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Wednesday Topics · Newsradio WGAN

• 0:00
  Governor Janet Mills, who suspended her flagging
• 0:03
  Democratic U.S. Senate primary last week, has
• 0:05
  not yet filed paperwork to formally drop out.
• 0:09
  Because her move came less than the required 70 day threshold
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  before the June 9th primary, Mills name cannot be removed
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  from the ballot against front runner Graham Plattner and 2024
• 0:21
  U.S. Senate nominee David Costello.
• 0:24
  Votes cast for the outgoing governor will count unless she
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  files a notice to withdraw with the state.
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  If she does, votes for her would count as blank.
• 0:35
  The lack of a withdrawal notice almost a week after Mills
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  announcement adds a new wrinkle to what was a contentious
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  primary. Democrats hope to rally around
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  the energy and enthusiasm built by the progressive newcomer
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  Graham Platner as he's barnstormed the state since last
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  summer. Party is also banking on anger
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  at President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, and
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  that's frankly all they're banking on right now.
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  Mills suspension followed A struggle to raise money to
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  combat Platner's momentum and keep the campaign going, hoping
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  to oust long time US Senator Susan Collins.
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  The move shook up one of the most pivotal Senate races in the
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  country, marking a turning point after Mills was recruited by
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  Senate Majority Leader, or excuse me, Minority Leader Chuck
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  Schumer in backed by many establishment Democratic
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  lawmakers and liberal groups. So what does this mean?
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  Oh, I don't know. Do you think that it is Janet
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  keeping the flame alive just a little bit 'cause really she
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  could and probably should just file the withdrawal because if
• 1:37
  she does, then her, her votes don't matter and they're not
• 1:40
  counted and whatever. But you know, does she think
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  that maybe there's this groundswell out there, maybe if
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  she just doesn't campaign and it's there, that maybe something
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  will happen, Something will happen and maybe she could be
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  the one still, even without ancient even trying or
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  campaigning. I don't know.
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  That would be a very delusional thought if she did have it.
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  Maybe she's just an egomaniac and wants to have those votes
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  count. I don't know.
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  I will tell you this though, I will, since she's going to be on
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  it whether she withdraws or not. I mean, she's going to be on it
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  either way. I think it will be a very
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  interesting thing to see how many people vote for her
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  nonetheless, because Platner is, well, problematic, problematic
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  and many people doubt his general election viability.
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  By the way, I don't I think he is viable in a general election.
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  And I think he's a threat to beat Susan Collins.
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  And I think he's more of a threat than Janet Mills was.
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  I think if Mills was the campaign and the candidate, you
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  can pretty much put it in the bank that Susan Collins was
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  going to win. And at least now there's a
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  question with Platner, but Democrats have been very open
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  about their hesitation and apprehension about his
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  background potentially costing them a chance at that seat.
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  So we'll see if there's a protest vote.
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  We'll see if there's some sort of element that I mean, if it's
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  like 10% or something, 20% that still end up voting for her, for
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  her anyway, it's not really great news for Platinar.
• 3:02
  Well, watch, it's only a month away.
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  It's only a month away. 879-9426 is the phone number.
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  Let's go to the phones. As I said, you should call and
• 3:09
  Paul from South Portland has done just that.
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  Paul, how are you? Doing OK.
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  I think I heard in earlier that you're you lament.
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  Why do people keep trying to dust off all things and keep
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  making the same mistakes again and again if I'm oversimplified?
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  I believe that's a pretty good characterization, yes.
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  Star Trek has covered this already.
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  Haven't they always? It's kind of like The Simpsons,
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  right? Simpsons did, right.
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  Yeah, Star Trek. Do you know?
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  Do you do you remember the character John Gill?
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  Yeah, of course. I remember John Gill.
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  A professor. If we just had Nazism, sadism,
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  Manners would vote for the guy. I'll never forget that episode
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  too, because he's all comatose right at the end because he's
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  drugged up. And they're like, why did you
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  did Kirk's like, why did you do this?
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  How could you possibly give me the Nazi regime on this planet?
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  He's like, Nazis were the most organized government the world
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  had ever seen, more disciplined than anyone.
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  If I could just replicate it but make it better, this would have
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  been a Great Society. It's a perfect point you're
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  making. I love it.
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  Paul and this this is this is Mainers right now.
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  We. We will.
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  Revote the Democrats. Democrats with just more money,
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  we could have have Nirvana. Socialism.
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  If we just got rid of those, those rich people that kept
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  screwing us up, we'd have Nirvana.
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  How? Often.
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  How often have you heard a communist or a socialist say to
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  you, Paul? Or around you?
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  Or just write it in the news that it's not actually that
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  communism failed or socialism failed, it's that it just wasn't
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  done right. But I'll do it right.
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  Yeah, I'll do it right. All the time.
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  That's all the time and what I ask Mainers to do.
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  Don't dust off the old ways and think you can make the old
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  failures work this time around. Rely on your own hard work.
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  Go forward and let's have a better day with something else
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  that has worked in the past. Capitalism, you know, whatever,
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  but let's let's follow successful models.
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  We can. We can start by dumping failed
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  ones. Yeah, I think we can dump.
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  Failed start by dumping failed ones.
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  Let's just start by dumping failed ones.
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  We don't need a Nazi and we can't.
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  We can't get Nazism to work. Even if we're sorry for all the
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  things they did and we're enlightened Nazis, it's just not
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  going to work. Yeah, no, I take mercantilism
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  over over social. Like at this point I would take,
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  I would take basically anything. Paul, excellent point.
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  That's very caller of the week worthy of you.
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  So throw them on the list. Danny Martinetti rack that call
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  because it is a very good point. I would go a little bit further
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  though, and I would just say this, that it is unhealthy for
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  any place. And I say place, not state
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  because I think this is true of cities.
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  I think it's true of states. I think it's true of counties, I
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  think it's true of countries. I think it's I think it's true
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  of any sort of political unit, you know, your town even, you
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  know, like whatever, whatever, anything, it is unhealthy for
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  one point of view in perspective to have ultimate dominance in
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  that place and to not be punished for failure.
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  I mean, I I realized that this is sort of something you might
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  expect me to say, but the Democrats deserve to lose in
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  Maine. They have had eight years by
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  themselves alone on an island, just them able to make every
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  meaningful decision at every level of government and having
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  no opposition to everything they wanted to do.
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  So you can't make the case or the argument that like, well, we
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  wanted to do it this way, but we were blocked by the rascally
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  Republicans who stopped us from doing this because they didn't
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  block you. They can't.
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  There's no power. There's no leverage.
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  They they no ability to do that. So they've gotten everything
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  that they wanted for the better part of a decade and everything
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  sucks. So in a rational world, that
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  would be something that voters punish the power, the party in
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  power for. You shouldn't be able to stick
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  around when you've had the run of show and your results have
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  been this bad. And funny enough, like, I mean,
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  I, I hope that those of you who try to be objective and aren't
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  just in the tank for stuff take seriously the objective reality
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  of that statement. Like that is not a partisan
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  biased statement. I mean, we're just talking about
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  metrics that tell us how Maine is doing.
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  This isn't my interpretation of those metrics.
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  This is just the fact of the matter.
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  I mean, pick an item, pick a, pick a policy, pick a, pick an
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  industry pick, pick anything. And ask yourself eight years ago
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  versus now, which one was better?
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  Has it gotten better or has it gotten worse?
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  And when you have people that are telling you over and over
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  and over again that I see this problem too, I'm going to fix it
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  if you just trust me, we're going to make record investments
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  and do this and do that. And then they win and then they
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  do it. And then you go in the opposite
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  direction and you go worse bad. That is something that should be
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  punished by voters and in a place when it is not.
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  This is one of the reasons why one party states are bad, and I
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  do mean that red state versus blue state as well.
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  I think that it is a bad thing for your political culture if
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  it's just one group of people that just dominate no matter
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  whether they succeed or fail. When that happens and they're
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  not punished, it means that they're just empowered to
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  continue to make the terrible decisions and accelerate your
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  decline along the way. You might not like the
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  Republicans, but you should probably be giving them a shot
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  right now. You should probably be giving
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  him a shot right now. If for no other reason, then,
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  well, that didn't work. Maybe that won't work either,
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  but it's worth a shot. Let's do it.
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  That's what really probably should be happening right now.
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  And if that fails, then you should go to something else.
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  I don't know, vote for an independent, vote for somebody
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  else. I don't know.
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  But like, you got to punish people at the ballot box when
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  they fail. And that's something that Maine
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  has not done in the last couple cycles.
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  Let's go to Steve from Boothbay. Steve, how are you?
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  Yes, good morning, Matt. I'm fine.
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  And how are you? Excellent.
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  Thank you for asking. OK, I just want to pass on
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  something that makes me laugh every time I think about it.
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  Of course, a couple of years ago I read Rand Paul's book The Case
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  Against Socialism. Yes, and What I Learned.
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  You probably know this, but I'm a slow learner.
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  He he tells me. I informs me that the word
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  utopia from the Greeks, when you translate it, it translates to
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  no place in other. Words not real.
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  Does not exist. Yeah.
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  Does not exist. Yeah.
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  Yeah. And that's an excellent lesson
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  because there is no such thing and there never will be such
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  thing as a utopia. But it doesn't stop people from
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  believing in utopias, does it, Steve?
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  Well, I think we have, as our, you know, when we're young,
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  we're very idealistic. And as we go through life, we
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  become more realistic. Yeah.
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  Yeah, I think that's an excellent observation and
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  appreciate you making it. Thanks a lot, Steve.
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  The he's right by the way, it literally translates as no place
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  coming from the Greek UO. I guess you owe you which is not
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  and I'm not going to pronounce it.
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  I don't. That must be great guys.
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  Totic I guess totic meaning place, not place and meant any
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  non existent society when when described in considerable
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  detail. You know, sort of like the
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  modern meaning of it, if you look it up in a dictionary, is
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  an imagined place or state of things in which everything is
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  perfect. And it is funny to me that so
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  many people, so many utopians out there, which is really
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  anybody that's in a socialistic or communistic frame of
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  reference, because that's a utopian perspective point of
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  view, You know, it, it, it strikes me that it's funny that
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  they miss the word imagined or not real or whatever.
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  It's a place where everything can and and is perfect, can be
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  and is perfect. But to them it's a place of, of
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  real, real existence that we are working towards, not a place of
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  imagined hilarity because that's what it really is.
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  I mean, you cannot, if you want a utopia, you have to
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  fundamentally alter human nature, fundamentally alter it.
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  And you're not going to do that because biology is biology, my
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  friends. You know, it's telling also, by
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  the way, when you're talking about Mills and Platinum and all
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  that fun stuff. There's a letter I have in the,
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  it was on my list. It's not really a story.
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  It's just a letter. I wanted to take note of letter
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  to the editor. They still do those letter to
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  the editor that was published here just I guess it was
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  yesterday or this morning. And it is a statement that says
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  that Janet Mills needs to endorse Graham Planner.
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  She hasn't done that yet. She has not done that yet and
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  the rather hilarious letter begins by saying that Janet
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  Mills is such an is such an accomplished governor.
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  She increased healthcare availability to Mainers by
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  expanding Medicaid. She increased the rainy day fund
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  to a billion dollars. Of course, no mention that she
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  just rated it to give ridiculous political checks of $300 to his
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  constituency. She thought she could buy off,
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  but what do I know? She achieved 55% state funding
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  for education, while education results have crumbled and are
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  imploding around you, made Community College free, is the
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  state's first woman governor, as if that's an accomplishment, and
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  1st governor to earn more than 50% of the vote since 1998.
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  And what I would say about that, by the way, to this letter
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  writer, is that she indeed was the first governor to win more
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  than 50% since 1998. And she did so by lying to you,
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  promising you she was going to do things she didn't do and
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  promising you she wouldn't do things that she did do.
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  She said she was a collaborative consensus builder that was going
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  to reach across the aisle to work with the Republicans and
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  the Democrats and bring people together in consensus to, you
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  know, moderate this and to be centrist that.
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  And that's not what she did. She said she wasn't going to
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  raise taxes, and she did. She said she wasn't going to
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  change abortion law, and she did.
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  It's never ending list of lies she told the main people in
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  order to get that victory in 2022.
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  If you want to say that that's a win for her or an
• 14:01
  accomplishment, OK, have at it, friends.
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  But it is funny that she has not endorsed Platner and now she's
• 14:08
  getting pressure from people like this.
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  Like she's really needs to do that because we need, we need to
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  fight against Donald Trump and Graham Platner is our man now
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  and she can help boost his campaign.
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  She can't even win her own primary.
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  Not only can she not only win it, she can't even come within
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  30 points of winning her primary.
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  But, yeah, her boosting Platiner is going to be a big help, Big
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  help. Big help to him in the primary
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  or a big help to him in the general.
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  Huge help. Good job.
• 14:37
  You know, I don't know if I would want the stench of death
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  on, on, on me, politically speaking, if I was Platiner.
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  I think I'm kind of happy to have her not endorse me because
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  once she does, it's like, you know, you're standing next to
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  each other, holding each other's hands in victory.
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  You know, those that famous political, you know, statement,
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  you know, look at us. We're together.
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  Yeah, and then those pictures of her are right next to you.
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  And then all you got to do is say failed governor endorses
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  Graham Plattner likes to see same policies she implemented,
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  implemented it. If this guy wins, you know,
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  it's. I wouldn't want that if I was
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  him. I would not want that.
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  I only have a couple minutes left here.
• 15:16
  Let me bring you on a tour of the world very, very briefly
• 15:19
  here. This is a fascinating 1.
• 15:20
  I actually had a text or the text of this to me, but it was
• 15:22
  on my list independently. Anyway, worth mentioning that
• 15:26
  some fun stuff is happening in Canada right now.
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  Alberta separatists, Albert, you know, you know all about Quebec,
• 15:33
  right? I mean, Quebec has been for
• 15:34
  quite some time thinking about, talking about and actively
• 15:39
  trying to separate itself from Canada and make itself an
• 15:41
  independent country. It seems like that independence
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  movement has died down quite a bit in the last decade or two,
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  but there was a period in time where it was truly threatening
• 15:51
  to actually succeed. And over here in Alberta, there
• 15:54
  is something else cooking. Separatists on Monday declared
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  that they had formally submitted almost 302,000 signatures to try
• 16:04
  to trigger a referendum on leaving on the province leaving
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  Canada. The group needed 178,000
• 16:12
  signatures to force the province to consider such a vote and by
• 16:16
  submitting 302,000, unless there's widespread fraud or
• 16:21
  something like that, it is going to end up on that ballot.
• 16:24
  Question of separation could go on a province wide ballot as
• 16:27
  early as October of this year as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
• 16:32
  has said that she would move forward if enough names are
• 16:35
  gathered and verified. Smith has said that she
• 16:38
  personally does not support the oil rich province leaving
• 16:41
  Canada. A yes vote would not trigger
• 16:44
  independence automatically. Negotiations with the federal
• 16:47
  government would have to take place, and Daniel Blonde, a
• 16:50
  political science professor at McGill University in Montreal,
• 16:54
  said some Indigenous groups who are already using the courts to
• 16:57
  prevent an independence referendum would use venues
• 17:00
  including the courts to try to stop independence from
• 17:02
  happening. Mitch Sylvester, the head of the
• 17:06
  Stay Free Alberta Group, arrived at the Elections Alberta office
• 17:11
  in Edmonton on Monday, leading a convoy of seven trucks to
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  deliver the said 302,000 names quote.
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  The day is a historic one in Alberta history.
• 17:23
  It is the first step to the next step we've gotten to.
• 17:26
  We've gotten by round 3 and now we are in the Stanley Cup Final.
• 17:32
  We with the Canadians, to use the hockey analogy.
• 17:34
  I love it. I love it now will work, Will it
• 17:37
  succeed? Will it be on the ballot?
• 17:38
  Will it be soon? I mean, I don't know any of this
• 17:39
  stuff, but how hilarious is it that Canada, which is supposedly
• 17:46
  living through this renaissance of of liberalism, right with
• 17:49
  Mark Carney winning there, has multi.
• 17:52
  It's not just Alberta has multiple provinces that are
• 17:55
  like, that's I, I'm out of this. This is just I can't do this
• 17:58
  anymore. And if they were to actually
• 18:00
  vote yes, that would turn in. That would be a story that would
• 18:04
  be a major international big time story.
• 18:06
  So just flagging it for you, throwing that on your list.