Maine Governor Paul LePage: The IRS Is Like The Holocaust

Maine’s Republican Governor, Paul LePage, takes Godwin’s Law and dropkicks it through the goalposts:

“What I am trying to say is the Holocaust was a horrific crime against humanity and, frankly, I would never want to see that repeated. Maybe the IRS is not quite as bad – yet. They’re headed in that direction,”

This was LePage’s attempt to explain comments he’d made over the weekend:

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage used his weekly radio address Saturday to further his long-running criticisms of the federal Affordable Care Act and explain why he is delaying its implementation in Maine.

Democrats, in their radio address last week, called the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the law “an incredible victory for Maine people,” and on Sunday, Rep. Emily Cain and Sen. Justin Alfond blasted LePage for what they called “intentionally offensive” comments.

LePage said the measure “raises taxes, cuts Medicare for the elderly, gets between patients and their doctors, costs trillions of taxpayer dollars and kills jobs.” LePage also took a shot at the individual mandate part of the law, which requires everyone to purchase health insurance or face penalties, by calling the Internal Revenue Service “the new Gestapo.” The Gestapo was Adolf Hitler’s notoriously brutal police unit during the Nazi rule of Germany.

Hey, Governor LePage, you know who was like the Nazis? The Nazis, and nobody else.

H/T; Andrew Sullivan

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Hey, Governor LePage, you know who was like the Nazis? The Nazis, and nobody else.

    Put down the shovel Guv, it only gets deeper.

  2. Tsar Nicholas says:

    Lowest common denominator principle.

  3. Neil Hudelson says:

    Hey, Governor LePage, you know who was like the Nazis? The Nazis, and nobody else.

    That’s not fair, Doug.

    Stalin’s reign was much like the Nazi’s. So…you know…if the IRS was ran by Stalin, LePage would be just fine in his criticism.

    What’s that? It’s not being ran by a Georgian dictator, 60 years dead? Nevermind, LePage is way off base here.

  4. Gromitt Gunn says:

    This guy is the reason the Democrats are only putting token opposition against Angus King in the Senate race. When I was in Portland last month, there were “61%” bumper stickers all over the place – which is the percentage of voters that didn’t vote for LaPage in his three-way race (he won with a plurality of 39%).

  5. al-Ameda says:

    Is Maine a bipolar state or what?

    The good people on Maine elect as senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Then evidently, the morons who sat on their hands and thankfully failed to vote for a few years turned out and elect as governor a mean spirited waste of oxygen like Paul LePage. Unbelievable.

  6. michael reynolds says:

    I’ll probably regret saying this some day, but I’ve had more than one potentially tense interaction with the IRS, including one where a woman showed up at my house (Hey, I sometimes don’t open my mail. For months.) And they’ve always been civil and professional and competent. When they wrongly seized some money they gave it right back, and apologized. I know that doesn’t fit the stereotype, but so far they’re perfectly pleasant.

    While we’re at it my local DMV is also fast and efficient and pleasant.

  7. Gustopher says:

    I’ve had perfectly lovely experiences with the IRS — like Mr. Reynolds, I also have a tendency to not open my mail for months, and perhaps unlike Mr. Reynolds, sometimes cannot be bothered to do my taxes for years. They were professional, courteous, helpful (can’t find your documents? they have them, and are happy to send them along).

    The interactions I’ve had with Nazis on the other hand… Well, Neo-nazis, bit that’s as close as we get here… Not as pleasant.

    (Years ago, in NYC, I saw a large advertisement in the subway that read “It’s never to late to rejoin the tax system”, I thought about it for a moment and said, “Crap, they’re right, I don’t have to do this stuff now!”)

  8. Gromitt Gunn says:

    @al-Ameda: He got elected with 39% of the vote. 61% split votes between a Democrat and an independent.

  9. al-Ameda says:

    @Gromitt Gunn:

    @al-Ameda: He got elected with 39% of the vote. 61% split votes between a Democrat and an independent.

    Thanks for looking it up.

    I suppose we now have an official number: the 39% of those who voted for LePage in that election should have their right to vote revoked. Voter photo-ID or not – they should be purged from the voter registration rolls.

  10. Tillman says:

    Instant runoff voting would’ve prevented this.

  11. G.A. says:

    Hey, Governor LePage, you know who was like the Nazis? The Nazis, and nobody else.

    There are a lot that are like the Nazi…

    It is hard to tell when you don’t believe in the reality that we live in or when your worldview condones a lot of similar practices.