If moderates, centrists and independent voters think that the huge growth of partisan political demonization, name-calling and exaggeration that has poisoned our political debate only comes from talk show hosts, the growth of the Internet and the big bucks the political entertainment media rakes in, think again. Here’s an example of it –– and another sign that Republican branding isn’t going too well from Maine Governor Paul LePage who says President Barack Obama “hates white people.”
Gov. Paul LePage told a group of Republicans last week that President Obama “hates white people,” according to two state lawmakers who say they heard the remark directly.
Gov. Paul LePage was heard to say that President Obama “hates white people” at a private fundraiser last week.
The governor made the comment during a Maine Republican Party fundraiser on Aug. 12 at the home of John and Linda Fortier in Belgrade. According to the invitation, the fundraiser was a “meet and greet” for LePage and first lady Ann LePage, and an opportunity to meet Rick Bennett, the new party chairman.
The lawmakers, both Republicans, confirmed the comment when asked by a Portland Press Herald reporter but asked that their names be withheld for fear of political retribution.
So it’s worth repeating: the people making the allegation weren’t “libbbruls” or “the liberal media” but Republicans. MORE:
Each said LePage talked about how Obama could have been the best president ever if he had highlighted his biracial heritage. LePage said the president hasn’t done that because he hates white people.
“Yeah, he said it,” said one of the lawmakers. “It was one little thing from a speech, but I think most people there thought it was totally inappropriate.
And then the reporter found some wagon circling:
Bennett, who was elected in July to succeed Richard Cebra as Maine Republican Party chairman, did not return multiple calls for comment about the story Monday.
Any reporter (and I was one for many years) can tell you that on a controversial story if a person does not return a phone call there is often a reason. And if it’s many phone calls it’s almost confirmation of the reason.
Two other lawmakers who attended the event – Reps. Alex Willette of Mapleton and Larry Dunphy of Embden – said that if LePage made the comment, they didn’t hear it.
“I didn’t hear him say anything like that,” said Willette, who added that he spent most of the event trying to raise money for his candidacy for the 2nd Congressional District seat.
Dunphy said the governor made some brief, informal remarks but he doesn’t remember hearing anything about the president hating white people.
Peter Steele, the governor’s director of communications, said he couldn’t comment because the fundraiser was not official business. He referred questions to Brent Littlefield, the governor’s senior political adviser, who initially wouldn’t comment and was not at the event.
After the governor’s remark was reported in the media, Littlefield issued a statement that said, in part, “It seems farfetched for anyone, even a newspaper, to make an insinuation the governor is racist given his life history.”
And the governor’s office provided some examples of things he has done.
I mean, how can ANYONE think that someone from an opposing party saying that Barack Obama “hates while people” could be a racist? I mean, if that was untrue wouldn’t he have any white people in his cabinet, or campaign for white candidates? Wait..(NEVER MIND).. The bottom line? One more example of our over-the-top rhetoric where people can’t just oppose people on policy but have to name call.
It’s so much tougher for someone to have to detail why they disagree with someone in detail — and offer specific, affirmative alternate policies. Why not just talk like a troll in the comments section of a blog — or like a professional troll (otherwise known as a talk show host)?
LePage has raised eyevbrows before. Here’s part of a Jonathan Capehart column from January 2011:
In my last post, the one on civility so dripping with hope you could hear the violins sweetly playing in the background, I asked, “Who knows how long the calls for civility will last? Who knows how long it will take for some modicum of civility to take hold?” Well, seems like those calls never reached Maine’s new Tea Party Republican governor, Paul LePage.
When told that the NAACP was complaining that he turned down numerous invitations to take part in events celebrating the Martin Luther King holiday, LePage said, “Tell them to kiss my butt.” He went on to say, “They are a special interest — end of story. And I’m not going to be held hostage by any special interests.” Wow. Uncivil. Uncouth. Appalling. Reducing the NAACP and its venerable history of fighting for civil rights to “special interests” is pure ideological laziness in the extreme.
But wait, there’s more. To the suggestion that his refusals are rooted in racial bias, LePage played what he thought was the ultimate trump card. “If they want, they can look at my family picture,” he said. “My son happens to be black, so they can do whatever they’d like about it.” As the kids — and Jon Stewart — would say, “Oooooh snap!”
Just because LePage has a black son (by adoption) doesn’t mean no one can or should question his racial sensitivities. I mean, Justin Volpe, a white New York City police officer who violated Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant, in a stationhouse bathroom in 1997, had a black girlfriend at the time.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.