Platner leaves Democrats with egg on their faces

Democrats have a number of Graham Platner-related problems even after his exit from the Maine Senate race amid a rape allegation he denies. But high on that list is the sheer amount of egg some of them now have on their faces. Amid his drip, drip, drip of controversies, Platner repeatedly put the party in the position of deciding whether to vouch for a guy who was the odds-on favorite to win its nomination — but who also seemed to have stocked his closet with a remarkable number of skeletons. And some Democrats regularly obliged, despite the revelations. They did so after the tattoo with Nazi imagery, after the ugly Reddit posts, after the sexually explicit texts to women who weren’t his wife, and even in some cases after a New York Times report last month about allegations of unsettling behavior toward women. (The national party, which had initially recruited Gov. Janet Mills, got behind him after she dropped out and he became the presumptive nominee.)

Each time, these Democrats seemed to convince themselves they could stand by him one more time, ignoring that it was very unlikely to be just one more time. The result is that the party sunk plenty of credibility into a guy who did not reward it. And all of it appears to be a sunk cost now — in what’s likely a must-win state for Democrats if they’re to flip the Senate in November. (Platner announced Wednesday evening he’s suspending his campaign, clearing the way for a replacement on the ballot.) At the top of the list of defenses of Platner that have aged poorly is one from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse last month. The Rhode Island Democrat told NOTUS that he was “not impressed” by the detailed Times account of Platner’s allegedly unsettling behavior toward women. (The report didn’t include allegations of sexual abuse but did include allegations of physical intimidation and other toxic behavior toward the women.)

The senator also echoed some on the left in pointing to how the most serious allegations came from a former Platner girlfriend who has worked in conservative politics. “Seems like a lot of nothing,” Whitehouse said. “I mean, the only one who had anything to say that seemed unsettling was a woman who works for right-wing political operations.” It turns out that kind of suggestion spurred another former Platner girlfriend, Jenny Racicot, to come forward with her rape allegation. Racicot, who said she largely shared Platner’s politics, told Politico she did so in part because of the political attacks on the woman who spoke to the Times, Lyndsey Fifield. Others at the time echoed the argument that the allegations in the early June Times story were politically motivated. The head of the Maine AFL-CIO said they were “not surprised that attacks are coming from various corners.” And Maine state Rep. Valli Geiger said the report “makes me support him more because it just feels like dirty politics to me.” (Geiger starred in an ad with Platner in which she praised his support for, of all things, rape kit legislation.)

Other Democrats didn’t go so far in dismissing the Times report or the other controversies swirling around Platner but did suggest they shouldn’t define him. “I see this as: He has taken responsibility. He has described where he was, where he is now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told WCVB-TV late last month. In a social media post shortly after the Times story, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont didn’t directly address the report but called Platner the “one candidate” who could address what he said were the key issues in the race. California Rep. Ro Khanna called the behavior described in the Times report “wrong and toxic” but said Platner had “sought redemption.” And he pressed forward with a rally with Platner shortly afterward. Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii was set to keep a fundraiser for him even after the Times report. Nearly all of those mentioned above have urged Platner to drop out this week after the rape allegation.

But their decision to vouch for him, or at least to downplay the significance of the Times’ June reporting, came even as other Democrats adopted a much more cautious posture. On the night Platner won his primary last month, for example, some top Democratic organizations responded by conspicuously saying little or nothing about him and instead emphasized the importance of defeating GOP Sen. Susan Collins. And some left-wing pundits this week expressed regret for their roles in vouching for Platner. New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, for example, said she regretted that Platner’s “charisma” led her to write that he was “nothing like the edgelord caricature I encountered online.” And author Naomi Klein said she “should have been more cautious” in conducting due diligence. But others seemed to have more foresight. After the Times story broke last month, Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan told MS NOW that she was “sick of” spending her time “answering every single week a question about bad behavior by another dude.”

And Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts appeared on CNN in late May, shortly before the Times story broke, and said even just Platner’s tattoo was bad enough for him. “I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss said. “I hope Maine voters agree with me.” A lot of Democrats will be wishing they had taken a similar tack.

Source: Analysis: Platner leaves Democrats with egg on their faces | CNN Politics

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Platner leaves Democrats with egg on their faces

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