Apparently, Manning is seriously unaware of the seriously detached-from-reality statements made by his own gubernatorial nominee, Libby Mitchell, such as her plan to fix the economy by borrowing more money to buy public land.
Not to be outdone, the Maine GOP fired back with a statement saying Pingree’s “hypocrisy is simply stunning.” (LePage’s own hypocrisy wasn’t mentioned, which was probably an oversight.) The Republicans also accused Pingree of having a “shocking, opulent lifestyle” that includes “private jets, personal chefs and luxury tropical getaways.”
The local GOP seems unaware that its national counterpart is on record as favoring tax cuts for those with “opulent lifestyles.”
There are slight differences in both parties’ acts. LePage’s wife appears to have done something illegal — and he either knew about it, or should have known about it, but still can’t seem to get his story straight (“I will tell you, I don’t care about residency as much as I care about keeping my mother-in-law alive”). Pingree, according to the tortured logic of the House Ethics (could someone turn off the oxymoron alarm) Committee, didn’t break any rules, although it remains to be seen if she ran afoul of campaign-finance law. But no statute covers violations of previous statements of conscience (flying on corporate jets “contributes to the corrosive public perception that members of Congress are more like the fat cats of Wall Street than they are like the rest of us”).
LePage and Pingree have each other’s foibles down pat. But they both do lousy imitations of a public servant.
Thank you, you’ve been a great audience. For my final impersonation, I’ll pretend to be an e-mail address:aldiamon@herniahill.net.
