Independent candidate John Michael, who is white, recently likened himself to a “nigger” because of his perceived treatment in the Maine Legislature when he was behaving badly toward other members. He used this offensive word because he lives to draw attention to himself. A suggestion has now been made that Rep. Michael withdraw from the gubernatorial race, but any sort of public effort to push him out because of this comment is a poor choice for at least two reasons.

The first is obvious. If every politician who said something stupid or offensive were forced to leave, the nation would be renting out the Capitol for professional-wrestling extravaganzas. Rep. Michael’s word choice was more extreme than the usual idiocies that get politicians in trouble, but the thought behind it was exactly the same.

He was censured last year in the Legislature because he shouted obscenities at two state senators, and was banned temporarily from the Senate chambers. In effect, he acted like a misbehaving 3-year-old, was given a time out and now pretends that he suffered a great injustice. This is in keeping with much of his political career, spent mostly organizing petition drives. Is it really wise to feed such an ego by concluding his candidacy is important enough to force from the race?

The second reason is the First Amendment and the right to say things even if they are terrible things. This is very different from any obligation by the radio station, where Rep. Michael made his inflammatory comments, to air his words. But the assertion that merely because the large majority of people are offended by a person’s comment that person should surrender his right to run for political office is an extreme overreaction and the reason the amendment exists.

Chances are excellent that Rep. Michael’s campaign will fall apart from the burden of its own inanity, without any help from the outside. On the odd event that it does not, the better choice is to urge people not to vote for him, to make him the lowest vote getter in the history of the state. Then he can claim to be a record-holder.