filled with photographs he supposedly keeps. (The Portland-Press Herald reports that no numbers are available at the moment, but that in 2012, the Bureau of Labor reported that 38 percent of those arrested for drug trafficking were black.) Later, when confronted about the statement, he had this to say to reporters:

“Let me tell you something: Black people come up the highway and they kill Mainers. You ought to look into that!”

So you see what you’re getting with this dude. Which brings us to this week, when a TV reporter told the Governor that Rep. Drew Gattine, a Democrat in the Maine State House, called LePage a racist. Gattine denied it, but I don’t see why—the overwhelming bulk of the evidence points to the fact that yes, LePage is indeed a racist. Nevertheless, before this denial came about, LePage left quite the voicemail on Gattine’s phone. We won’t blur out the actual language in the text below, so be warned that bad language follows. Here’s what LePage said:

Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage. I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you cocksucker. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cocksucker. You … I need you to, just friggin. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you.”

This is good, because now we can add “homophobe” to “racist.” In a hugely misguided attempt to take control of the story, LePage then invited reporters to his home for a personal interview, at which he said he’d like to shoot Gattine, Aaron Burr style:

“When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825,” LePage said. “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. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this Legislature to help move the state forward.”

Holy shit, Maine—why is this guy your governor???