In response to a debate question put to candidates for the Governor of Maine about what they would say if President Obama was on stage with them right now, Paul LePage, the Tea Party Republican candidate, told the crowd he would tell the President to "get out of my state."
Watch it here:
Last week LePage made headlines after a video was posted of him promising supporters that if he is elected Governor of Maine, they will see repeated headlines of him telling the President of the United States to "go to hell."
Here's that video:
Past the fact that for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would want a Governor with about the same maturity as a Grade 8 school bully, this level of blatant Obama-bashing is going to backfire at the polls for LePage and others using the same tactic.
While a certain level of tension is usually a good thing, LePage's rage at the President is an obvious attempt to rile up his Tea Party base. But most likely this kind of over-the-top rhetoric will make the average voter a little too uncomfortable.
I suspect that most voters will also be uncomfortable with a Governor who is willing to reap some short-term political points at the risk of damaging the relationship between the State of Maine and the Office of the President of the United States.
The Obama comments are the latest in a series of gaffes for LePage. Past the "going to hell" and "get out of my State" comments, LePage has been in the spotlight for his less-than-tactful handling of media questions about his wife's tax troubles in Florida.