Relampago.

I was referring to you saying people didn't listen to Black voters when Black voters have very little to do with a Maine related election, unless the implication is that Black voters are clairvoyant and should always be followed indiscriminately? Second, if a voter didn't know what it was, was it so unbelievable that he didn't know what it was either? I don't think it's that far fetched and clearly it wasn't for the average Mainer either. Not to mention that same Reddit post history was staunchly anti-Nazi. The argument there simply didn't hold a lot of water for people. Mind you, getting a tattoo and raping a woman are so far apart in severity that it would be a reasonable expectation that people would jump to any conclusions from that alone. Third, there was a very clear effort to tarnish his campaign that was not in good faith, as it usually isn't when it comes to anyone running a moderately progressive campaign. You can ask for better discernment from people, sure, but after nearly a decade of bad faith attacks on candidates who are anti-Israel or have any semblance of upsetting the rich donor class there is clearly a lack of trust in stories that come out and don't always feel airtight. It's not right that things are that way, but it's not "leftist streamers" who caused this type of environment to fester and why people have such low trust in publications and anything related to the establishment. You're asking individual people to have the level of discernment that one of the most politically savvy and influential politicians of this century, with a whole team and machine behind her, to have same level of political know-how. That's a pipe dream and a bit ridiculous to expect. Mind you, all of these fingers pointing when it is not "leftist streamers" who created this complete lack of distrust that makes these controversies questionable in people's heads. It's the actually same political machine who has constantly eroded the faith people could have in them, as they work overtime to sabotage campaigns for their preferred candidate and push through other sexual predators like Cuomo and Biden. Like, I get the frustration but the frustration is misplaced and hindsight is always 20/20. If going forward people don't have a similar level of discernment, sure. I know I learned my lesson. But this blame game against people's lack of foresight that is a symptom of the greater issue that those same people argue against isn't helpful.

I mean.. the way he's lowkey a minor villain now nn Jamie Lannister post arm chop teas Don't get me wrong, **** Mitch but her days as public enemy #1 are over, leaving me feeling a little whelmed by this!

It is really that good but stupid song slightly edges it out for me

I kinda think overrated, she's obviously an emotionally stunted high school girl who's petty and arguably greedy if you think she's the mastermind behind monetizing everything she can… but there are much greater evils in the music industry, let alone the world. If she wasn't so hugely successful I think a lot more people wouldn't attack her as much for her actions

Ahh yes, the notoriously Black state… Maine. You guys can I told you so til the cows come up and say that every leftist should have petitioned for Mills instead, but that won't ever change the fact Platner won with record numbers in Maine. He was undeniably popular and niche online personalities weren't going to stop that. Clearly the Nazi scandal had no effect on Mainers, so I don't know why that keeps getting brought up like anyone even knew what a totenkopf was, especially the average voter in Maine. Alot of you are acting like everyone wanted to be this man's best friend when all we wanted was someone else who would advocate for life changing policies and reforms against a foreign entity currently occupying our government. It is pretty sad that we have to overlook the Nazi tattoo and edgy Reddit posts, but that's the situation the Democratic Party had left us with, with their refusal to adopt those popular ideas. Blaming people who just wanted something better for people and not the party who prevents it is certainly an interesting take.

Too bad School and Everything already did

With the new details of the story Politico ran, it seems so. He should obviously still drop out but the liberals trying to get high and mighty off of a rape victim's story won't bat an eye at how liberal media seems to once again be putting their thumb on the scale to get another non-democratic nomination going. To add onto that, this just seems like it shows exactly why I was so taken aback by Racicot's testimony timing. She never did intend for it to be held so long apparently. It made no sense that you would "want voters to know who he is" and then say so after voters have already voted. In a just world, the NYT building would crumble on the lead editors so they can stop manipulating media for elections and poisoning the waters.

I think it's a cute idea idk lol people should do what they want for their weddings

But again… what else would explain his sudden fall in polls post-primary? Fifield's accusations were brushed aside as hearsay and Republican shenanigans, but the fact is something happened where Platner started to lose tons of momentum after his stellar primary performance. We can't keep leaning on a primary performance when there's plenty to indicate that him being inundated with controversy after controversy apparently started to do something to his campaign. This final accusation being the most credible was a nail in the coffin, especially given he hadn't been accused explicitly of sexual assault before. I know this is a YouGov poll that's national for some reason, so it's not really a great representation of what Mainers think at all, but it's all I could find atm: We can posit the idea that he is still incredibly popular in Maine and can swing an election in his favor, but I don't know that his primary is proof of that if more recent polls and evidence seems to indicate that popularity waned.

This is all prior to these accusations coming out though. I don't think anyone is denying Platner's popularity going into the primary, as pretty much all of us in here were singing his praises despite the tattoo/Reddit controversies and Fifield accusations. But shortly after his primary, his polling started to stagnate and become more shaky and I can't imagine these recent accusations are going to help that at all. I do see where you're coming from though. I know the hope is that Platner will be able to throw his weight around and threaten to stay in so that he can tilt the scales in favor of getting another progressive candidate in the race, thus transferring his popularity in Maine without the baggage of being a literal rapist to that candidate. I guess it's possible that Mainers can see that candidate as Platner without the scandals, but I'm not entirely convinced. I think it serves Democrats and progressives to distance themselves from him as quickly as possible since even when he drops out, there's no guarantee they'll choose his candidate anyways and if he stays in the race is surely lost.

I just have very little sympathy for Platner given that he definitely knew this was in his past and it could come up. What ego do you have to have to say "I can do this regardless of my scandals, **** it!"? I know he's popular but he is not special, and if we can pick up another oyster farmer or marine vet with similar policies.. that's all people care about. Platner isn't exactly a charismatic mastermind. Obviously some limp and weak willed person will probably take his place and lose in a blowout against Collins, and yes the DNC is at fault for also attempting to push out all competition against Mills so we could not get a better candidate than Platner, but I just can't see past the ego it would take to r*pe a woman, run for senate in one of the most important elections knowing that's in your past, and then rather than bow out with the dignity you already don't have, you make demands to choose your own candidate when no one is going to listen to you after you drop out. It's just insane to me. I'm all for electoral pragmatism and of course I want another progressive to take his spot, but that demand just simply can't come from Platner at this point. Thank goodness Bernie was the sacrificial lamb to endorse him since it doesn't really matter for him at this point, the AOC-Mamdani-Bernie trifecta strategy has been so effective thus far and now AOC can avoid having to answer why she endorsed a rapist, a bad faith question no doubt, but now we avoid it all together. But whatever candidate Platner pushes for will have the stench of his crime on their campaign, so I maintain the best thing for him to do is drop out and let it play out how it does. Maybe try to push for someone progressive behind the scenes but any type of public endorsement ala Biden -> Harris would be a disaster.

I mean morally, he has the power functionally but if he actually cares about working class folks, his best course of action is to drop out and not attach his tainted name to any campaign since whoever the candidate is will already have a lot of ground to make up.

Uhh I mean sure but he is not in any place to make this decision, just leave the race already. He can't be the one choosing who takes his place, no campaign would ever want to be associated with him.

Into the Groove is my fave Madonna song and Sorry is in my top 10, if not top 5. Goodbye Although I saw a twitter post today that was saying Sorry sounds like the What's New Scooby Doo theme and it definitely does EDIT: WAIT here it is lol, I didnt know this interview triggered this