So...despite most of the democratic party seemingly unanimously pressuring Platner to drop out immediately, Platner is pushing back and offering a condition:
“If he was to step down it would only be with a guarantee of being replaced by a candidate who he believes is true to the values and vision and policy agenda of the campaign that Maine voted for." (Source)
Ya know what? I'm with Platner on this one. He's not saying he won't step down, but I think this is a reasonable ask. After all, it's not unlike the centrist wing of the party to use this opportunity to foist their candidate on us after Platner won the nomination by a margin of around 2:1 vs Mills. It would be a slap in the face for us to end up with Mills, an establishment centrist and do nothing democrat who won't do anything to advance Platner's agenda. And yet, centrist dems would LOVE to use this crisis to do this. Hell, I suspect they precipitated this crisis outright to FORCE platner to drop. Republicans were bragging about having more dirt and centrists went digging for more dirt to force him to drop out, there was talk of making him drop out the second he won the nomination.
Here's the reality of politics. It's about power, and about passing an agenda. The right knows this. The centrists know this, but feign weakness because their real goal is the status quo. And they love to use any excuse to not do anything. They'll hide behind "morals", institutional norms, decorum, etc. cynically to get their way, and they're gonna try to do this with nominating a platner replacement.
Remember what happened in 2024 when Biden was pressured to drop out, the centrist wing wanted to remove Harris to and foist some no name centrist candidate on us in order to pass their agenda. No, we gotta think more like, say, Mitch McConnell. People on the left hate Mitch McConnell, but you know what? He's darned effective. "Oh, what's that, we have to approve a SCOTUS Justice Obama nominates? well, what if we just didn't do that for months and "let the voters decide" by holding out until after the election? And now the dude is apparently on his literal death bed, possibly brain dead, with the announcement of his death being delayed until it's too late to replace him via special election, which would head off a possible Thomas Massie challenge.
The right plays hard ball, the right understands power, and then you got all these centrist types who are like MUH MORALITEH! MUH DECORUM! MUH INSTITUTIONAL NORMS! when it comes to Platner dropping out, and shaming anyone who isn't like "he must drop out NOW". And be replaced with whom?
I mean, we have a solution right in front of us, Troy Jackson, who failed to win his primary for governor but is popular among Maine progressives. This should be an easy condition. Okay, you drop out Graham, we run Troy Jackson. We won't run Janet Mills.
But instead these guys just get all high and mighty like HOW DARE YOU PLAY CYNICAL POLITICS! YOU'RE JUST LIKE MAGA? And you know what? Screw you, yes I am. Because I understand power and I understand that if we just unilaterally surrender, we're handing you guys a win to shove your ideology on us under the guise of morality. Screw your morality. Replace Graham with a roughly equal candidate. They dont even need to be 100% equal, I'd settle for like 80-90%. If this were Abdul El Sayed, I'd take Mallory McMorrow over Haley Stevens, for example. But you know what? A GOOD FAITH attempt. Give us a progressive wing candidate so that we get our agenda passed. Anything less than that just seems in bad faith. Like YOU MUST UNILATERALLY SURRENDER TO US BECAUSE SEX SCANDAL. We have a pedophile as president, F you, and F your morality.
Really, I'm tired of all these sanctimonious A-holes who are getting so self righteous and pearl clutching over this. It just seems so fake. Most people who do it fit the same general ideological profile. Most of them are some flavor of centrist republican/democrat, and most are overtly concerned about symbolism like his tattoo or the optics of this, and how we can NEVER support someone who does sexual assault. But I say if that guy is gonna fight to give me healthcare, and the more "moral" candidate isn't, I'd rather have the candidate who will fight for me.
Obviously, it shouldn't be a binary choice, and it isn't. Graham Platner SHOULD drop out, and Troy jackson SHOULD be the replacement nominee. And the fact that people can't just be like "okay, your terms are acceptable" just comes off like THEY aren't operating in good faith, and THEY are trying to cynically use the scandal to advance their agenda. See, in politics, everyone is there advancing their own moral agenda, but then we're just expected to unilaterally disarm. Screw that. Meet the condition, and Platner can step down. Otherwise, we're just handing a victory over to our opponents.
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