If someone else ran they would dig up the skeletons in their closet too. We all have flaws. The difference is how how we respond to those flaws.
For instance, Pete Kegsbreath has a crusaders tattoo which isn’t the problem I have with him. The problem is his white supremacist rhetoric and actions. That is what makes the tattoo the icing on the cake.
For Planter his rhetoric is obviously way more thoughtful. Its pro working class and anti elite. That makes his tattoo a red herring in his case.
Its the best chance we have at this time and if he changes when he is in office then we shift our strategy again. However given his recent conversations, I find that hard to believe that someone who has such a intelligent working class centered politics is somehow an op.
Not a Maine voter either, but I would probably hold my nose and vote for Platner if I were. I wouldn’t have supported his primary run though.
People here need to start being ok with actual criticisms. You can’t just pretend that the gleeful murdering of Iraqis and Nazi iconography isn’t a problem.
The DNC tried to anoint Mills. The people soundly rejected her, because she is absolutely incapable of meeting the moment. (She’s also pro-Israel, takes money from pro-Israel donors, has actively spoken out against BDS, etc.) The only other two people still in the race don’t even chart in polls against Collins; if they’re the candidate, Collins WILL win. One of the candidates has so little support that she’s trying to get people to write her in on the ballot, because she couldn’t hit the numbers she needed to be on the primary ballot.
The DNC is flatly opposed to Platner, because everything he claims to believe will upset their financial applecart.
The voting public isn’t “swallowing” it; what’s not happening in most of these stories is people talking to actual voters. The voters see who he is, listen to him, and believe him when he says that he’s dealt with PTSD, has been through a lot of therapy, and is a better person than he was.
Unless you want some carpetbagger to come in, no there aren’t.
The population is Maine is ~1.4 million. Cutting out republicans and people ineligible due to age and other factors is going to leave you at far less than millions.
there are millions of people qualified to run for office in Maine, who don’t have a history of nazi tattoos or sex pestery
And where are they? They’re not in office, that’s for sure. And they’re also not running.
Why is that? It’s one thing to bitch about a dearth of candidates, but before Trump and throughout American history it was often the case that any big race had at least half a dozen candidates at minimum, often more. And a federal Senate seat is a big race.
So where are all the candidates?
Look to the two-party political establishment itself for that: the closer you look at how they get and keep power, the more you’ll see all the ways, large and small, in which they have made maintaining that Senate seat in donor-purchased hands far more important than the interests of their voters.
Somehow, Platner has gotten past all that. There should be more candidates, sure. But don’t go blaming a first-time candidate for what is just another symptom of the sick system he is running to change.
there are millions of people qualified to run for office in Maine, who don’t have a history of nazi tattoos or sex pestery
Just because the DNC is dragging the bottom of the barrel for candidates doesn’t mean the voting public has to swallow it
(Blah blah not a Maine voter, I certainly wouldn’t vote Graham if he ran in my neck of the woods)
If someone else ran they would dig up the skeletons in their closet too. We all have flaws. The difference is how how we respond to those flaws.
For instance, Pete Kegsbreath has a crusaders tattoo which isn’t the problem I have with him. The problem is his white supremacist rhetoric and actions. That is what makes the tattoo the icing on the cake.
For Planter his rhetoric is obviously way more thoughtful. Its pro working class and anti elite. That makes his tattoo a red herring in his case.
Its the best chance we have at this time and if he changes when he is in office then we shift our strategy again. However given his recent conversations, I find that hard to believe that someone who has such a intelligent working class centered politics is somehow an op.
Not a Maine voter either, but I would probably hold my nose and vote for Platner if I were. I wouldn’t have supported his primary run though.
People here need to start being ok with actual criticisms. You can’t just pretend that the gleeful murdering of Iraqis and Nazi iconography isn’t a problem.
It’s a fucking problem.
I am a Maine voter.
The DNC tried to anoint Mills. The people soundly rejected her, because she is absolutely incapable of meeting the moment. (She’s also pro-Israel, takes money from pro-Israel donors, has actively spoken out against BDS, etc.) The only other two people still in the race don’t even chart in polls against Collins; if they’re the candidate, Collins WILL win. One of the candidates has so little support that she’s trying to get people to write her in on the ballot, because she couldn’t hit the numbers she needed to be on the primary ballot.
The DNC is flatly opposed to Platner, because everything he claims to believe will upset their financial applecart.
The voting public isn’t “swallowing” it; what’s not happening in most of these stories is people talking to actual voters. The voters see who he is, listen to him, and believe him when he says that he’s dealt with PTSD, has been through a lot of therapy, and is a better person than he was.
Unless you want some carpetbagger to come in, no there aren’t.
The population is Maine is ~1.4 million. Cutting out republicans and people ineligible due to age and other factors is going to leave you at far less than millions.
And where are they? They’re not in office, that’s for sure. And they’re also not running.
Why is that? It’s one thing to bitch about a dearth of candidates, but before Trump and throughout American history it was often the case that any big race had at least half a dozen candidates at minimum, often more. And a federal Senate seat is a big race.
So where are all the candidates?
Look to the two-party political establishment itself for that: the closer you look at how they get and keep power, the more you’ll see all the ways, large and small, in which they have made maintaining that Senate seat in donor-purchased hands far more important than the interests of their voters.
Somehow, Platner has gotten past all that. There should be more candidates, sure. But don’t go blaming a first-time candidate for what is just another symptom of the sick system he is running to change.