Maine Gov. Paul LePage Vows He Will 'No Longer Speak to the Press'
"I am tired of being caught — the gotcha moments. You folks live in a seven-second fiction world."
9.1.2016
19
As controversy swirls around Maine Gov. Paul LePage's profanity-laced voicemail to a Democratic state lawmaker for allegedly calling him a racist, the Republican governor has now vowed to not speak with reporters.
The whole episode exploded when a reporter told LePage that Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine had called him a racist over comments he made about "people of color" racking up crime in his state. LePage took serious offense to that and shortly thereafter left Gattine a very angry voicemail calling him a "c–cksucker" and all sorts of disparaging phrases.
Gattine quickly rejected ever calling LePage a racist, claiming he only said that LePage had made racially-charged comments. As of Wednesday, LePage has accepted Gattine's claim and now blames the whole incident on the report that told him of Gattine's comments, vowing not to give interviews again.
"After speaking with Rep. Gattine, I think that the reporter who put the mic in my face owes the people of Maine an apology as well. Because (Gattine) never called me racist, LePage told reporters. "He said I made racially (charged) comments. Maybe, in my mind, it is semantics. But in his mind, after talking to him, it was clear that there was a real difference. Fine."
"I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today," LePage continued. "And I’m serious. Everything will be put in writing. I am tired of being caught — the gotcha moments. You folks live in a seven-second fiction world. I live in 24-hour reality."
"Being called a racist was a horrible thing for me. It was enormously hurtful. It hurt my family. I will not resign, though," LePage concluded.
The "racially-charged" comments in question have been flooding leftist social media accounts, with Slate posting a gag-reel of LePage's comments when he spoke of crime coming into his state.
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