Gov. LePage’s recent rant du jour, as reported in the Portland Press Herald on Tuesday (“LePage rails against ‘socialists,’ Augusta ‘political games’ in written State of the State message,” Feb. 9) strongly suggests the governor has finally snapped, perhaps completely lost it. Enough is enough! Or should be, anyway.

It sounds as if Maine’s chief executive is channeling the late Sen. Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin. We in Maine of a certain age can proudly recall when our Sen. Margaret Chase Smith stood up to that relentless bully McCarthy, who in the early 1950s was accusing people left and right of being communists.

LePage’s recent tirade, as reported in the Press Herald, seems eerily much the same kind of tactic:

” ‘First, it was liberal ideology. Now it’s socialism,’ LePage wrote. … He accused socialists of trying to install the type of governments seen in Cuba, Venezuela or the former Soviet Union.”

Paul LePage is an ongoing embarrassment, not just in Maine but also far beyond our borders. He is not only bad publicity for our great state, but repeatedly proves how clueless and reckless a governor he is with his rank, repulsive rhetoric.

He should either do the right thing (he won’t) and resign, or Maine’s lawmakers – Democratic, Republican and independent alike – should find some legal way to force him to leave the Blaine House. It’s indeed time. We in Maine truly deserve better leadership.

Robert Barter

Berwick