You Can Think It, But Don't Say Gestapo

While comedians and late-night talk show hosts can and do say anything they want, usually resulting in higher ratings, politicians land in hot water when they speak out of turn. Maine's Governor Paul LePage learned this lesson anew after a recent speech wherein he referred to the IRS as "the new Gestapo." As a Jew who was not offended and did not think his use of the word denigrated the entire Holocaust and its few remaining survivors, I was surprised that so many people were offended. So today the Governor's office came out with one of those blanket apologies, saying he didn't mean to say ______ and offend ______and he's very sorry.

I heard about LePage's faux pas on NPR, where it was dissected by one of their holier-than-thou announcers who all sound constipated--in fact, I may just send over a case of Miralax and a carton of prunes to the radio station. After the announcer finished trouncing LePage, he went on to bemoan a recent report issued by the Center for Public Dignity--and who knew such a group existed, and if so what the heck do they do since there is very little public dignity anymore-- about coal miners and how hard they work and how bad the air inside coal mines is, just to raise the level of discussion to something we can all wag our fingers about and blame on Mitt Romney, who of course could not care less about the coal miners because he has millions of dollars and thus is so out of touch.

Anyway, although this is a free country there are still things you can't say--like "midget" and "retard" and now "gestapo"--without getting in trouble with the folks over at Public Dignity, at the very least.