Either Maine’s governor moves really slowly, or the Ray Rice suspension really continues to resonate.
According to the Associated Press, Republican Paul LePage sent a “scathing” letter to Commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday. The letter accuses the NFL of sending the message via the two-game Rice suspension that it’s permissible “for professional athletes to beat women, just for the sake of ratings.”
“Taking thugs and wife-beaters off the field may be bad for business, but you are playing games with people’s lives,” LePage wrote, threatening a boycott of the league.
Per the AP, LePage argued last week in a radio interview that Rice should have been suspended for three years. LePage also believes that the Ravens should have responded to his violence with violence of their own.
“As a matter of fact, the team should have taken him out in the back shed and taken care of him,” LePage said.
While few will disagree with the idea that the two-game suspension was too light, no one has suggested that a multi-year suspension or a visit to the woodshed would have been appropriate.
But LePage currently faces a three-way re-election battle involving both a Democratic candidate and an independent. He apparently believes that three-year suspensions and/or punishment inflicted via woodsheds will motivate the base and/or appeal to the fence-sitters.Regardless, it would be hard to accuse LePage of being rash with his irrational positions, given that he sent his letter nearly a month after the suspension was imposed.