When Paul LePage was 7 years old he was getting regular beatings from a brutal father. He had much more to overcome than a potty mouth. And he did. Although the beatings continue in print, his integrity and fortitude remain intact.

Your criticism evinces a short memory and an erratic standard of decency. Comparing LePage’s spontaneous, verbal outburst with the repeated, lascivious acts of a former occupant of the Oval Office is to compare the lightning with the lightning bug.

LePage is pilloried and condemned for an inappropriate remark, while the other’s documented offenses are applauded and rewarded. Who says crime doesn’t pay?

Fortunately, Richard Hofstadter did not live to see this new brand of blood-sport journalism practiced by the Portland Press Herald (“Greg Kesich: Outburst confirms the paranoid politics of Paul LePage,” June 26). Assign several reporters to tag-team a public official with slurs and insults if his vision of the public interest does not conform with that of the Press Herald. It’s all about selling newspapers, regardless of the human consequences.

The outcome of the final vote on the budget is a win-win for LePage. He gets about 40 percent of what he wanted, and he can boast that he held firm against raising taxes but his opponents on the other side of the aisle couldn’t resist the temptation.

He also brought in $300 million in federal funds to the state coffers to pay back the overdue hospital debt. That’s the Press Herald’s best-kept secret.

Your preening sanctimoniousness is a bit too much. Enjoy the sour grapes.

Walter J. Eno is a resident of Scarborough.