Except other posters keep bringing it up, stuff proven wrong, lies by a MAGA operative, not only taken as the truth but multiplied- “several people came forward to say he admitted he knew it was a nazi Tat”. No- one person- who started out anonymous then was verified as a MAGA operative, same with the previous accusation of force- just the one known republican, now multiplied as “several” or even “many”. sigh.
But he has to step down. This one is serious.
You are 100% correct. But he is usually lumped in with Democrats in the public eye, regardless of official party affiliation, and AFAIK he is the most prominent supporter who hasn’t retracted the endorsement yet.
I’m also not implying that Sanders’ silence gives Platner any kind of claim to legitimacy, but I feel like if Sanders does come out against him, it’s the final punctuation mark.
He’s done anyway. This is a political avalanche.
Continuing the discussion from Are there any reasons to reject Graham Platner in Maine:
In her first account in the spring, she says he came over to her house while he was drunk. Then she waits until the primary is over and he’s won and the senate race is underway to accuse him of rape. Does anyone else find this suspicious? Why not come out with it right away? Why this teaser and then come out with the bombshell accusation and blow his candidacy and the Democrats’ chances of taking the senate? Why?
Because the DNC is trying to ratfuck Platner, because they’d rather be in the minority than share a majority with someone who jeopardizes their access to AIPAC money.
Her stated reasons are plausible to me. From Politico:
She could be a lying secret Republican and/or lying secret Netanyahu supporter. But, most likely, her story is true.
I can see an argument that women who don’t call 911 right after a rape (or maybe any crime) should be ignored on grounds of it making it harder to the innocent to show innocence, and for the guilty to be convicted. But that’s not a good argument. And once you reject that not-good argument, you realize that there never is going to be a time, for the victim to speak up, that cannot be criticized.
A friend told me that he had a cousin who was also raped by Cavanough, but she didn’t come forward because she didn’t want to destroy her life. I think this story is incredibly plausible.
It really is. Coming forward with a rape allegation means that people will compound the trauma with more trauma. Right now, right here, people are accusing Racicot of being a liar at the service of a shadowy cabal of politicos, out to destroy Platner. Platner himself is using his megaphone to accuse her of being a liar. And Racicot 100% knew that was going to happen, and came forward anyway.
The strange thing isn’t that she waited to come forward. The remarkable bit is that she chose to come forward at all, knowing how awful folks would be to her.
Completely convincing.
Hopefully he drops out today.
On the brightish side, okay less pitch black, whoever replaces him still has more of a chance of winning than Mills had.
Right here, one person is doing this, AFAICT.
I had just assumed it would be Mills…
One person in this thread. We’re a tiny set of people. Now think of how many other people out in the world will be doing the same thing, many of them people that Racicot will have to encounter face to face. Rape victims really do face a lot of persecution. It’s absolutely completely rotten, but it’s true.
Of course. I wasn’t trying to discount this, I was only talking about the particular reactions on the Dope.
I sure hope not. She did an absolutely terrible job campaigning during the primary. She clearly didn’t have much actual desire. I think it needs to be someone who can appeal to the Platner voters, who are the majority of Maine Democrats, and certainly were the most energized Democrats in the primary. I’m rooting for Troy Jackson.
So am I, but I figured if he was interested he would have ran in the primaries.
He ran in the primary for governor, but didn’t win. From what I’ve read, he came on strong at the end.
He was also a Platner ally (who has since urged him to drop out).
An energized voter, and a Democrat who would have preferred a more strongly progressive candidate, each have one vote. Maybe I missed it, but AFAIK there is not going to be a Green or other far left party running a Senate candidate, so there will be no where else for progressives to go. And progressives are highly motivated to turn out to vote against Collins.
There aren’t enough approval polls for Mills and Collins to say this for sure, but in my googling it seems Mills is a bit more popular than Collins. This is more important than how many are wildly enthused about their preferred candidate.
As I mentioned when I accidentally posted in the pit, the second place candidate in the gubernatorial primary, Nirav Shah, (who would have won except for their using ranked choice) seems to me a good pick if the Democrats shouldn’t give up the age issue. He’s 49.
NYT reporting Platner has conditions on dropping out. (Gift link)
Basically he wants leverage over who replaces him on the ballot.
From a Newsweek article that I am having trouble linking to, about Troy Jackson
Jackson told the Bangor Daily News that he would be the “best person” to replace Platner if he withdraws from the race. “This is something I never considered, but if Graham’s stepping away, I am very, very interested and think I’m the best person to replace him,” he said.
“There is no place in our politics for sexual violence. Not in our party, not in any party. Graham Platner must withdraw from this race today,” Jackson wrote on X on Tuesday night.
“Jackson would have a lot of momentum," Shea told Newsweek. "He did very well in the last few weeks of the primary race,” he said.
A Wedgewood poll found that Jackson would be in a stronger position than Platner to take on Collins.
That said, unless this article is from the future, I am a little confused how they are quoting what he said on Tuesday night.
I don’t know how significant one poll is, but if that is typical, then he would probably get a big bump just from stepping in and being in such a prominent race. Something he could hopefully ride to victory.
Here is the article:
The poll they quote says that Mills would be pretty even with Collins, but Jackson would have a noticeable edge.
The poll gave Jackson a 5-point lead over Collins, with 48 percent to Collins’ 43 percent. The poll had Platner trailing Collins by four points—50 percent compared to Platner’s 46 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.6 points.
In a matchup between Collins and Governor Janet Mills, the poll found that both have 47 percent support.
Funny that.
Who knows anymore?