When I heard the news about the Politico article with convincing allegations that Graham Platner is a rapist my first thought was: At least he won’t be the next Fetterman. The second was: I told you so.
The good news is that Platner seems likely to drop out in time for Maine Democrats to replace him on the ballot. The bad news is that misguided infatuation with this outsider candidate has given Susan Collins a club with which to beat Democrats. Platner’s campaign was already in trouble and now it’s sinking like the ship in the Winslow Homer painting above. The sharks are swarming as well. I’m one of the sharks albeit a reluctant one.
I never bought Platner’s shtick. I thought he was lying about his Nazi tattoo and his denials of allegations of sexual misconduct rang hollow. I know a fake tough guy when I see one.
The whole “he’s an outsider, not a professional politician” mantra irked me too. The problem is not professional politicians but timid politicians. You don’t have to be a DSA type leftist to fight Trumpism, just a fighter.
There’s a group of Democratic politicians that I call raging moderates including Cory Booker and Chris Van Hollen who have repeatedly stuck their necks out to fight Trumpism: Dan Goldman was one too. The Platners of the world deride them as centrists when in fact they’re mainstream liberals fighting the MAGA scourge. We need more raging moderates and fewer sanctimonious and mendacious outsiders like Graham Platner.
A reminder that Donald Trump is the ultimate outsider candidate. The Insult Comedian is also the most successful con artist in American political history. The Platner disaster proves that the left is just as susceptible to flim-flammery as the right.
Platner’s supporters were easy marks because they badly wanted to beat Susan Collins. IMO, Platner was always a poor choice to face Runaround Sue: the key is women voters who voted for Biden and Collins in 2020. Slate’s Jim Newell nailed it last month in The Legend Of Susan Collins. It should be required reading for those in charge of replacing Platner on the ballot. The Maine senate race is too important to be fucked up twice. It may, however, be too late. Collins is now the favorite after this clusterfuck.
The good news is that there’s an alternate path to retaking the senate involving such red states as Iowa, Ohio, Alaska, and Texas, but it’s considerably narrower if Maine is lost. North Carolina is always close but former Governor Roy Cooper has won 6 statewide races and seems poised to make it 7.
What America needs right now is a better bullshit detector. Wishful thinking is a poor substitute for assessing a candidate’s credibility. MAGA GOPers aren’t the only liars out there.
I dislike taking shots at my fellow Democrats and take little pleasure in Platner’s fall. There’s plenty of blame to go around: Bernie Sanders and his cohort aren’t the only ones to screw the proverbial pooch, Chuck Schumer recruited Maine’s 78-year-old Governor to run against Collins. Janet Mills is a fine person but quite simply too old to be a freshman senator. Shorter Adrastos: Chuck fucked up again.
I understand the desire to fight fire with fire. I do not, however, believe we should fight liars with liars. It’s time for Democrats to focus on the real enemy: MAGA Republicans.
The post began with a shipwreck painting by Massachusetts native Winslow Homer. It ends with a shipwreck song by a Canadian. The last word goes to Gordon Lightfoot: