Bloo

Does ATRL run better or is it just me?

The Dem base did not know Graham Platner was credibly accused of r**e because no such credible allegation was released until a few days ago.

Hopefully the box office matches the critical reception.

I wish society would move on from this insufferable app and its parent company altogether.

But the AI bros were swearing to me that it was a lie data centers were a threat to water?!

Not to make this all about Platner. But this goes back to who people perceive to be acceptable victims. The people Platner killed during his multiple tours—that he described as "thrilling" in the more nefarious Reddit posts—didn't sink his campaign, him sexually assaulting a White woman did. I'm glad the latter credible allegation tanked his campaign given who he is. But, we live in this weird culture where we somehow grant a lot of excuses for military service members to do the most evil things imaginable to people "over there" as long as it's out of sight. A politician supporting a genocide in Gaza is still less outrageous and scandalous to many because it's "over there". When it comes to Haley Stevens, somehow people will not understand why it's reasonable for people to feel unmotivated to vote for an immoral genocide enabler like Haley Stevens in the same way they fully understand why women would sit out voting for Graham Platner should he still be the nominee.

There were leftists voices that were openly skeptical of Graham Platner (e.g., Humanist Report, North Star Radio, FD Signifier). Sure, others should have known better and we can discuss how patriarchy and being in the imperial core led them to ignoring many of the red flags related to Platner—such as his multiple tours and how morally implicating it is to volunteer for so many tours. I personally am a bit leery of Ryan Grim. I’ve been leery of him for a while for being so fervently anti-DEI and anti-Affirmative Action; so him (at some point) saying the allegations against Platner are due “anti-White” bias is hilarious and makes him one of the most prime examples of a White Leftist I’ve ever seen. However, electoral politics has constraints. There will always be flawed candidates. One of the challenges of electoral is that it will always ask you to believe the story presented by flawed candidates. As we move away from establishment candidates that are board approved and groomed to be politicians from a young age, we will have more openly flawed candidates with questionable Internet history. Graham Platner was flawed with many red flags. Yes, people were wrong about him and many underestimated the red flags in question—even how some of the red flags related to his alleged ideology (e.g., he had a lot of rhetoric I hated that made me think he wasn’t as anti-war as he claimed). However, the important part is that the Left was able to move on and denounce him unblinkingly when a credible allegation of sexual abuse was dropped. So, while it’s frustrating a handful of people were rushing to argue for Platner 2028 presidential ambitions, we should extend some grace because people are desperate for hope. People cannot be expected to be clairvoyant and that something was bound to come out. There are people that seem perfectly pleasant and are sexual abusers. You cannot “see” it. It would also be a mistake to expect people to assume these things are always visible. That doesn’t mean there aren’t lessons to learn. We’ll continue to unpack this candidacy when the dust is settled.

About time. He needed to do this yesterday. It doesn’t matter if it secures Maine for Collins, he needed to go. Hopefully the party nominates someone that reflects the values Maine voters voted for (though I am skeptical they will).

It's utterly ridiculous for him to make this demand when his political brand is now tarnished with a credible rape allegation. Him "naming" a successor would only tarnish their chances. Either he drops out or he effectively secures Senator Collins' reelection. I don't know the best way for him to be succeeded; there frankly isn't a smooth way to do it. Maybe it should be his campaign staffers that get in contact with someone (e.g., Jackson) to install in place of Platner. But, he can't be too involved with that decision.

Me: "I personally don't like this thing." You: "Sounds like a personal problem." Please read with some patience and attention to detail. Nowhere did I say this is a "problem"; I just stated a personal opinion expressing how I feel when I hear these two incredible women referred to by their spouse's surnames.

Somewhat unrelated... but I really don't like Taylor or Beyoncé being referred to by the surnames of their spouses... it feels so wrong to me. I know Beyoncé has leaned into it in shared artistic efforts in both touring and her own musical releases (e.g., "Lemme hear you say, 'Hey, Mrs. Carter!'"), but it still feels weird. Both Beyoncé and Taylor outshine their washed purse carriers.

The Platner campaign apparently put out a new job posting today..? https://www.daybook.com/job/research-director-urgently-hiring-kwukMifZhzcDmWiAg

I am a Kelly Clarkson stan; I love my retired television talk show host.

Y’all better be ready to start 365 party girl bumpin’ that

Agreed. I'd rather Susan Collins win (especially when the net benefit of winning the Senate in '26 is so marginal to begin with) than see a credibly accused rapist win under the Democrat banner. I'd rather Rapists and PDFs choose to just run as Republicans.

Yeah, I agree. For me, I prefer the flavor of masculinity Mamdani or AES provides (I also just prefer women to men on an interpersonal level but that's a separate discussion). However, I know that in more rural states it would be beneficial to also have strong progressives that are seen as masculine and plain in a sense that could resonate with more rural voters. There is value to that. It is a shame that clowns like Fetterman and Platner have tarnished that lane. If someone like them runs in the future, they will be seen as "another Platner" moving forward until the collective memory moves on.

Someone: Asks why this allegation is being received differently. Me: Provides an opinion as to why. You: "Lol cope"

For what it's worth, the Senate really isn't the main thing we need to worry about, honestly. I think winning back the House is more important at this point in time. The main benefit with the Senate is that it could block Trump's SC Justice nominations should there be anymore (which there will be!). But, in truth, even if this story on Platner didn't come out and he went on and won—securing Dems the Senate—Trump's nominees would still get through somehow. The ambitious Senate scenario for Democrats was to win with a 51-49 majority. There was never a chance in hell that Fetterman wouldn't be "bipartisan" and vote to confirm Erika Kirk to the Supreme Court if Trump nominates her—making JD the deciding vote. Really, we just need the House to provide friction in Trump passing anymore legislation. Yeah, he's a complete clown for it. While I don't think that he and Fetterman are similar (I will still argue Fetterman's "switch up" should have been expected because he was always a Zionist), I will say that the shared masculine presentation is really going to make Democratic voters even more wary of any male candidate that seems to be too masculine now.

All I'm telling you is the evil and hypocrisy that you're referring to is more widespread than you're describing. Even the Republicans of today aren't as evil as the Christian leaders of the past that rested on furniture made with the skin of African slaves. People have always hid behind moral values to do the most heinous things imaginable. That's my point. This is nothing new; it's not uniquely American; it's not novel to this era of history.

Hmm, I disagree with this. There's still a lot of frustration in America and we're seeing a groundswell of organization against Republicans in bright red parts of the country where longtime Republicans simply vote for whichever candidate is anti-data centers. Sure, gas prices are down now—they won't be forever (Trump's trickery with the market speculation can only go so far). Further, energy prices are skyrocketing, there was a recently-announced national emergency related to fertilizer shortages, and the cost of basic things are also reaching new heights because of corporate rot (e.g., gaming as a whole).

You think this is just an American thing..?

So? Progressives ≠ DSA. Also, Maine voters that showed up for him in record numbers are not inherently progressive. Many Leftists/progressives in this thread never liked him (let me tag the good sis @Vermillion). Regardless, it doesn't really matter. If you're being honest, you would acknowledge that all people are flawed and supporting politicians inherently means you are asking to support a flawed person. I find Biden's support of segregation, creation of racist criminal justice legislation in the 90s, and active support of genocide to be materially worse than Platner's totenkopf tattoo that you rushed to point out. I thought Platner had a solid chance of winning in Maine and the polls reflected that. He has no shot no, nor does he deserve to be a Senator. I know it might be difficult to reject the impulses to finger wag at progressives that supported Platner for not being clairvoyant, but I invite you to try. This isn't complicated.

I don't think the totenkopf tattoo was ever going to gain traction. Most Americans do not know what it is. Nazi imagery was literally designed to be pervasive to simplify their distribution (e.g., I'm remembering the Nazi imagery allegations against Taylor Swift for the lightning bolt Opalite necklace on her merch store). Unless it was a Swastika, I don't think a lot of Americans would recognize it as Nazi imagery and so his response that he didn't know it at the time evidently satiated enough to not care. The Kik profile "scandal" was flatly stupid. Sure, it's morally bad that he was seeking sex while engaged with his now wife, but that's their business. The edgy Reddit posts probably don't strike anyone as salacious because it also felt cheap. It's easy to argue there's a death by a thousand cuts element here, but I think this new allegation is much more striking and damning than anything that came before it. Personally, my biggest red flag with Platner was his combat tours and how you could connect it to some of his rhetoric around the military. That worried me, but most Americans view military participation as a good qualifier for serving in public office. I don't. But, it's not hard for me to understand how that only endeared him to voters in Maine. I do think the tenor of this allegation is much more controversial. Credible r**e allegations are going to sink any Democrats' campaign. If he has this type of scandal in his history, he should have challenged Susan Collins as a Republican. Before this allegation, I think the other accusations reeked of a targeted smear campaign and I think voters are becoming allergic to that (e.g., "Omg he made some crude posts on Reddit!!!" is hard to take seriously).