I know this is kinda edgy, but given the obsession on the left with regretting supporting Platner, and the desire to be "right", and all the oneupsmanship over who is more moral and who noticed the red flags first, I just wanna say, I don't care. I mean, this should be obvious, I already blasted the center with their obsession with respectability politics, but the far left is also doing this stuff, going on about how flawed he is, with some pointing out that they never liked him and how they were vindicated, blah blah.
Again. I don't care. I REALLY don't care. I supported Platner. he was a solid candidate until the rape accusations came out. Susan Collins is a republican. Janet Mills is an establishment centrist. Platner is a progressive. Am I supposed to apologize for backing a progressive? I know on the hard left a lot of this morality and virtue stuff is tied to this weird pharasaic culture of appearing moral and signalling the right virtues, and a lot of it is also driven, quite frankly, by idpol. There's all this talk about feminism and how we need to "believe all women" and how we look like chuds supporting the guy. We got some going on about how it looks bad with the international left because it makes us white male bernie bro types like we'd sell out any group at a moment's notice and uh...what kind of insular fudge is this?! Leftists have such weird ideological brainworms, man.
I'm simple. You run on a progressive platform vs a centrist and a republican, and I support you, period. And Platner was a progressive. I make no apologies for doing this. He was a solid candidate at the time. Do I support him NOW? No. I do believe he should be recalled, and replaced with another progressive. I do believe the accusations are credible, and let's leave it at that. I'm willing to change my mind in light of new evidence, and I DO change my mind in the light of new evidence. And that's how I square this whole circle. Based on the evidence that I had, Platner was the best candidate, period. Hell, you could technically argue he still is given the alternatives, but let's face it, he's so radioactive, no one wants to touch him, not even me.
Still, if anything, I'll be looking back on this a few months from now asking if it was worth it to abandon him. And I think this is something that we should ask ourselves. Tensions are high right now, but given these accusations are pushed to basically "shock" us out of supporting our nominee and giving a rival faction the opportunity to push their preferred candidate on us, was it worth it? Was it worth it standing on principle to abandon our best chance at a progressive in the seat because he sucks on character issues? If anything, that's how I look at this. At the end of the day, our options are: Susan Collins, a moderate democrat, platner, or another progressive. If we get another progressive, then cool, but I suspect the democrats are gonna push Mills or some moderate on us who is morally compromised in other ways. And we should ask ourselves, is it worth it? Is it worth standing on this vague sense of moral purity and get screwed out of our goals?
That's the real question I'm gonna be asking long term. I mean, as you guys can tell, I kinda agree with the idea that Platner is too morally compromised to continue as nominee, the behaviors uncovered arent just immoral, they're egregiously criminal. BUT...at the end of the day, politics is about power. And us giving up our power to a rival faction that has a vested interest in stabbing us in the back doesn't sit right with me either. Do we see MAGA abandoning Trump because of these kinds of accusations? And sure, you can say that us having standards is what separates us from MAGA, but dang it, I don't wanna simply be "better than" MAGA, I wanna WIN. And if we can't win, we'll be governed by our lessers anyway. There is no value in politics in going down with the ship on principle. I know people kind of think that perspective is morally disgusting, it's slimy, but hey, that's how I see it. If we dont stick to our guns, we end up losing and being ruled by those who ARE willing to go all the way.
Basically, we're screwed. If we do support the guy, we go down with the ship with him. He can't win an election now. Not in his state. He's too compromised and tainted. The public will never got for it. Him staying in the race is the equivalent of handing the seat over to Collins while looking like a total POS in the process. But again, doing the "right" thing also hurts us too. We lose what could have been a decent progressive in the senate in favor of someone who is IMO morally compromised as well, just in another way.
Honestly, I think we should talk about who is ultimately responsible for this conundrum. It's Platner himself. Platner decided to run with all of these skeletons in his closet, and he imploded because of it. ANd now HE put US in this position in the first place. We shouldnt blame anyone who supported Platner for now things turned out. We should blame Platner himself for running despite these compromises. And yeah, a lot of us were willing to overlook a lot. You gotta do it when they're the only one running on a platform that's good. But his scandals kept escalating until one dropped that was just devastating. Platner shouldnt have run at all. Would someone else have answered the call if he didn't? Im not sure. But honestly, yeah, dont feel bad if you supported the guy. The moral guilt, as far as I'm concrned, isnt on his supporters, its on him.
With that said, no, I don't make apologies for supporting him. He was the best candidate at the time, the rationale for supporting him was solid in my view. I dont regret the logic associated with it. Im not trying to play the whole "Im the most moral" game. And if anything I feel a twinge of regret from knowingly allowing myself to be manipulated by a rival faction that has a vested interest in wanting him gone so they can push their own candidate on us. Still, given the alternatives, supporting him isnt any better. Morality aside, he cant win anyway. He lost 7 points in the polls in the past month, and that was before this one dropped, he probably would definitely lose the seat for us if he remains in the race. So, we're just screwed, and at the end of the day, the person most responsible for this is platner himself, for running in the first place and putting us in such an uncomfortable position when his scandals came to light. The dude failed his constituents by doing that. And that's how I REALLY see it.
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