The Slatest

Maine’s Governor Just Used an Anal-Sex Metaphor to Attack His Political Foe

The already heated state-budget fight currently unfolding up in Maine took a turn Thursday when the Republican governor made what sounds to me an awful lot like an anal-rape joke about his Democratic foe. The Bangor Daily News provides the pull-quote that will no doubt have the Pine Tree State and the Internet talking (emphasis added):

Gov. Paul LePage on Thursday said a Democratic lawmaker, Sen. Troy Jackson of Aroostook County, “claims to be for the people but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.” Jackson gave the Democratic response to the governor’s promised veto of the biennial budget, which was delivered Thursday during a State House rally.

“If I get a little upset with Troy Jackson, who sits up in Aroostook County and does nothing for Maine people, look, this man this year tried to take my pension away, tried to sell the Blaine House, then he realized he didn’t own it, that’s the kind of guy he is. Let’s get beyond that and bring me someone that really wants to talk,” LePage said. “People like Troy Jackson, they ought to go back into the woods and cut trees and let someone with a brain come down here and do some good work.”

Even if we give LePage the benefit of the doubt, an alternative reading of the Vaseline line would be something like, “He’s screwing you and doesn’t even have the courtesy to use Vaseline,” which I suppose is a little better but still not the type of soundbite you expect to hear from a governor when he has a microphone in his face. Regardless, LePage made it clear he was fully aware that his remarks would likely cause him some trouble. “Good,” the governor responded to a reporter who pointed out his comment would offend some people. “It ought to. Because I’ve been taking it for two years.”

For more on the budget fight, head on over to the Daily News, which has you covered.