This could be an interesting topic as both James Platner and James Talarico (and I’m sure more) seem to be targeted with rumor mongering, throwing mud on the wall to see what sticks, controversy amplification, at a minimum dirty politics, oppo research, etc. In other words, getting swift boated by some of those opposed to these candidates. Topic inspired by history, current public discourse, as well as this 1,000+ thread “Are there any reasons to reject Graham Platner in Maine”
Definition according to Wikipedia: The term “Swift Boat” itself refers to a class of United States Navy vessel used during the Vietnam War. During the 2004 presidential campaign, John Kerry’s heroism under fire as a Swift Boat commander in Vietnam was a centerpiece of his campaign. A number of Vietnam veterans who had served on Swift Boats formed a 527 organization called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with the intent of discrediting his military record and attacking his subsequent antiwar activities as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.[9] The group produced a series of television ads and a bestselling book, Unfit for Command. The unsubstantiated charges against Kerry by the SBVT gave rise to the term “swiftboating” as a synonym for “the nastiest of campaign smears”, “a slimy political attack”, and, for many, “ugly, unprincipled slander”.
Graham Platner is accused of being a secret Nazi that sought out and got a Nazi SS tattoo with his squad mates in Croatia while on leave from combat in Iraq, that he’s going to be in lockstep with Donald Trump the minutes after being elected, an ex (who, btw, is an active Republican that used to work at the Heritage Foundation) claiming physical abuse, and most recently an October surprise that he had sex with or at a minimum was sexting with under aged girls.
James Talarico is accused of being a vegan, has an imaginary “girlfriend” with the implied implication that he’s gay, supports trans kids in a creepy manner, was predatory toward 6th grade boys when he was a teacher, and that he follows female adult film stars and escorts on Instagram.
Having a republican senate is a worse outcome than Platner and Talarico in the senate.
Susan Collins made excuses for Brett Kavanaugh being a rapist, and gaslit his victim, claiming his victim wasn’t remembering things properly. Nothing Platner has done is anywhere near that bad.
I’m tired of being told that if Democrats have skeletons in their closet, that means we are supposed to hand the country over to fascists. Fuck that.
Sen. Susan Collins said Saturday that while she believes that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was sexually assaulted, she does not believe that now-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh did it.
“I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh was her assailant,” the Maine Republican told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” in an interview slated to air on Sunday. “I do believe that she was assaulted. I don’t know by whom. I’m not certain when.”
I had to search a bit to find a non-paywalled article explaining what this was about. It turns out it started with an article in the NYPost from last November. Here is a link to an opinion piece in Baptist News Global that has this response from the Talarico campaign:
J.T. Ennis, a Talarico campaign spokesperson, confirmed the Texas Democrat has had no other conversations with OnlyFans models, porn stars or escorts, explaining: “The social media team — including James — follows back and engages with supporters who have large followings and does not investigate their backgrounds. While James was unaware of how these women make money, he does not judge them for it and will not play into an effort to smear them for clickbait articles. That’s exactly what his Christian faith calls him to do.”
The source, Baptist News Global, is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship which is made up of churches that split from the Southern Baptists because the SBs are hyper fundamentalist troglodytes. The CBF would still be considered Evangelical and conservative by anyone who isn’t a MAGAt. Plus, the author of the piece is an emeritus professor of theology at Hardin-Simmons University, a very conservative school.
These accusations appear to be a big nothing burger.
On a less-related-but-still-related note, I wonder why deepfaking with AI still hasn’t taken off as a means of Swiftboating. I would have thought, as far back as 3 years ago, that every election campaign would be swamped with AI deepfaking. Yet we saw little to no deepfaking of Harris, and we haven’t seen Platner and Talarico get deepfaked much yet. Seems such a cheap and accessible form of Swiftboating, and as the saying goes, “when a lie has gone halfway around the world, the truth is still tying its shoelaces.”
He follows female adult film stars and escorts on Instagram?
Why can’t the Dumbocrats run a nice moral candidate that has an affair with a porn star and illegally hides her hush money payments like that very nice Mr. Donald Trump?
