We read Graham Platner’s whole Reddit archive. The vilification of the Maine candidate for Senate doesn’t square with what he actually wrote in his posts.
  • Plum@lemmy.worldEnglish
    43·
    6 months ago

    Reading through Platner’s many hundreds of anonymous comments, it’s hard to paint him as a secret white supremacist or far-right extremist of any kind. In fact, his posts more or less align with the persona he has presented to voters in the two months since he launched his campaign: a rough-around-the-edges military veteran and oyster farmer with a penchant for crude language and a passion for firearms and sustainable living who holds a variety of standard progressive views alongside some heterodox ones.

    • daannii@lemmy.worldEnglish
      40·
      6 months ago

      Maga. Israel. The usual. Possibly the Dem party. They really don’t like these new unbought Dems coming in and making them look bad.

      • resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world
        26·
        6 months ago

        Cuomo is literally a sex abuser and establishment democrats can’t get enough of him.

        Jeffries should be ashamed it took him this long to endorse Mamdami. But good to know he’s a traitor to his supporters.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 months ago

    Well, for the terminally online, the knee has already jerked. And in their defense, once bit, twice shy.

    That being said, the number of terminally online Mainers for whom the oppo was a deal breaker probably can fit in a swimming pool.

    And there are two things happening at once in this story. One is, the primary thread of the oppo; Platner did post those things, Platner did have a tattoo.

    The second thing is the oppo release, its source, Mills, Schumer, and the act of Mainers being told who to like and whom to vote for. And at least in last weeks polling this seemed to be the case. So who does the oppo work on? Early polling seems to be showing that the timing of Mills announcement and the research being release/ coming from some of the least popular standing groups (specifically, corporate Democrats).

    So it looks like the oppo was supposed to work on the more progressive types (and clearly, has been, I mean, look around), and that while thats been effective, Mainers dont care/ dont like being told who to like. This oppo dump may actually end up working against those who sourced it (corporate Dems). We need the polling pudding to thicken up a bit, but should know more when polling comes out this week (weds/ thurs/ fri).

  • lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world
    12·
    5 months ago

    Everybody is talking about Platner and that is fine, but i wanted to recognize the Jacobin for publishing this.

    Here is a socialist magazine defending a man with a sketchy tattoo on the basis of the bulk of his posts. Jacobin (and Marcetic, the author) are cutting against cancel culture accusations and upholding the truth-finding principle of good journalism. Bravo.

    • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
      9·
      5 months ago

      People latching onto this like it’s some huge dealbreaker or a story about someone traitorous to progressive politics, you are probably the same people worked up about Hasan’s dog.

      What? These two things are not at all the same.

      Platner seeks a position of power and the mere existence of a nazi tattoo shows questionable judgement at best and nazi sympathies at worst.

      Its a pretty tame position to take in not wanting a politician with ANY connection to nazis

  • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
    9·
    6 months ago

    This whole Graham thing comes down to a single issue for me. Did he have a nazi tattoo? If yes, and it does appear to be a yes, then id never support him. No nazis or nazi sympathizers. Thats a hard line for me.

    • ultranaut@lemmy.world
      16·
      6 months ago

      Intent matters. Did he knowingly choose a Nazi tattoo? All of the evidence suggests he did not, and that as soon as he found out it was associated with Nazis he immediately took action to get rid of it.

      • MimicJar@lemmy.world
        8·
        6 months ago

        To add, the election Platner is running in has their primaries in June 2026, general in November 2026.

        Platner has A LOT of work to do between now and then to prove what kind of person he is and what ideas he has, but he also has A LOT of time to do it.

        I understand anyone’s hesitation in supporting him. It’s a reasonable view. Platner may never recover from this. Maybe he can. Platner is going to need to work hard to overcome this. Other candidates may be better.

      • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
        4·
        6 months ago

        Even if, as he claims, he didnt know it was a nazi symbol then that means hes a moron. Being simply unaware is excusable, not everyone can know everything, but getting it as a tattoo without knowing?! That means he either was/is a nazi or is/was a massive moron. Either option disqualifies him in my eyes.

        Now I dont live in Maine so it doesnt matter politically. But if I did I wouldnt be voting for him

        • ultranaut@lemmy.world
          7·
          6 months ago

          Marines getting dumb ass tattoos while drunk in a foreign country is a story as old as time. He definitely used to be a moron, getting a tattoo under those circumstances was obviously a terrible decision.

          • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 months ago

            It really doesnt matter how or why he got it unless it was against his will. Id never vote for a politician that has or had a nazi tattoo. Its just a hard stop.

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
          5·
          5 months ago

          What the fuck? Do you know every hate symbol and slur in the world? Why would you expect your average person to casually know this sort of thing? Not knowing obscure Nazi symbols doesn’t make one a “moron;” I for one have much better things to do than learning how fascism group#3011 decided to tell everyone they hate Jews.

          • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
            1·
            5 months ago

            If you get a tattoo and dont know what it is then you are a moron. If that tattoo turns out to be a nazi symbol then you are a giant moron. Both of these disqualify you, in my mind, from being an elected leader in any sense.

            Its not a hard concept to grasp here. Leaders should not be morons and the should absolutely not be nazis

            • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
              2·
              5 months ago

              If you get a tattoo and dont know what it is then you are a moron.

              Uh… it’s a skull and crossbones? Nazis didn’t invwnt those.

                • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
                  3·
                  5 months ago

                  Sure, but if you saw it not knowing it’s not just a skull and crossbones, you’ll only think “oh, skull and crossbones.” No amount of knowledge will protect you from this kind of false positive, because you can’t know what you don’t know.

    • WoodScientist@lemmy.world
      6·
      6 months ago

      He didn’t get a Nazi tattoo. He got a skull and crossbones tattoo. Does it look a bit like the Nazi version? Sure. But the Nazis just took a form for it that had been used for centuries.

      It wasn’t a damn swastika. It was a military tattoo of the kind no way specific to Nazis. And you’re surprised a damn marine gets a tattoo that evokes centuries of military tradition?

      Would you refuse to vote for someone that was a vegetarian? Because vegetarianism is a “Nazi diet” in the same way this is a “Nazi tattoo.” Hitler was vegetarian at the end of his life.

    • quick_snail@feddit.nl
      2·
      5 months ago

      He could apologize. And not just for the tattoo, but also for being in the military.

      I haven’t read a statement like this…

      • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
        2·
        5 months ago

        The right elects rapists, they arent the golden standard we should hold ourselves to.

        And this isnt a blurry tattoo. Hes admitted the tattoo hasnt he?

        Look Im not saying to arrest the guy or deport him or anything drastic. He just shouldnt be in the running for a govt position. A nazi tattoo, intentional or not, disqualifies him. Its that easy. Any way you cut it getting such a tattoo should mean he cant hold a govt position.

        Why is this so easy for some people to sweep under the rug?

          • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
            3·
            5 months ago

            You started by invoking what the right does, not me. And you are talking about “the right doesnt care if their candidates are perfect”

            Well neither do I. But a nazi tattoo is a line too far. No nazis, accidental or otherwise.

      • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
        2·
        5 months ago

        Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron, or he did and that makes him a nazi (or if im being generous, a sympathizer). EITHER scenario disqualifies him in my mind. I dont want a moron representing me and I definitely dont want a nazi in govt.

        Why is this such a hard concept to grasp?

        • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
          2·
          5 months ago

          Well either he didnt know what the symbol meant, which makes him a moron,

          Yeah you keep saying that but that doesn’t make it true. Ignorance, especially of obscure knowledge, does not equal stupidity. Also you’re talking as if establishment dems on the other hand aren’t tautologically morons.

          • YoFrodo@lemmy.world
            2·
            5 months ago

            It is a true opinion of mine lmao. Anyone getting a tattoo without looking into the symbol is a moron lol. Its a permanent mark on your body, and anyone willing to get one without doing a little due diligence is dumb. Its not the end of the world but it absolutely disqualifies you from my support in any govt position.

            I cant believe so many people are coming out of the weeds to defend this. If it was just some dude not seeking a position of power then itd be whatever, but this guy wants to be in charge of stuff but has already shown massively questionable judgement,

  • quick_snail@feddit.nl
    4·
    5 months ago

    Are you saying he didn’t serve in the military?

    Or are you saying he did apologize for spreading capitalism with the sword of US imperialism?

  • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world
    3·
    5 months ago

    the fucked up thing here is how did they find his reddit account? That post was years ago and he didnt even use some stupid username like “RealGrahamPlatner”. Makes you wonder if those reddit post removal tool work at all…

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    3·
    5 months ago

    Why are people so fucking stupid? Idiots who probably didn’t even know what a totenkopf was a week ago are now like “OMG secret Nazi 😱.”

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
    3·
    5 months ago

    Dude another turncoat? A Fetterman or Manchin? Riding the blue-no-matter-who train while presenting some traits that right wingers like in private? I don’t live in Maine, so I don’t get a say, but seeing a guy like this run just seems like it’s not going to work out well.

    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
      7·
      5 months ago

      You should try actually reading the article before commenting instead of just ignorantly putting your two cents in.