Well, no, he didn't quite say that

Pretty close, though.

Maine governor Paul LePage says people of color are the enemy

No, using a wholly inappropriate, even rather shocking, military metaphor for drug couriers and runners from Southern Connecticut and New York City, he said the enemy is mostly people of color and Hispanic, which could well be right.

Not the same thing at all, as the politically motivated spinmeisters of The Guardian are well aware.

And, anyway, this story denouncing his words does not say he was wrong on the fact.

It reports somebody else as good as saying it, but they don't say it.

Addressing the state’s Republican house minority leader, Ken Fredette, a military lawyer, he said: 

“Don’t you? Ken, you’ve been in uniform. You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of colour or people of Hispanic origin.”

Their point is that the man is a blatant racist and that does seem to be right, though.

This surely sounds the note of racial contempt.

LePage has made other controversial comments about race. 

In January, he claimed his state’s drug problems were due to “guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” who traveled to Maine and “half the time they impregnate a young white girl before they leave”.

LePage subsequently said he had meant to say “Maine women” rather than “white women”.

And the guy is certainly out there, a sort of significantly angrier Trump.

But this is untrue and probably just a lie, I think.

At best an invidious stretch.

In a statement, Alison Beyea, executive director of the Maine ACLU, cited LePage’s assertion that Maine police were nine times more likely to arrest people of color for selling drugs than white people, and said: “We know white people are just as likely to commit drug offenses.”

Beyea added: “This alarming disparity in arrests raises significant concerns that Maine law enforcement is participating in unconstitutional racial profiling … We look forward to examining the governor’s records so we can get to the bottom of this and hold our elected officials accountable to the constitution and the rule of law.”