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Do we have a time machine? No? Then we can't make a better choice for primary than him anymore. That's it.
Is he better than Susan Collins?
That's the vote. A or B. Decide which, between those two options only you'd hate the least, and vote the vote.
Is he imperfect? Yes. But now he's only competing against Ms Collins.
Well that’s fucking depressing
Everything else is much more depressing.
That's fair, but we're actively living the consequences of not voting for harm reduction when we had the chance in 2024. I'm so fucking sick of this. We can't afford to ignore history or reality anymore.
Not as depressing as what happens if everyone who is informed enough to have meaningful opinions refuses to participate rather than make a choice.
A lot of folks here are too young to remember this, but back in my day there was a democrat senator from Pennsylvania called John Fetterman. When he ran for this position, he was hailed as a new kind of progressive. Gave off serious working class vibes, wouldn't wear a suit, and ran a really progressive ticket. He had a bit of an iffy past, involving threatening a black jogger with a shotgun, and fighting to gentrify the town of Braddock when he was mayor there. And of course, he had parents who were business owners who bought his political career for him. But we were told to ignore this, because he was saying a lot of progressive stuff now, and because the person he was running against was ostensibly worse (a tv doctor I think).
Anyway, he got elected, and the unimaginable happened: the guy who acted conservatively in the past, was acting conservatively in the present too! Even though he'd said he'd changed his tune and was a progressive now, he was supporting conservative legislation, and even enthousiastically supporting the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza (although it's hard to find a democrat who doesn't).
The Plattner situation reminds me of this. Rich parents, iffy past (3 tours of joining the illegal invasion of Iraq, and one in afghanistan, mercenary after, an actual, honest to god, I'm not making this up, nazi tattoo on his chest), and iffy present (he's calling people who participated in the war crimes committed in Fallujah[1] "war heroes" in campaign interviews). It'd be kind of cool if we could learn from history instead of repeat it.
Inb4 the greybeards bring up Obama and his progressive campaign.
[1] they besieged the entire city and cut off its water and electricity supply. This is a war crime. Imagine being an elderly or disabled person who cannot leave the city -- these are the kinds of people targeted by this attack. This is the kind of stuff Israel does in Gaza that makes legal scholars say that they're committing a genocide. Anyway, the folks that did this are war heroes, apparently.
I went back and listened to Fetterman during his election, and I've listened to Platner in recent interviews, there is a major difference in the general thought of how politics works and how it should work.
I suppose it's possible that this is another wolf in sheeps clothes, but it sure doesnt look like it to me. Not to mention taken at face value, he's leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else in the race.
He says enough good things that he’s worth throwing some weight behind. Importantly too, (and unfortunate it has to be this way) he’s a macho white veteran. He’s speaking TOO and FOR this demographic who happens to have too much weight in the US political discourse.
A lot of what he says I generally agree with, but he is, like any politician, imperfect. He’s the best we got against Susan Collins though. If his image can be the voice of reason to this demographic of desperately macho white dudes in the US, then let’s ride the wave until someone better comes along.
Yeah, tell me all about how the guy who wants to destroy MAGA and fight for health care, is worse than the corrupt, treasonous, racist, pedophiles we have now. At least this one has a D next to his name, and adds to a Democratic majority in the Senate. I'm tired of being lied to by Susan Collins and her ilk.
You’d think Platner was Trump himself, from all these supposed “leftists” in the thread. They are the reason the party can’t move left. They all sit home on Election Day waiting for Jesus himself to be on the ballot.
Look, I get the point you're trying to make, but I can't begrudge anyone for being skeptical of the guy who got a Nazi SS Tattoo.
Maybe pick a different example next time?
How about when Kamala Harris ran and instead of voting for her, a bunch of leftists sat home and let Donald Trump win instead to teach her a lesson. I don’t really see a difference here. Leftists demand moral purity and then end up with an actual Nazi instead being elected.
In that case, it was because Kamala walked the line on Israel. In this case, Platner has actually taken the side you want on Israel and you STILL find a gripe about the Democrat to let MAGA win the election over.
Also, you need to understand that people are capable of making mistakes and growing from them. Did it not occur to you that Platner likely did not even know the context of the tattoo when he got it? It was just a bunch of marines bonding and doing a group thing. He went along with it and probably didn’t understand the historical context. I’m willing to bet 99% of the people complaining about his tattoo would not have understood the historical context if they saw the tattoo two years ago. But, now that the DNC did opposition research you’re all suddenly in the know. Well, the opposition research had its chance to dissuade voters in the primary and it failed. Making one mistake in your life doesn’t disqualify you from ever participating in anything ever again. Get the fuck over it. At this point, the primary is over and you have two candidates to choose from.
You people have no plan. Your solution is what? Don’t vote or vote for Susan Collins? Either way, you’re supporting the Republicans and therefore supporting Trump. You are therefore my enemy.
Leftists demand moral purity and then end up with an actual Nazi instead being elected.
You're voting for the guy who had an SS tattoo. Pot, meet Kettle.
How about when Kamala Harris ran and instead of voting for her, a bunch of leftists sat home and let Donald Trump win instead to teach her a lesson.
A lesson libs like you clearly have yet to learn. Kamala alienated parts of what should have been her electoral coalition, because she wouldn't distance herself from Biden who was deeply unpopular, wouldn't take a proper stance on Palestine, and adopted Republican border policy. Running to the right doesn't work.
To platner's credit, he's not doing that (ot at least hasn't yet. We'll see what he does if in office), but he's a controversial candidate for good reason.
Also, you need to understand that people are capable of making mistakes and growing from them. Making one mistake in your life doesn’t disqualify you from ever participating in anything ever again. Get the fuck over it.
I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. I don't think anyone is beyond redemption. I'm a prison abolitionist ffs. But if you can't see why the SS tattoo might give people pause, you're just not taking a sober look at the situation.
You people have no plan. Your solution is what? Don’t vote or vote for Susan Collins? Either way, you’re supporting the Republicans and therefore supporting Trump. You are therefore my enemy.
Ok, take a deep breath, and chill out. I am a stranger on the internet. You don't know me, and you don't know if I voted, or who for. Voting is a tool. It is one singular means of political engagement. Not every election is the most important election ever, and whether someone chooses to vote for someone like Kamala, or Platner, is up to them. Those people aren't necessarily your enemies, they're people who's conscience told them to take a position different from yours.
Unionize your workplace, if it's already unionized, get involved. Canvas for a ballot measure, or attend a city council meeting. Find a mutual aid network in your area and hand out food or hygine kits to the homeless. Opposing Trump is sometimes about voting, but it's also about building something beyond the systems which allowed him to come to power in the first place.
If you think that a 3 tour (or was it 4?) Blackwater merc is going to move you left, you are the reason why the party isn't moving left.
If I had a nickel for every person who could have been the bellwether of US populism I'd have.. I don't know... a bunch of nickels. I'm not holding my breath.
Genuinely hope I'm wrong about him, but it's frustrating that Maine couldn't find a candidate without a Nazi tattoo. Or one that doesn't go on Nazi podcasts and call themselves long time fans. Or one that didn't enlist in a war they thought was wrong because they wanted to kill people. Or one that didn't merc for Blackwater.
I get that one can't pick their family, but his blue blood parents trying to buy him a mayorship is also wild.
Sad to think that the economy has gotten so bad that his parents who both worked normal ass professional jobs are considered blue bloods now. Back in my day we called that middle class.
Interesting how many billionaires are pouring cash into spreading any and all kinds of bullshit about this guy. The more they spend the better I feel about him.
Eh he's a white guy. Doesn't matter what his past is, he gets to apologize and move on. Not like they have other examples of populist leftists in multiple other elections across the country. No, it's this white ex-mercenary who had to remove a totenkopf tattoo.
No this guy is the face of populism...
All you out of staters sound like some clown in Texas foaming at the mouth over the mayor of New York. Big clown energy. Calm down eyes on the prize focus on your own representation. This one’s mine. You can go reelect your little DNC clown so they can fund Israel and we could keep bombing brown people forever instead of getting healthcare.
99 other seats you could be worried about, 2 of which belong to each of you. Go put that energy into your own elections ya jackasses.
Let’s go Maine. The rest of your bootlickers are just jealous. You can’t find someone to run that doesn’t have the DNC’s hand up their fucking ass.