Maine governor says 47 percent of state’s residents choose not to work
Source: Raw Story
Maines tea party-backed governor suggested during a conservative gathering last week that nearly half the states residents who could work do not.
Gov. Paul LePage said he had two points to make last week when he was told the gathering in Falmouth, Maine, was about to end.
His first point consisted only of the word energy, but then LePage began sketching out a point about workplace development.
About 47 percent of able-bodied people in the state of Maine dont work, LePage said.
One woman in the audience loudly called out, What?
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/22/maine-governor-says-47-percent-of-states-residents-choose-not-to-work/
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)"WHAT????"
Idiot.
regnaD kciN
(26,045 posts)
but I think that percentage is far too low.
Historic NY
(37,454 posts)tblue
(16,350 posts)What is up with these arrogant Teamonsters?
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)from the same source
tblue
(16,350 posts)They receive them every AM and spew them at every opportunity. They don't even have the sense to mix up the verbiage a little bit. Just the same exact phrases coming out of a million orifices.
merrily
(45,251 posts)They should not be associated with that word.
I was going to suggest Teaturds as a substitute, but then I saw that wouldn't work, either, for the same reason.
Matariki
(18,775 posts)"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." -Mitt Romney
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/12/13/mitt-romneys-47-percent-gaffe-tops-yales-quotes-of-the-year/
OnlinePoker
(5,727 posts)My wife decided 7 years ago she needed a break after working non-stop since she was 15. Now at age 50, she refuses to even look for a job so the burden of maintaining the living standard in the house has fallen to me. It doesn't matter that I have also worked non-stop since I was 15 and am now 52 and would also like a break.
tblue
(16,350 posts)It's best to be open about your feelings when it comes to something this substantial. You matter too, sweetie.
You matter too.
You sound bitter. You need a heart to heart with your spouse cause this sounds very serious.
Skittles
(153,223 posts)I often wonder what it would feel like to take the kind of breaks Congress does
DaveJ
(5,023 posts)I guess you could refrain from maintaining your living standard, and see how she likes living frugally; perhaps then she'll feel compelled to earn a few bucks. Otherwise it sounds great having a stay at home spouse. My wife and I mutually agree it would be great if either of us didn't work. But we also like having money, so be both work for now.
IdaBriggs
(10,559 posts)Is she doing the "stay at home mom" thing? Are there health issues?
Taking a little time off is one thing, but she has a lot of life to live yet, and you guys need to be planning for your retirement.
OnlinePoker
(5,727 posts)IdaBriggs
(10,559 posts)I know some people are (and more power to them), but our household would not be a happy one if my husband was under the impression I was "living off our retirement now" instead of building it up.
Are you sure she doesn't suffer from depression? Is she active in the community / doing volunteer work?
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)This guy's been a train wreck since the day he took office -- and he only won because the sane vote was split between an Independent(D) and the Democratic candidate.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)... they sure do have a fixation with that number, don't they?
Scairp
(2,749 posts)I think those who voted for both of those candidates are kicking themselves. Also they must really want to kick those who voted for LePage. He is a fucking moron extraordinaire.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)We have a much stronger D gubernatorial candidate than last time (our current Congressman Mike Michaud)
-But-
The same left of center Independent candidate is running again.
-And-
LePage is too, obviously.
I'm hoping that the 38% LePage received in 2010 will have dropped enough so the inevitable split of votes on the left won't matter. The thought of another 4 years of this idiot is just too much.
Ugh!
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)My sense is that Michaud has a good reputation even in the 1st district but Cutler is also popular.
The good news is that either one of them only needs to get more votes than LePage.
Response to Gormy Cuss (Reply #85)
PotatoChip This message was self-deleted by its author.
lark
(23,166 posts)Course, that would require consistency and no hypocricy and the teahadists don't rank high on either of those,l so probably won't happen with them. Regular voters, may see things differently and make him pay a steep price if this gets out on tv and radio during the election season.
Nine
(1,741 posts)Mc Mike
(9,115 posts)OneCrazyDiamond
(2,032 posts)never had the joy of a "Welfare Christmas".
eShirl
(18,505 posts)"LePage was born in Lewiston, Maine, the eldest son of eighteen children of Theresa (née Gagnon) and Gerard LePage, both of French-Canadian descent.[3] He grew up speaking French in an impoverished home with an abusive father who was a mill worker.[4] His father drank heavily and terrorized the children; and his mother was too intimidated to stop him.[5] At age eleven, after his father beat him and broke his nose, he ran away from home and lived on the streets of Lewiston, seeking shelter wherever he could find it, including in horse stables and at a "strip joint".[4][6] After spending roughly two years homeless, he began to earn a living shining shoes, washing dishes at a café and hauling boxes for a truck driver. He later worked at a rubber company, a meat-packing plant, and was a short order cook, and bartender.[7]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage#Early_life_and_education
He's perpetuating the cycle of abuse onto an entire state now.
crim son
(27,464 posts)He did not, in fact, live on the streets but lived with the families of friends. If he spent a night in a horse stable it was that, just a night. The impoverished home with a mill-working father describes a whole lot of Maine, unfortunately and I am sure he struggled and suffered, especially if he was abused. I've often wondered if he was born a numb, arrogant prick, or if he evolved into one.
4bucksagallon
(975 posts)that he deserted when it was safe to return to Maine after he was no longer eligible for the draft, aka Chicken Hawk. He has, I think, 2 more children in Canada and I have never heard whether he supported them or not. Then there was his "adopted" black son that is not his adopted son at all he just called him his adopted son like some people say they have a "black" friend. His "adopted" son is Jamaican if I am not mistaken. This guy is a real POS. The term "one and done" has been given him but if 3 people again split the vote it is possible he could get re-elected, Gawd forbid. Mike Michaud is running against him and lets hope he can pull enough support to eliminate 3 way race.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Cruz/LePage 2016 -- for PM!
eilen
(4,950 posts)old Horatio Alger book? Seriously, is there such a demand for shined shoes in lumber mill country Maine that it supports itinerate children? I almost inhaled my coffee reading that.
justice1
(795 posts)eShirl
(18,505 posts)I think we'd all be much happier here if he'd retire to Jamaica like he wants
AnneD
(15,774 posts)I am, at the tender age of 59 deciding to retire. I can draw a pension for my 20 yrs with the school district. Legislation robbed me from collection any SS even though I had enough quarters to be eligible. Much of this time I was a working single Mom. I am helping daughter pay loans while she tries to find work.
Hubby has had enough of the state too (at 58). He will draw a pension and has a nice full time job waiting for him, so he will cut back.
I will get some additional training and take my skills to the private sector and make more money working when and where I want. I am tired of working to support the 1%. I am working for myself now.
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)i guess the next election this thing we be voted out.
eShirl
(18,505 posts)theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Why in the world did the people of Maine vote for this insulting nitwit?
cali
(114,904 posts)Or at least the majority didn't. Unfortunately it was a 5 person race.
With 94% of precincts reporting on the day after the election, the Bangor Daily News declared LePage the winner, carrying 38.1% of the votes.[21] Cutler was in second place with 36.7% of the votes (fewer than 7,500 votes behind LePage), while Mitchell was a distant third with 19%. Moody and Scott had 5% and 1%, respectively. He is the first popularly elected Franco-American governor of Maine and the first Republican since John R. McKernan, Jr.'s re-election in 1990. In his victory speech, LePage promised he would shrink government, lower taxes, decrease business regulation, and put "Maine people ahead of politics." [4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_LePage#2010_Maine_Gubernatorial_Campaign
Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)The Independent and the Democrat split the other 62%. This is why instant run-off's are so important.
GreenPartyVoter
(72,382 posts)mix, which is how we got LePage in the first place. *sigh*
Betcha fewer people vote early this time, because I can't tell you how many people voted for the Dem early on who wish they could have thrown it to the Indy at the last minute when it became clear that the Tea Partier was closing in on the finish line.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)He's not doing too well as a Governator if those are his Administration's job numbers ...
bvar22
(39,909 posts)eShirl
(18,505 posts)Old and In the Way
(37,540 posts)Of course, they were ahatin' the Catholics here back then.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Koch brothers first got the idea for the Tea Party in the 1980s.
Lot of time and money went into it.
NewJeffCT
(56,829 posts)even in liberal New England. And, northern New England isn't all that liberal - they do have a libertarian streak there.
In Connecticut, a teabagger named Martha Dean was the GOP nominee for state Attorney General. She lost by 10 points or so, but so did Linda McMahon, who spent $50 million of her own money.
(Dean's future is over in CT, though, as a month after the election she was "outed" as one of those Alex Jones Newtown conspiracy theory types.)
freethought
(2,457 posts)I will say that Maine can be a tough place to make a living. It's a fantastic place to live and raise a family. Having lived there for several years. Tourism, lobsters, paper, potatoes, navy warships, are pretty much it, and most of them are very seasonal in nature. Maine is not a financial center, industrial, or technology center. They've also got an aging population, retirees have come into the state whiles young people, including the state's college grads, are moving out. When things get bad in Maine, they can get really bad indeed. I do know that the state can be tough to read politically. It did surprise me that this foul-mouthed teabagger won the governors office.
eShirl
(18,505 posts)Upward
(115 posts)Young people move out.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)ck4829
(35,094 posts)I think that is what it amounts to now.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)eShirl
(18,505 posts)-snip-
Maine is known for our strong Yankee work ethic and we have a higher labor force participation rate than the rest of the country, despite our more elderly population. We work harder, longer and often in more dangerous occupations than people almost anywhere else.
We deserve a Governor who is proud of Maine, doesnt falsely believe that half the people he was elected to serve are lazy and useless and doesnt govern as if this were true.
This is the sixth clip from the Falmouth event (previous: 1,2,3,4,5). More to come.
Historic NY
(37,454 posts)after reading all that drivel is it possible he is mentally ill......if not he sure is stupid.
MADem
(135,425 posts)Sure, the ones over eighty slow down a bit, but up where I spend many a vacation, there are guys who are ninety who are still swinging a hammer.
What Mainers can't do is shit jobs. The governor needs to spend more time enticing businesses to Maine, particularly NORTHERN Maine, to revitalize communities up that way.
I hope the "forty seven perccent" in his mind pair up with the fifty three percent who think this guy is a shitheel and recall his trifling ass.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Although that number is likely much higher, and I doubt if they were ever able-bodied
florida08
(4,106 posts)But that's how they work it. Pit the working class against the lazy welfare recipients. Works here in FL too. Never mind the fact that jobs are few and far between even for college grads. That makes voters want to cut welfare for the needy without even checking on his facts. Of course no mention of the working poor. I loather republicans more each day.
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)doesn't work because they are lazy and just want to collect all those generous welfare benefits - But this runs counter to their other theme that declares that nobody can find jobs because Obama's policies - especially Obamacare - are job callers and nobody is hiring. They don't seem to notice that their themes contradict each other - like Obama is going to force you to gay marry an illegal alien while he creates the Islamic Caliphate and puts us all under Sharia law.
Turbineguy
(37,374 posts)sure beats looking for a real job too!
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)Truth? Factchecking? One of them pointy-headed, librul ideas!
riverbendviewgal
(4,254 posts)he may go the way of the Mitt.
riverbendviewgal
(4,254 posts)I can't imagine Maine people not forgetting his insulting remark.
amb123
(1,581 posts)mainer
(12,033 posts)Our dear Governor is a continuing source of amusement.
IrishAyes
(6,151 posts)jobs can be few and far between in hard times. Big difference between can't and won't.
The people who deserve scorn and long prison sentences are the ones who made it impossible for so many willing able bodied people to earn their own way. These gd GOPers rob people blind, kick them while they're down, and then lord it over their victims. A lower form of life never crept out of the primordial ooze.
...........................................................................
Southern Apologists, please note:
We're talking about MAINE here. As far north as you can go in this country. While I wasn't technically born there due to military family transfer, it is my heart's home. The only thing I can imagine to explain the sheer idiocy of how this man got elected other than outright massive fraud is that elections tend to happen in winter a lot when people's brains might freeze over. Don't ever tempt me to tell you more or I will.
But it isn't region bashing when I'm outraged about things some people do there, same as it isn't region bashing when I decry Southerners who behave outrageously or those apologists who snap "Give 'em a break, you arrogant damnYankee!"
Now that I hope I've gotten the last word in, can we please use reason in the future? Can we please stop so long as I've delivered the final rant? There are really more important things for us to quarrel over.
BREMPRO
(2,331 posts)the problem is Maine has dominantly seasonal work..Summer/Fall are Gold.. the other seasons are slow.. most of my working class tenants have trouble finding work in the winter... but are resourceful and find a way without government assistance. If the gov would get off his lard ass, stop opening is untrained mouth, and start attracting business here like he promised, we wouldn't have this problem. Has only served to turn business away with his series of embarrassing remarks and political hackery. He lives inside the TB RW echo chamber devoid of reality and fact based statistics.. Can't WAIT to vote him out..
btw for those not familiar, he was elected with only 33% of the vote... NOT popular here except with the TB fringe..
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)1 when he hired his 22 year old daughter for what amounts to in Maine as a princely salary.
And the other 100 when he legalized fireworks. So those of us who sacrificed to live in the country for the peace and quiet and just stfu if our livestock and dogs are being randomly terrorized by neighbors. Oh, and they make great cover for the meth labs, too. Lab blow up? Quick, get out the fireworks and throw them off your trail...
And yes, he did recently brag about the 100 jobs that were created by legalizing fireworks. I was so grateful when the neighbor across the street decided to light firecrackers in their front yard just when I was bringing the filly in for the night. I was almost trampled when she panicked and bolted out of the barn. My dogs both took off in a panic as well, so there were 4 of us running around like crazy, providing the neighbors all kinds of entertainment.
hack89
(39,171 posts)mainer
(12,033 posts)Seriously, he's been a true source of amusement.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,304 posts)How did this buffoon get elected in the first place?
gopiscrap
(23,765 posts)bemildred
(90,061 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)should (and certainly will) use this in ads.
the bad news in Maine is the Independent who's running and who ran in 2010 and got 35% of the vote. The dem who ran wasn't well known or popular- Michaud is. but the threat of splitting the vote remains.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)The "47%" too
GreenPartyVoter
(72,382 posts)workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)and the millions and millions of American victims of the loss of jobs to China and other "free trade" partners are all lazy bums according to teabag jackasses like LePage!
Damn...IS IT ELECTION TIME YET!?!?!
Matariki
(18,775 posts)What's up with that? Is it some kind of secret conservative code?
cprise
(8,445 posts)Arkana
(24,347 posts)who no one talks to at family gatherings.
Maine made the mistake of giving Uncle Carl political power.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)for calling him out right then and there on his bullshit.
If he ever runs for office again the perfect ad would be his remark right next to Romney's 47% remark, then the words "Another politician out of touch"
drynberg
(1,648 posts)By saying gross and ridiculous stuff, such as "Kiss My Butt", "I'll punch him (npr reporter), or a more recent quote involving "without the use of vaseline" etc. So his copycat remark of 47% not working in Maine is first of all totally wrong, but just a faint echo of Rmoney's 47% line during the 2012 Pres. campaign. Ole Glue Boy even had our Pine Tree state on "Emergency" until late the 2nd day after the Fed Budget resolution (Fri. late, last week the 18th). And finally, yes, old Glue Boy will have his term run out at the end of 2014, which has truly seemed to be decades!
AAO
(3,300 posts)That one statement should get you fired. Come'on Maine people - fire his ass!
ON EDIT: He did get fired! Thank you Maine!
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,219 posts)You know, if Republican politicians actually want to win elections, maybe they should reconsider casting asparagus against 47 percent of the electorate.