Another week, another noxious attack by LePage on the Fourth Estate.

And yet again we have his fanboys claiming that anyone who doesn’t think it is funny has a “humor deficit”.

Considering the number of journalists killed or beaten up across the world I can see why few people with any sense of decency would find his latest outburst funny at all. Violence against journalists — whether virtual or offline — is neither funny nor clever; it is a threat to freedom. A free and safe press is an essential part of what constitutes a free society. Part of being a leader and a politician is learning how to deal with them and get a message across.

For those of you who haven’t heard, LePage said “I want to find the Portland Press Herald building and blow it up.” He was getting a try at a military flight training simulator at a recent event. At the time, he was in front of a large crowd of journalists and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins when he made the remarks.

Of course, this is an ongoing thing with LePage, who makes it clear, as often as he can, that he hates the press.

His office continues its boycott — albeit on a less robust basis than promised — of MaineToday Media, which owns three of the biggest papers in the state. He has even bashed journalists and the media to students a few years ago.

Poisoning the minds of students against the media is not something a governor should be doing irrespective of his personal distaste for the press.

His relationship with the Fourth Estate here in Maine is probably the worst it has even been for any governor in a very long time.

He continues to make crass, offensive and distasteful comments at and to the press on a regular basis. It makes the man look childish and mentally unable to govern. It does have a particular constituency that cheers at such pathetic outbursts of rage, but I suspect they are dwindling on a weekly basis.

We live under a governor who thinks jokes about anal rape and blowing up journalists are funny, appropriate banter for the highest office in the state. When he travels out of state, he reflects poorly on the state of Maine and its citizens.

Maine is not some third world country run by some crude ruffian of a dictator. We are a proud American state. We need to be better represented on the national and international stage by some with a bit of class and gravitas.

Instead of coming across as the approachable “one of us” governor he claimed to be when he ran for office, he seems arrogant and unhinged. His administration continues to act as if it is under siege by the press, the Democrats and reasonableminded Republicans.

For those of us who take pride in being from Maine, 2014 cannot come soon enough.

ANDREW IAN DODGE is a libertarian former U.S. Senate candidate and writer who lives in Harpswell.