HATING Paul LePage
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THE LIMITS OF BI-PARTISANSHIP. (Modified from a column that appeared this week. Recycles some of the material in my Beem blast.
“To tell the tale of Maine’s governor,
I could stories unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their
spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:”
If ever the liberal commentary on Paul LePage and his administration is collected in a single volume this paraphrase from Bill Shakespeare’s Hamlet would make a suitable introductory quote.
Our governor has been accuses of planning to crush union movement, fascistic attacking artistic freedom, despising poetry, plotting to poison the little children, wreaking havoc on the week, bashing the teachers, selling out the state to corporate interests, manufacturing a pension crisis, suppressing dissent within the administration, and much, much more, More everyday in the LTTE pages.
The unstated, but inescapable, assumption appears to be that Paul woke up one morning not long ago and said to himself: “Gee, wouldn’t it be fun to make war on the poor and working class.” Then he summoned Bill Beardsley, Bruce Poliquin, Darryl Brown, et al. and explained his plan. After their diabolical cackling died down they presumably all toasted him with beakers of blood, rolled up their sleeves and set about their evil work.
Can one man have so much evil in his soul?
Are we really expected to believe that it is love of art, not hatred of the governor, that motivates a furious flock of hullabaloozers who have worked themselves into frenzy over a bit of comic-book art that few had ever heard of, and fewer ever seen?
The aggravation by the teachers and other public employees over the governor’s proposed pension reforms is more understandable. Prof. Thomas Sowell has pointed out the paradox here.. It works like this, when someone writes you a check for a thousand dollars and the bank tells you the hornswoggler’s account can’t cover it, you don’t blame the bank, the blame the rubber check writer. But when a governor tells pensioners there isn’t enough money to cover the promises made by previous politicians, they blame the governor not the past promise-makers. That’s just they way it is and no argument can overcome this reaction.
Inevitably, the most exaggerated rhetoric comes from the environmentalist extremists. I have before me four columns and an editorial. All agree that LePage is plotting to return Maine’s environmental conditions to the 1950s. His proposals will “Effectively roll back half-century’s worth of environmental and public health protections” says one. The editorial writer believes that “...the document suggests a change in direction that would reverse decades worth of work..” Another warns “This could be the turning point in Maine’s environmental movement, the point at which the gains of the last decades are reversed “ Lisa Pohlmann of NRCM tells us that “If we allow these repeals to happen, it would really take Maine back to the 1950s.”
Governor LePage’s fundamental principle for his reforms is that Maine’s environmental regulations should not exceed the standards set by the federal government. Anyone who really believes that existing federal regulations would permit the environmental standards prevailing in the ‘fifties is (I can say this since I don’t hold public office) an idiot.
But let’s be fair. They may not really believe it. They may only be trying to stir up hatred against the governor.
I have talked to people recently who have not been politically opinionated in past years, and they are paying careful attention and supporting LePage. I therefore predict his approval numbers will hold up.
That's what I'm hearing and sensing, too. The bazooka of left-wing criticism is fizzling in the forward thrust and clearing the backblast area instead.
After their diabolical cackling died down they presumably all toasted him with beakers of blood, rolled up their sleeves and set about their evil work.
Damn, Flamm, you have a way with words.
Hmmmm , I'm sure on a cloudy day like this some of the trolls will feel safe enough to come out and sight chapter and verse the evil that Gov Lepage will wreak or has already done.
After their diabolical cackling died down they presumably all toasted him with beakers of blood, rolled up their sleeves and set about their evil work.
I have it from a reliable source that work on LePage's official portrait has already begun.
I have an email from Scott Wasser, VP & Executive Editor of the PPH stating, " I can assure you that Mr. Nemitz neither hates Paul LePage nor has a vendetta against him." The perception that we as readers get from the rantings of Nemitz is that he does. What is needed is a few thousand PPH and MST readers to threaten to stop their subscriptions to that rag. That is how I got the reply from the paper. I told them I was sick and tired of the repeated garbage that Nemitz was spouting and should it continue I was seriously considering giving up my subscription. Wasser's reply was condescending, snooty and indicated that Nemitz's rantings were only his perspective. Yeah, right!
Well written Flam.....would love to see it appear in the BDN.
Don't Nemitz and the Press Herald hold full and direct responsibility for the numerous threats that have been made against LePage? These liberals need to learn and understand that what you say has consequences, and deliberately inciting violence from what they say and write is one of them.
Just like Flam to turn a three sentence explanation into 1,000 words of psycho-babble. Spare us professor. If your lectures were as interesting as your prose I expect few of your students ever suffered from insomnia.
Ah but Deadbeat, the Flamethrower's response is erudite, informative and learned. Those who understand it appreciate it.
Deadbeat has heard of something called "psychobabble" and is pretty sure it's a bad thing, but hasn't a clue about what it actually is. The term was coined by Cyra McFadden years ago in an entertaining satire on the social customs of the liberal community of Mill Valley, California ---part of Nancy Pelosi's district.
One of the benefits of writing columns is the spectacle of liberals straining to be clever.
Gaffer - it would be amusing to know how many complaints the PPH has received on Nemitz' constant attacks on Gov. LePage, as opposed to kudos.
Gaffer, it would also be amusing to know how many people threaten to cancel their subscriptions and never follow through. Action speak louder than words.
Well Robert, I have canceled my subscription once already but re-upped when the new group took over. That was a mistake. I am not one who just talks the talk, being a conservative I do carry through unlike many liberals. You don't know me so I guess I'll let your implied insult pass. I'll just consider the source. FYI, I have not paid for a subscription for some time. I use the money saved to support good conservative candidates to make liberals unhappy.
I haven't paid for a newspaper in over 15 years. I did not mean my comment to be an insult. It's just if I had a nickel for everytime I have heard someone threaten to cancel their paper, I would have a lot of nickels. I honestly don't know why people buy the newspaper.
Gaffer, is anyone who upsets you, a liberal?
Deadbeat, don't you think Nemitz is trying to incite violence?
See what I mean , a nice cloudy day and the trolls feel safe to come out.......
Wasn't it our beloved Gubbner who that he doesn't read newspaper because ".....why would you pay someone to lie to you?"
He speaks for me.
Arguing with deadbeat is like having a boxing match against a man with no arms.
Well written. The PPH does have one useful quality. It makes great bedding when shredded. I use it as bedding for our pigs. So I guess I can say Bill Nemitz columns can eat..... I will leave it at that.
It does not make any difference that they hate Lepage, it is really anyone who points out their hypocrisy and failed policies that they really hate, LePage just happens to be at the top.
Apollo, I don't think Bill Nemitz would ever write anything in an attempt to incite anyone to violence. Similarly I don't think any of the more conservative writers in Maine try to incite violence. Unfortunately there are always a very few people on the fringe on both sides who may be incited enough (not by the newspaper columns usually) to send threatening letters or make threatening phone calls. I don't know of any serious attempts (guns, bombs, knives, etc.) on the lives of Maine officeholders. I could be wrong.
It pains me to say this, but Deadbeat is right.
There, the deed is done. Now I must take six aspirin and go back to bed for a long rest.
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Gee Flam; Ya think?