Tag Archives: Governor LePage

Jan 26 2015

Belichick Must Apologize

Deflated footballI’m flummoxed, I’m flabbergasted, and I’m leafing through my thesaurus trying to find another word to continue the alliteration but still stunned by the recent accusations against my favorite football team and favorite coach.  These recent revelations have led me to believe that perhaps Bill Belichick has not been very forthcoming (tongue firmly in cheek).  So now that the Super Bowl has been aptly renamed the Inflata Bowl, I will attempt to gauge the impact this has on the Patriot fan base.

I generally try to write about Maine politics as I see it, but when these allegations surfaced, it took the air out of the room (I can’t help myself).  I had to put voice to my utter shock, put pen to my shattered worldview, and put type to my crushed perception of Professional Football.  Yes, things are not what they seemed.

Bill Belichick has lied to us.  The NFL is in a feeding frenzy against their favorite team to hate, the New England Patriots, but, unwittingly, the NFL has revealed that Bill’s lie is their lie.  Oh, the great masquerade of the gridiron has been once and for all exposed.

For so long we have lauded the game of football for its battle of complex strategies.  Landry, Lombardi, Shula, Walsh, and Belichick are immortalized for their mastery of the game, their attention to detail, and their innovation; yet, it was all a ruse.  Yes, the game of football, we now know is just a clever con job.

The Indianapolis Colts in their desperation to account for an embarrassing trip to the proverbial woodshed in Foxborough have spilled the crux of the truth, along with a little coaxing from the Baltimore Ravens, who will spite anything to hurt the Patriots (call it the Harbaugh Whine, when he doesn’t win he whines).  For all of us who believed football was about great coaching, great team and all the majesty of NFL Films, we were wrong.  It’s about air pressure.

Who knew?!  We do now!!  While Bill Belichick has passed himself off as some Palpatine evil mastermind of football, it was never about him in the first place.  It was always about the ball boys.  The truth is the success and failure of a football game hinge upon the inflation or deflation of the football.

Can you imagine the rage Bob Kraft is feeling right now?  He must now weigh the salaries that he has paid to coaches, assistant coaches, and players against that of a ball boy who can deftly manipulate the needle in a football.  Where was this information when he was building an empire? A football mastermind, when all you need is a football voodoo doll?

You think Bill knows?  I think he does.  The Colts know.  The Ravens know.  The whole NFL is up in arms about this.  It must be important!!  This can’t just be a crusade to smear the Patriots, could it? So, it must be what has caused teams to win regularly, and some to lose regularly.  Some teams just have better….ah…air pressure.

It must be of utmost importance.  We watched a Baltimore Raven beat his pregnant fiancé unconscious and drag her out of an elevator in front of security cameras.  The Ravens tried to cover it up, along with the NFL.  If Governor LePage hadn’t called them out, nobody would have said anything.  Even still, Ray Rice will probably play in the NFL next year.  Nobody said anything about banning the Ravens from the Super Bowl.  This air pressure thing must be big.

The Colts have the worst record for practice and player safety violations in the NFL.  Nobody said anything about that, much less banning them from the Super Bowl.  So is the NFL really about integrity or is just a bunch hot air?

Aug 4 2014

Crude or Crud

 

 

Some weeks ago, I had a rather pointed conversation with an individual who could no longer abide by what he characterized was the “crude” behavior of the Governor and, as a consequence, was determined to vote a straight Democrat Party line. While I was not convinced that this bluster was necessarily a true deviation from past behavior, it provided a study in contrasts that demands a public exposition across our fair State. So, just in case there are any more individuals who are more than a little flummoxed by the juxtaposition of the, at times, grouchy Governor, who figures if he has the title, he might as well govern and fix some things, against the quiet, pliable and placid forklift-driving doormat, who has spent most of his time in Washington in the shadow of Nancy Pelosi, pinned beneath the sharp point of her high heel, let’s compare the two, shall we?

 

Governor LePage has been criticized by the media and the Democrats for being pushy and demanding. He wants things accomplished. He says so in no uncertain terms. His forward ways may offend some, but the accomplishments speak for themselves.

 

The Governor demanded that the hospitals be paid and, after a long, bitter fight with Democrats, he was able to pay the hospitals. There may be some other organizations that would like some of that uncouth behavior in their ledger books. Yet, the Democrats, with their delicate constitutions in tow, would like to send our hospitals back to the days of trying to administer care under a mountain of mandated debt.

 

In his rough and caustic way, the Governor has ordered that the welfare system of Maine be reformed so that our seniors and most needy will not be left vulnerable. His quiet congenial opponent, Mike Michaud, once voted in the Maine State Senate for a bill that would have raised taxes on seniors’ social security benefits to fund tax breaks for State employees. The bill was so egregious that even liberal Governor Angus King vetoed it. When asked why he voted for such a thing, the pasty politician just walked back into the shadows and ineffectively mumbled that he basically didn’t know why.

 

In 2003, Michaud voted against Medicare Part D, voting, again, against Maine seniors who have used that benefit to afford costly medications. In 2009, he voted for ObamaCare, which has cost seniors $716 billion of Medicare funding in order to fund able-bodied adults. What does Mike Michaud have against senior citizens? At least he speaks quietly and kindly, while he takes benefits from them.

 

While we are on the subject of crude, Mike Michaud has on his staff a man who specializes in crude tweets about women and talks repeatedly about the elimination of Christians. Yet, Mike Michaud has not found the intestinal fortitude within his meek and placid persona to fire this vile person. Hmmm, I wonder how the Governor would handle that? He might just say something crude to him while he was kicking his perverted behind out the door.

 

The contrast goes on. The brash temperament of the Governor stands alongside his passion to reform the State of Maine to a prosperous economy once again. Maine continues to add jobs, in spite of the obstruction of the Democrats, because of the Governor’s tenacity. Do you want strong leaders with the boldness to stand for change, or puppets clothed in temerity; willing to sacrifice brave men in Benghazi, secretly spying on you, and who leave our brave veterans to die in waiting rooms? If you are willing to embrace such failures in leadership simply because the Governor’s rough exterior offends, then there is no nice way to say it; that’s just plain crud!

Nov 21 2013

The Red County Firewall

The people of Maine endured a political firestorm in this past legislative session from the Democrats.  From the moment they took their majority, they embarked on a partisan mission to undo every legislative accomplishment of the Republican Party.  This narrow minded approach to governing was best exemplified recently as Maine Democrats voted down party lines against a bill to aid victims of sex trafficking, but then passed a Justin Alfond bill to promote wine tasting.

This “blind leading the blind” mantra practiced by the Alfond/Eaves Democrats is simply a parrot of the “my way or the highway” dogma preached by the Reid/Pelosi Democrats at the national level, where reaching across the aisle simply means to reach and pull Republicans to their side.  All must obey.  All must march in lockstep to the stamp of Nancy Pelosi’s stiletto heel or feel its sharp point in the back of their neck.  One can then understand why Maine’s own whimpering Mike Michaud, Pelosi’s Puppy, meekly obeyed and voted against his own people, preventing them from keeping their health insurance.

The Alfond “subvert the people at all costs” tactics left the Governor sharpening and resharpening the quill on his veto pen.  Governor LePage set a record for vetoes sustained.  He would not have been able to defend the people of Maine with such tenacity had it not been for the strength of conservatives in the legislature who worked hard to sustain those vetoes.

In a recent conversation with an influential political operative and good friend, Jason Savage, I asked him what percentage of those vetoes sustained had been sustained by two or less votes.  He didn’t have exact numbers with him but acknowledged that the percentage was pretty high.  I further pressed him by asking which County was the most consistent in their votes to stop the overreach of the Alfond Democrats.  Jason smiled because he knew where my questions were leading.  He replied with this simple answer, “This is why we call Piscataquis County, ‘The Red County Firewall’.”

Paul Davis (R-Sangerville) and Pete Johnson (R-Greenville) are the two representatives from Piscataquis County.  Their two votes have made up what has become know in political circles as “The Red County Firewall”.  Their votes have been about more than sustaining the Governor’s vetoes; they have been about defending the common sense of Maine people.  It has been about demanding that our State government pay its bills just like Maine residents do.  With the support of “The Red County Firewall”, Governor LePage was able to pay the hospitals the money due them, something the Alfond led Democrats fought desperately to block.  If you see Paul Davis or Pete Johnson, thank them for having the courage to hold the line against the firestorm of big government and selfish politicians.  Thank them for being “The Red County Firewall” for the people of Maine!

Jul 3 2013

Pride and Accomplishment

 

 

When much ado and public pomposity ensues, there is usually a liberal behind it.  So has been the case in the resurrection of the remnants of Roger Katz and the Pretentious Eight.  Senator Katz has made his name and call to fame by publicly disparaging the Governor and undermining the efforts of the Republican Party to protect the people of Maine from burdensome tax increases.  It seems the “Honorable” Senator from Augusta gets the shivers every time the Governor gets grumpy.

Yes, the Governor’s words were uncalled for.  We know that.  He knows that.  But lets compare the records of these two men – their accomplishments and what they take pride in:

It is well documented that the Governor has a street fighter’s mentality.  He has a tenacity and rough edge that is born from the sidewalks and alleys of Waterville and Lewiston.  It has served him well as he has scrapped his way up through the business ranks to now be the Executive of the State of Maine.

When he held the majority, he passed many sweeping reforms in Maine.  He enacted the largest tax cut in Maine’s history, cutting $150 million in the first 2 years and $500 million over 4 years.  He removed 70, 000 of Maine’s lowest income families from the tax rolls, increased the death tax exemption, and allotted $31 million to relieve the tax burden on job creators.

He paid $248 million to the hospitals on the huge debt owed them by the State.  He passed LD 1 and reformed Maine’s dysfunctional regulatory system.  He reformed health care insurance, allowing competition across state lines.

Now with a minority, he has held the line on tax increases and government overreaches by sustaining some 18 vetoes of the Democrats.  He has stood his ground against Justin Alfond and the Democrat majority and forced them to pay the hospital debt.

Roger Katz comes from an entrenched Democrat political family in Augusta.  He has gained some notoriety from publicly criticizing the Governor’s crusty personality.  Perhaps Mr. Katz operates a finishing school that he would like the Governor to attend.

Senator Katz is known in Augusta as the one Republican that the Democrats can rely on to help circumvent Republican tax reform attempts.  His latest accomplishment is organizing a betrayal of Maine residents by helping to pass a Democrat purposed budget that increases taxes on Maine people, despite the veto of the Governor, then writing an editorial touting it as a victory, while railing against the Governor, again.  Roger Katz is consistent if nothing else.

What Mr. Katz has done is deepen the divide between the Northern and Southern Maine interests.  Rural Maine can no longer sustain the “marginal” tax increases that Mr. Katz advocates.  It’s just a matter of time before its small businesses and its tenuous fiscal structure become insolvent.

But it doesn’t matter to the “Honorable” Mr. Katz.  He has a political coup for his resume and he lives in Augusta, buried in the political machine.  There he will stay, sipping the nectar of the tax revenue his maneuverings have procured.

Their perspectives are completely the opposite.  Their accomplishments speak for themselves.  The Governor believes in the people.  The Senator believes in government.  Each takes pride in defending their beliefs.  Still, in the end, it is We The People who pay the price and who must decide whose accomplishments we take pride in.