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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage apologized Friday for saying this week during a town hall meeting that drug dealers with the names "D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty" come from New York City and Connecticut, sell their drugs and then "half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave." It's not the first time LePage has felt the need to explain controversial comments.
Here's a look at other off-color remarks made by the two-term Republican governor:
September 2010
As a candidate for governor, LePage told a group of fishermen at a forum that he wouldn't be afraid to tell President Barack Obama to "go to hell." He later said he regretted the words but didn't back down on criticism of the administration.
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January 2011
After the director of the state's NAACP chapter said the group felt neglected when LePage declined invitations to attend two Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, citing scheduling conflicts, a reporter asked LePage about it. He answered: "Tell them to kiss my butt." On the holiday, LePage ended up attending a breakfast honoring the slain civil rights leader, an event sponsored by a Rotary club and a senior citizens' group.
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February 2011
LePage dismissed the dangers of bisphenol-A, a chemical additive used in some plastic bottles, by saying the worst that could happen was "some women may have little beards." LePage later said he was joking.
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December 2011
LePage used a scatological barnyard epithet when he was asked about a meeting he had with three unemployed workers and a lawmaker. When a reporter asked him for his thoughts about the meeting, LePage used the expletive, then repeated it slowly.
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April 2012
At a town hall meeting, LePage was asked about state fees. LePage's response: "The problem is, middle management of the state is about as corrupt as can be."
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July 2012
LePage, in a radio address, assailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the health care overhaul law, saying Americans had no choice but to buy health insurance or "pay the new Gestapo — the IRS." He later said he didn't mean to offend the Jewish community or minimize the Holocaust.
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June 2013
Expressing his frustration over the state budget, LePage used a vulgar phrase to describe a Democratic opponent, saying the lawmaker "claims to be for the people, but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline." Again, he refused to back down, saying later: "Damn it, that comment is not politically correct, but we got to understand who this man is. This man is a bad person. He doesn't only have no brains. He has a black heart and so does the leadership upstairs."
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