Platner says buh-bye
His fifteen minutes of fame is apparently up.
The Democrats must have made him an offer he couldn’t refuse – or a threat he couldn’t defy. Or both.
He argued the real threat was never the allegations themselves, but what the political establishment plans to do with them. Cut off his fundraising. Cut off his voter data. Starve the campaign of everything it needs simply to function. He made his read on their real preference painfully clear.
“They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine,” he said.
No, I don’t think so. They would rather have a different candidate than you, one they think has a better chance of winning. They knew the GOP had the goods on you and was going to wait till after the point of no return, July 13, to reveal it. So they finessed the GOP and revealed it themselves in order to force you out. Believe me, they want to win. This isn’t about you.
He added, about his victory in the primary:
“We went toe-to-toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won,” Platner said.
“We beat them on June 9th in overwhelming numbers.”
But to the best of my recollection, his main (Maine?) opponent, Janet Mills, had dropped out by then. His rise was also promoted by major backers such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, hardly outside of an “entrenched political system.”
Let’s see; what else?:
“And I just want to make it clear this is all false,” Platner said.
“The things that have been claimed did not happen; it’s not real.”
He described the past few days as an ordeal no regular person should have to survive, a normal guy suddenly thrust into a spotlight he says he never wanted. He accused the media and the political establishment of skipping the investigation entirely and jumping straight to a verdict.
“I learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner,” he said.
“Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end.”
I don’t know whether he’s innocent or guilty, but I do know that apparently Politico saw emails in which his accuser made the Platner rape allegations to friends very close to the time the rape supposedly occurred. Back then, he was not a political figure at all, but merely her ex-boyfriend.
Now the Democrats get to do what they do best: undo the will of the people and replace one candidate with another, in the nick of time. I wonder what Biden might say to all of this.
Who might be the new nominee? Here’s a report on the process:
Earlier Wednesday evening, the state party said it had decided to hold a nominating convention to pick a replacement candidate and plans to “announce the full timeline,” as well as details and requirements for contenders. It promised transparency.
The possible candidates:
[Troy] Jackson, who was a Platner ally before calling on him to step aside Monday, swiftly launched his Senate bid after Platner suspended his campaign. …
A logger with long ties to organized labor, he’s quickly attracted attention from many of the oysterman’s progressive supporters. Our Revolution, a progressive organization founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has already thrown its support behind Jackson.
But already, some votes from his 20-year history in the legislature are resurfacing, such as his 2009 state Senate vote against a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, giving Platner’s base a bit of pause. He later called that the “worst vote I ever took.” His closeness to Platner during the primary may also give pause to some Democrats as they choose their next nominee. …
[Dan] Kleban also announced his bid Wednesday. The 49-year-old founder of Maine Beer Company had dropped out of the Democratic Senate primary earlier this year and threw his weight behind establishment-backed Gov. Janet Mills. …
[Nirav] Shah, a former public health official, is “evaluating” whether he will mount a Senate bid, he told POLITICO Tuesday afternoon. But he was already positioning himself as a candidate before Platner’s announcement. …
Shah oversaw the state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He mounted his first run for public office earlier this year, finishing second in Maine’s gubernatorial primary. He said in an interview that he is “very, very much aligned” with Platner’s politics. …
[Shenna] Bellows, who also ran unsuccessfully for governor, has been fielding calls about a potential run, according to a person familiar with her campaign, granted anonymity to speak about private conversations. The person pointed to her ideological alignment with Platner on progressive issues and compelling biography — she grew up poor in rural Maine and flipped a GOP-held state Senate district — providing an early glimpse of part of her pitch if she decides to enter the race.
There are a bunch of others, most of whom are previous Platner supporters.
Farewell, Grammy, we hardly knew ye (fortunately)!
We knew too damn much about Platner already.
Might wanna do a tat-check first…
(Send out a questionnaire to all the ex-es…?)
Zaphod for Maine.
Seems to be a genuine contagion…perhaps even an epidemic…
“Francesca Hong Continues to Prove She’s Unfit to Lead Wisconsin, but Can Democrats Stop Her?”—
https://instapundit.com/809045/
…but I guess that’s what happens when fast-and-furious LYING is constantly generated—as a matter of WISE policy—and then regurgitated non-stop by à complicit, colluding, delusional Media…
Then there’s this uber-charming bit of Neo-Liberation Theology:
‘Rama Duwaji, wife of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is co-hosting an expensive spiritual retreat in Corsica, honoring Jesus’ mother Mary as a “Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation”.’—
https://instapundit.com/809002/
Somewhere, Napoleon is…giggling…
This could be.Establishment Democrats shaking out what they consider ” dead weight”.
Mills suspended her campaign. She was still on the primary ballot.
There was a choice, and the Democrats who voted in the primary chose the Commie with the Nazi tattoo, and the Democrats who *didn’t* vote in the primary were fine with him being their candidate because they thought he could beat Collins.
Legacy media is now going with “now it can be told” stories. Or, perhaps more accurately, “we’re all trying to find the guy who did this” stories, with legacy media journalists “breaking” stories about Platner that we read weeks ago, like his misrepresented “oyster farm”.
The days when everybody read what was in the New York Times, either because they read the New York Times or because all the other papers anyone read followed their lead, are long gone. These people know exactly who their audience is, their continued survival depends on that knowledge.
They no longer do reporting. They just relay memos from the Inner Party to the Outer Party about what to think. First it was “Graham is a hard-working regular Joe who wants to fight for YOU against those fat cats in Washington”. Then it was “His Nazi tattoo and reddit posts are no big deal and he’s real sorry about them, but it’s old news so let’s MoveOn.org and win in November.” And now “he was a horrible rapist this whole time, how did he fool all of us”.
“He described the past few days as an ordeal no regular person should have to survive…”
A modern day Winter at Valley Forge.
Siege of Berlin 1945, more like
“…regular person…”
Uh huh. Sure…
File under: “Damn. What was her name again??”
The Platner puss; male malignant narcissist on display, or, one sick puppy?
Cue “Rocky and Bullwinkle”
They no longer do reporting. They just relay memos from the Inner Party to the Outer Party about what to think. — Niketas
Definitely. Well put. I’ve thought this for a long time, except I believe there used to be some significant effort made to hide or camouflage it. Now it feels like journalists think that the LIVs (low information voters) are such boobs, why bother with the extra concealment effort.
Actually, now that I’ve been meeting lots of new people, I think that many don’t even care that journalism has become a “team effort” and that they are consuming from only one source.
@TommyJay:Now it feels like journalists think that the LIVs (low information voters) are such boobs
LIVs tuned them out long ago for cat videos and they know that. They’re talking to the engaged and online Left, sending out new software patches to correct their thinking. Some of those people might be influencers who reach some LIVs. 90% of this country says “Platner who? Which state is Maine again?”
While it was the dem establishment which removed him, in a fashion, he had his supporters as demonstrated by voters, at least. Like to know how, or whether, they peeled off him in layers as one item after another camo to light. And what they felt. And those who still think he’s the best. Like to know what they think. I can imagine, but that’s not the same.
I was listening to the Ruthless podcast, and they said they have inside info that the thing that got him to quit was that the Democrats threatened to prosecute his wife for some sort of welfare fraud.
Don’t know whether that’s true, but they usually know what they’re talking about.
Hmm sounds like criminal blackmail then.
“Graham Platner’s Wife Probed for Medicaid Fraud, Leaked DHHS Doc Shows;
“Graham Platner’s household was being investigated for welfare fraud even as Platner dismissed claims of widespread welfare fraud.“—
https://robinsonreport.substack.com/p/graham-platners-wife-probed-for-medicaid
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
Seems like chicken feed to me.
She needs to consult with some of the pros…
Re: Legacy Media
Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” film hinges, from what I’ve read, on the heroes, who’ve got the proof of aliens, being chased while they attempt to get their materials to the legacy media.
They couldn’t just dump their proof on the internet. No, only the legacy media would have the credibility to break the story! [Failed buzzer sound.]
Well, Spielberg is 80 years-old. “Disclosure Day” needs $300 million to break even, but five weeks later has only made $220 mil, so DD will lose money. Maybe it’s time Spielberg hung up his spurs.
I don’t think it would be Janet Mills, too old and too old-school. Shanna Bellows…. now that might have legs. Didn’t she try to get Trump’s name stripped off the ballot, only to be stopped by the USSC? And she’s done some other mischief as well, stretching her authority-of-office past its limits. She’s not DSA either, I don’t think. Might be just what the DNC is looking for….