He can’t string together a single coherent sentence

I genuinely laughed at this

He is bombing it on the abortion question BAD.

Dude is another old, out of touch conservative. He needs to go back to Florida and ride his bike on a busy road.

Just remember to vote!

Is he choking on Mills' lunch?

He didn't understand the question.

Mills: "I understand the question."

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Observations:

1. Lepage is still Lepage.
2. Mills is the prototypical politician. "I inherited this problem" "I fixed this other problem completely" and so on. Do you think she would ever own up to a mistake? No, politicians don't do that.
3. The bright lights of MPBN were too much for Hunkler.

Coherent ✅

Shit. I guess that’s all it takes these days.

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So uh… that whole pandemic on top of an already struggling healthcare system was a fiasco.

And you’re blaming… vaccines?

Please tell me I’m wrong.

Edit in response to edit: you’re blaming a mandate designed to keep people safe for costing more for healthcare. Nurses SHOULD be paid triple what they are for the work they do and the last few years.

I blame YOU and morons like you who think the mandate is the problem when mandates and amazing science are what got us through the pandemic so far with just one of the highest per capita death rates.

Antivaxxers made this LONGER and much more painful than it needed to be.

This makes no sense. States without vaccine mandates are facing the same shortages and traveller nurse expenses.

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So… you’re saying the medical providers who survived the global pandemic in no small part due to the miraculous vaccine demand more pay as travelers since the anti-science anti-vax public-safety-endangering Covidiots left?

Well, yeah, that sucks, but, y’know… science?

How many people were actually fired for refusing to get vaccinated?

Not many.

And you don't think nurses figured out their worth? Those that could become travelers did. Hospitals refuse to compete and pay their nurses accordingly. Raise pay, fix staff ratios. Then they might do better.

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If they aren’t easy to get (degrees) why would a rational person throw it away over lies and superstition? But it happens.

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If we can just invest in a good public awareness campaign about the venality of the antivaxx movement and the snake-oil salespeople that promote it, we can maybe weather the next pandemic better.

They’re already required to get a host of vaccinations including annual influenza. Adding Covid is not unreasonable.

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Well Irving is a canadian oil co. so are we shocked?

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Boston seems to have no problem with any of this. I get in to better specialists there quicker than Bangor. So I travel 5 hours, get quicker, better, more up to date care.

I'm so sick of listening to "well covid" as an excuse for everything in Bangor when it comes to healthcare.

I refuse to go the EMMC after the way tgey've treated my adult child, my other adult child is a nurse and worked there during college for a year as a cna. They want nurses but treat workers like crap. Can't blame covid for that. Now she's a nurse that will never work for northern lights.

The politicization of the Covid vaccine by the right is what damaged healthcare

I actually prefer him in Maine over Florida. Maine is purple but solidly blue enough right now. Florida, however, needs to tip back to a true swing state.

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Your statement boils down to 'do we hire an asshole or do we hire the status quo?'

I'll take the status quo. At least I both know what I'm getting and not be the laughing stock of the nation again.

LePage is always wanting to give someone's money to some corporate or other donor. Ought to just go back to his wife in Floriduh and stay there. Maybe run against death santis.

Why risk damage to a perfectly good bicycle?

LeLiar was donnie dumpster fire before donnie dumpster fire stole the election of 2016.

She certainly handed him his...

Seems you will be voting for Mills... a wise choice.

HAHAHA I came here to talk about sam hunkler like what the actual fuck???

Neither of these dudes know a fucking goddamn thing about how the government works it is unbelievable the difference in qualifications here...

Same with the 55% rule and Mills giving everyone crackpipes.

Imagine him being your doctor. Yikes.

He looked like he was ready to explode at any second...but thanks to his ability to lie, he was barely able to control himself. PLEASE VOTE!

“Providing two years of free community college is an incredible investment in young people in Maine. These students have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. This gives them hope. This gives them a great education that’s close to home, with skilled instructors and the opportunity to learn and work with people in the community,” said David Daigler, President of the Maine Community College System. “It’s a game-changer for these students, and for Maine families who want their children to have the strongest start possible in building a better life.” LePage never would’ve done this!

Nah. Get him the fuck outta here.

My favorite was what would he do to makeup for the lack of income tax? by firing state workers(2-3,000) and consolidate schools. This would also mean letting people go…… so he going to make up for no income tax by making a bunch of people jobless…….it doesn’t make sense.

Dozens according to one article at the time. Mostly it was lower level support staff, not doctors and nurses

in your opinion

And let a lot more children fall through the cracks. Can you imagine the class sizes?

Someone told me that Biden was giving out crack pipes. I just asked "where?" and they couldn't come up with anything. I'm all for calling out bad policies, but I don't understand the need to just make shit up from thin air.

During LePage’s last term I took an extended cross country road trip, hitchhiking to the west coast and back. The amount of random people in places that didn’t know much about Maine except “you’ve got that whack job governor out there, what’s with that?” Was really sad.

Fuck the class sizes, think of how many hours a day some of those kids would have to spend on the bus! Some of them are already >90 minutes each way.

I remember that he criticized low teacher/student ratios. The man is an idiot.

As a Mainer who now lives in Florida, please, no. Keep him up there. With Trump and Desantis we’ve reached our quota of assholes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/17/crack-pipe-outcry-overdose-crisis-harm-reduction-policy/

If you read the article, the WP says that there are no free crack pipes. Just safe smoking kits that may have crack pipes.

How was the 2016 election "stolen"?

But if they come to Maine, “they’ll be put to work!”

>by firing state workers(2-3,000) and consolidate schools.

Ahhh yes. As a state worker married to a teacher, I can't wait to go back to the days of fearing for our livelyhoods every contract year!

Dozens, most being low level staff, out of tens of thousands of healthcare workers in the state doesn’t seem like much

people are generally salty when the candidate with fewer votes wins an election, because the truth that our elections are more 'elections' is not something which is good.

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Exactly, how is it cost cutting when you now need to transport children 25 miles too and from school??

It isn’t. That’s why it’s dozens and thousands. Most people aren’t morons that question the work they do everyday.

you chose to move to Florida bub, what did you expect

Fair enough. Not sure why I got all the downvotes though, not like I said I was a fan. However, Lepage is and always will be a Mainer.

Oh, metaphorically choking.

🙁

You moved to Florida. You aren’t a Mainer anymore. /s

No child should have to have a bus ride that long.

Or more.

No. He needs to just leave. Period.

That's insulting to idiots. He has obviously never spent a day in a classroom trying to teach 30 kids.

It’s not an opinion. Abortion is NOT an opinion. Fuck yourself.

Okay, but not "stolen", rather won according to rules which some think are unfair.

I upvoted 'ya, buddy. ...now will you please take Lepage?

At least the status quo hooked us up with bailout checks 👍🏼 (also has common sense, works for the people, and isn’t an embarrassment to our state)

Me too. Good times.

Downvotes are likely due to a perception of betrayal from your comment. You say you’re a former Mainer who moved to Florida and feel Maine should “keep” LePage since you already have enough crazy politicians and that LePage “is and always will be a Mainer”. I think what that tells other people is that even though Lepage dipped for Florida after his term was up, he’s still a Mainer that we “own” but you as a Mainer who also moved out aren’t and don’t “own” him. There’s also possible frustration over you complaining about the number of conservative assholes in a state known for conservative assholes you chose to move to. Also (and I could be wrong here), but it seems to me that LePage has a lower chance of doing political damage in Florida vs Maine since his native status and history of political involvement in Maine gives him a familiarity edge vs Florida and his views are already more in line with Floridas current policies to begin with. I think you’re generally receiving negative attention because people feel the comment is a little shortsighted and not directly supportive of keeping LePage out of Maine politics

A dangerous idiot! Who has many idiots supporting him. Come on Mainers we do not need this crooked clown anywhere near our statehouse. Send him back to Florida

Too much Xanax in Florida for ol'Lepage. God I hope he ships his fat ass right back down there.

Were you asking for clarification of what they meant or trying to be pedantic when you already understood what they meant?

Oh, right, that’s because you’re not a fuckin dipshit

No no, stare workers aren’t people. They’re brain dead, unqualified feeders off the hard-working taxpayers (the REAL people), who couldn’t cut it in the private sector.

Leave it to someone who devoted his career to education to support teaching and learning. Sheesh what next.

An educated America is a strong America.

American was innovative when we had a strong public school system. Make America educated again!

The American economic miracle is due to our public school system, as the world has developed we need more education not less.

Le Rump

Imma use the same arguments used for 2020: There is no way he could have won.

No need for the /s. I believe this is a true comment.

I think that’s a bit much to read into a glib comment, but could certainly be an explanation…

Lepage actually campaigned on this his first term. Iirc his proposal was one year of free community college/trade school as a 5th year of high school. Did absolutely nothing about it for 8 years and stopped talking about it the second he was elected.

>No no, stare workers aren’t people. They’re brain dead, unqualified feeders off the hard-working taxpayers (the REAL people), who couldn’t cut it in the private sector.

I guess that explains why Uncle Paul wants to be a state worker again. All makes sense now.

How did this guy , a clear racist, ever get elected in Maine? I mean some of his positions make Trump look not so racist....and that's saying something

I'm sure his house in The Villages is mint.

Wouldn’t want to “grow government” in a recession… LePage did not pay attention in history class.

How can anyone possibly think he answered that well? His campaign can't be happy with that bumbling excuse for an answer.

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Hey, I'm all for hating on LePage, but can we cut it out with the fat jokes?
Him being fat isn't why he's an asshole. There are plenty of other reasons for that.

Does he really look like someone who would engage in any sort of plebian physical exertion beyond running his mouth?

Sounds like Lepage is getting funding from the gallows industry...

This shouldn't be downvoted, they're saying LePage fumbled those answers.

Thanks for this info!!

The rights and access to others certainly is an opinion.

Some are regressive, some are progressive

Lol I was wondering why everyone was downvoting that. The moderator even corrected him on those particular questions.

Story time…

Correct. It’s a murder.

You’re a murder.

If you genuinely believed we were actual bloodthirsty murderers you wouldn’t be trying to get pithy responses out on Twitter

I don’t love Mills, but she was the only professional on stage. The other two are dimwits.

It doesn't have to make sense. He's hoping that a lot of people will hear "no more state income tax" and run to the voting booth. And a lot of them will. Luckily we're not Tennessee and have a lot of people who are smarter than that.

Imma vote "pendantic."

Yes I'm not understanding why so many kids who graduated this year are opting not to further their education in some way. "I need a gap year"....but weren't you just complaining that not going to school during the pandemic ruined your mental health?

The people voting for him considered it a feature.

“lepage is choking…”

…in your opinion.

pay attention to the words said and stop having an overly emotional reaction.

I couldn't believe LePage opened the debate saying the $850 surplus that went to Maine residents should've gone to oil companies lmfao

I wish they fact-checked this in real time though.. he looked at Mills directly and called her a liar for claiming he supported Trump's "Muslim ban"- but.... he did. He 100% did openly and often. It's documented. He tweeted about it. I understand the moderator isn't supposed to be partisan, but she needs to at minimum keep the debate based in reality.

He blatantly, openly, and repeatedly lies.. but his conservative supporters seem either too dim to remember or too gullible to think anything LePage says could possibly be false. I really hope Mainers know better and he doesn't get a third term.

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What do you guys know about Hunkler? Dude wasn’t eloquent, and I was pretty disappointed in that because I liked what parts of his ideas he was able to speak out.

I mean, when someone wins an election according to the rules that were in place, calling it "stolen" is a bit extreme. I was asking for clarification. Claiming Trump "stole" the election in 2016 is no different than saying Biden "stole" it in 2020.

I just wish the moderators did that more.

I didn't watch it - but nothing will change my opinion on Mills after her treatment of Healthcare workers.

I upvoted you.

Someone probably misunderstood you when you first posted it, and then once it’s been downvoted to zero or less everyone else starts to pile on.

What do you mean? Just because you don't understand something from your own limited perspective doesn't mean it's impossible.

Why?

Unfortunately a lot of voting republicans don’t have critical thinking skills to understand the consequences of no income tax. That’s why the republicans court the simple minded

Steve did a pretty good job of quickly correcting him. I watch a lot of debates in other states. I was in Bar Harbor/Acadia this past weekend and saw a lot of the signs out. When I saw they were showing it online I was like let’s see what these candidates are about. I was hoping they would address the lobstermen issue as that was never touched and seemed to be a big issue along the coast.

Not polite to be pulling your own finger in public.

Because I can and because you like to post comments to folks that you then delete so that it only shows up in a person's email but the person is then unable to respond because you've already deleted it.

You get emails from reddit?.lmao.

That's true - I think people typically mean different things with those expressions (I think when people say Biden stole the election, they typically mean literally changed votes illegally), but that does possibly get some color from my political experience. It is indeed annoying when people are unclear in their communication, we have the language to be precise

I liked what he said about raising the mil rate and the homestead exemption and that the way we deal with opioid abuse is just replacing one addiction with another. I'm guessing he may not have had much experience speaking in front of lights and cameras, so I'm going to wait and see what he says in the next debates before I pass judgement. I just really would like to be able to have a viable third party candidate.

What about jokes about taking the easy way out of fatness?

Totally agree here. Those are some of his best points to me as well, but I think you hit the nail on the head for public speaking experience. I like him a lot though, and he seems committed mostly to working together for the common good of Maine, which is what I think all of the US needs more of.

Lepage is ahead in the polls big time now

Yes, let's see how the next debates go. His web page and FB page are both very interesting.

He probably refers to it as a “villa”

HS seniors can barely read coming out of schools. Another example of the older generations cutting school funding for years just so they can complain about younger generation's struggles.

I don't think it wasn't that he wasn't a polished public speaker, he didn't show any depth of knowledge in terms of policy or public service.

It's easy to go up there and be like "we need more jobs, we need better schools, we need more programs" but that's just feel good blanket talking points. The only time he broke the mold was bringing up raising the Mill Rate & mentioned the Homestead Exemption, but the raising the mill rate is a) unpopular because you're putting bigger stress on local funding of the budget and b) likely illegal to manipulate because it can be legally argued as discrimination. That and Mills and LePage also already said they agreed with the homestead exemption. See Janet Mill's policy here.

I think people get starry eyed for having more "common" people work in high public offices, but in practicality you're mostly putting an underqualified person into a very important public service role that needs a much higher understanding of how public policy works.

Do you have a special knife you like to split hairs with?

Huh? School funding increases annually. And if it's cut, you actually think THAT is the reason, because "older generations" are evil? Who the hell do you think built your schools, Santa Claus?

https://www.maine.gov/doe/funding/gpa/eps/resources

ps are your grandparents evil too? And all your aunts & uncles?

Lol, we don't get qualified candidates in politics. You might as well say neither of them can fly.

U bad at maths

Well. OKay, Boomer.

Do you know what inflation is, boomer?

Yes and I also know what shrinkflation is. Something a lot of dummies don't even notice.

I don’t have a Twitter lmao. Seethe harder.

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Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.

It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.

Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.

Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.

You think I’m a murderer and I’m the one seething lol cry harder bitch

No you see the problem is that children in Maine are too well educated and the government is too well funded. If they ruin the school system and hamstring the government then Maine kids will grow up to be uneducated, poor and frustrated with underfunded government programs. Once all those pieces are in place Maine can become just as shitty a place to live as southern red states!

Can you imagine if our children were raised with Bible stories as factual? Thankfully Maine children are educated to think for themselves and not be indoctrinated into a cult religion

he's my neighbor. ama I guess?

Yes I own many fine knives I like to keep razor sharp.