Democrats begin pulling Platner endorsements after Maine candidate faces sexual assault allegation

Yeah, I generally agree with always believing a victim. But in this case, the person is clearly also a political operative. Waiting until just after the primary makes me immediately question her story. At the very least, it shows she cares much more about electing a Republican than she does about actually receiving justice. If she is a victim, she's also an opportunist.

Rape isn't the same accusation nor the same suspect accuser

Nice false dichotomy.

I'd like neither, because that is an option. Still plenty of time for a different Democratic candidate

The old allegations weren't credible. The new ones are. Simple as that.

hopefully this will be a good lesson for the leftists that will vote for anyone that is anti-jew anti-israel anti-epstein-class

horseshoe much?

My very first thought was “Again? Is this a recycled article?”

Aren't there any independents, Green party, or Forward Party rep candidates?? FWD has an ethics and values section on their main page showing they mean business!

Come on in. The shit is steaming and our eyes are burning and we got every kind of emotional take in the book.

You misread the article you linked.

The woman, a 41-year-old Maine resident named Jenny Racicot, detailed the alleged incident to POLITICO in three interviews over the past two weeks. POLITICO also spoke with a man Racicot dated and confided in the years after the alleged incident, and reviewed documents, including emails between Racicot and her therapist and messages between Racicot and an acquaintance whom she warned against getting involved with Platner years before he ran for office.

Politico reviewed:

1. Emails with her therapist (no date mentioned.)
2. Contemporary emails with a friend (though the name of this friend has been kept secret.)

Any ambiguity is removed by the later sentence:

Racicot showed POLITICO recent emails with her therapist in which Racicot explained she was talking to the media about her relationship with Platner and the “sa/rape,”

Nowhere in the very article you linked does it mention contemporaneous therapist notes. You are spreading misinformation.

Fyi Politico is openly Zionist and told their staff to leave if they’re not. Why do people treat them as legit. I certainly don’t.

Yep. The Tapper interview, as disgusting as Tapper was during it, I mean this is as credible as they come. She also said she was prepared to vote for him, and that his kind of politics is what the country needs. Graham said there would be no more coming out. Its unclear where things go from here.

Yuuurp. And 90% of people (even on here) are eating it up. Subverting primaries is a Dem past time

Al Franken leaving was so fucking dumb. What he did was so fucking minor.

Exactly. If our esteemed representatives in DC gave even a fraction of this same shit about an actual habitual pedophile and rapist -- of his wife Ivanka, other children, and quite possibly his own daughter -- sitting in the highest office in the land, what a different country we'd have today.

Some do, certainly, and I don't want to dishonor the very real efforts of some on both sides to see the truth come out.

But as a whole, their concern about Graham Platner rings hollow as fuck. And at this point I'd vote for fucking Pol Pot raised from the dead before I voted for that dinosaur Susan Collins.

You can choose between a rapist or someone who supports, enables, and keeps in power an entire administration of rapists, including child rapists.

America!

I think Platner has 48 hours to research to find if AIPAC or outside groups (not including Cheyenne Hunt & Reckoning Action, Racicot reached out to them supposedly) have unduly influenced the details or timing of this

Politico, the website that published the story originally, is owned by unapologetic pro-Israel billionaires

I dare ask - why believe by default? What's happened to innocent until proven guilty?

When it's time to vote blue: "Platner the oyster farmer?"

Haha, that would be great, but there is no way in hell HCR has interest in that position.

HCR has already said she has no interest in running for office, and reiterated it just last week in one of her live chats. She apparently has the idea of public office suggested to her often.

And honestly she'd be wasted* in office: she'd certainly do well in any position, but no one could do in her stead what she is doing now for us.

*Not wasted in the Kash Patel sense, obv

Another aspect as to why this is different is because it's so well substantiated. It's like... Textbook. There's so little to argue with.

The previous claims against him had none of that, and came from his direct opposition. That is suspicious. These claims are not.

She warned multiple other women and has proof way before he even started his campaign

Very much with the "if." I'd rather not add more logs to the everlasting bonfire of "women ignored for political expediency." If it is fake, then handle it like a normal person instead of self-destructing.

There are no criminal charges because no prosecutor would waste time and money on allegations with no evidence, and delayed for 5 years.

This is what always gets me. It's not like there aren't hundreds if not thousands of people who want the job.

I felt this way during the Kavenaugh hearings for the SC. If someone has anything big that would disqualify them if true, even if it isn't, why push that candidate?

It's not a court of law. We're not throwing them in jail. It doesn't need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. They are just not getting a job they wanted.

I've seen people not get a job they wanted because they forgot a word during an interview. Why the hell can someone be credibly accused of rape and everyone's like, "well yeah, but we still want them to get this job." Just interview other candidates! There's not a lack of people who would want to be a Senator or SC Justice or whatever. What the hell?

Maybe not. I just got done listening to Heather Cox Richardson -- a Mainer herself -- on the subject.

Noting that HCR has never offered a single word of endorsement for Platner (only that she thinks candidates for Senate should have some managerial experience prior to running) she now frames this as a great opportunity and lays out how Platner "was always going to be a heavy lift" because in a state that should be D+15, Platner has only ever run at +2. In addition, Collins has a dismal 17% approval rating, and there's still time to get a new candidate. According to HCR, there are a number of qualified individuals in Maine who could step into the Democratic slot and not only be good candidates but actually win.

You may agree, you may disagree, you may be tempted to call it hopium and maybe you wouldn't be wrong, but inasmuch as there's still time to get a different candidate on the D side who presumably will not bring a history of sexual misconduct with them it's not the worst thing, IMO.

That particular bit is at the 33 minute mark but overall it's an excellent listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkDRcv1pzT4

Maybe if the outsider wasn't a literal rapist Nazi-murderer, you'd have a better chance?

Nobody really knew Clinton was on the Epstein list when he was in office so the worst thing he did in people’s eyes was get a consensual blow job.

You can’t seriously be saying that is as bad as sexual assault (if in fact that’s what happened here).

As for now, most people want Clinton to answer for what he may have done with Epstein.

This is an intentional strategy that's reaching fruition. There's a threshold of false information being spread-- surprisingly low-- where people begin to distrust all information.

Well, unlike our president, I think it's safe to say that you can believe that Graham Platner didn't rape kids.

Not that this is helpful in any way.

Here's the only picture I can find of the tattoo, and it's a video of him singing Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus, so bonus:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/graham-platner-tattoo-row-explained-all-about-the-ss-totenkopf-aka-the-nazi-deaths-head-tattoo/ar-AA1OUdmb

It's a big black blob that I don't think I'd clock as a tottenkopf, and Ive unfortunately seen a lot of Nazi tattoos.

A drunk marine 20 years picking a "skull and bones" off a flash wall in an eastern European country is 100% plausible. I spent too much time around junior marines as well and they really don't ask any questions, they just go with shit.

Picking a tattoo a 12 year old would think is badass and not trying to find out what it means first 100% lines up with a Marines first deployment.

But like I said, I've unfortunately had to interact with full on actual Nazis in the past, similar to that timeframe even. The guys that intentionally get Nazi tattoos don't just stop at one and theyve left a long paper trail of their racism long before that point.

If he got it cuz he was a Nazi, then it wouldn't be the only obvious piece of evidence. A shit ton of people would have came out and said he's a Nazi.

Yup. The people here are so desperate that they'll accept literally anyone who gives them the most basic lip service. It's pathetic.

It will never not be funny to me that people are totally okay with a pirate tattoo, but not a Nazi tattoo. Pirates routinely raped, tortured, murdered and pillaged.

Have fun in the Republican death camp when doing jack shit to stop them leads to its inevitable conclusion.

There’s so many comments not caring about rape.

Love the smears saying people shouldn't have basic media literacy or completely forget that political hit pieces exist. Really shows how moronic and naive these people are. Really cool guys.

If you ever get raped, I hope people copy and paste this comment of yours everywhere you go.

I don’t know if she is honest or not.

Assuming she is, a trauma brain rewires itself. It is a biological survival mechanism. You absolutely cannot impose neurotypical behaviors upon a neurodivergent brain.

She did not delete all evidence. She deleted her messages to Platner. There's a difference and it's disgusting that you're pushing misinformation in order to prop up a rapist.

It is ok to ask questions, not dismiss the claims. Blindly believing is not a good place to be in either direction. People shouldn't assume its real or fake but be deciding how to move forward and get what we need despite it.

This thread is full of bad takes, agreed. But I would rather it not get simplified to that when the reverse is happening as well.

Yeah I think im taking a huge step back from lemmy if these are the dominant voices here. At least now I underatand why I constantly found myself disagreeing with them. This is disgusting behavior.

The timing of the accusation is suspicious. Most rape cases don't involve the balance of power in which millions of lives hang in the balance.

You’re right.

The alternative where he drops out and gets replaced by a not-fatally-damaged Democrat who might actually be able to win?

Same. His opponent voted to put a rapist on the SCOTUS. I'd rather him have one term and out, then bring that fucking GOP piece of shit back. Then again, not my state, not my farm.

Republicans? I wouldn't be surprised if the establishment Democrats are behind this either. They've already seen many they don't like make dramatic wins lately, and here's a guy running on their ticket who actively slammed the establishment and was a disrupter.

Racicot was one of several women who spoke to the New York Times for a previous story in June about Platner’s “unsettling” behavior with women he dated.

She told Politico she hesitated to make her claim public because she had a “huge moral conflict” between supporting Platner’s politics and not supporting him as a person. She also said she did not share the sexual assault claims with the New York Times for their story because she did not want to be known as a rape victim.

Racicot told Politico she had previously had consensual relations with Platner, until a night in 2021 when he allegedly let himself into her unlocked house and forced himself on her. She said she repeatedly told him to stop and that she believed he was “almost blackout drunk”.

According to Politico, Racicot accused Platner of having sex with her against her will and ejaculating inside her after she told him not to. There was no police report filed at the time.

Believe women.

Yes

If shes willing to bring her face to the media why not at this point bring it to court? Or the emails with the therapist, why not show that? With message headers to prove they’re real.

Platner should sue her at this point and persist.

Gee whiz, why don't more rape victims come forward when supposed allies treat them like this?

You’re right you don’t get it. Thankfully.

Assuming what she says is true she experienced real trauma. (Not that Tik Tok BS)

Real trauma physically alters your brain. A physically altered brain does not behave the way people expect it to.

Yikes. The fuck is this shit.

Least deranged liberal: "The rapist should sue the victim!"

A second accusation has hit the Platner

To try to give you a serious answer to your question, there are three main western theories of morality. Consequentialism, Virtue Ethics, and Deontology. The people calling for Platner to drop out primarily identify internally with Virtue Ethics.

People are also consequentialists, and are pointing out that if you hold some candidates and not others to a given set of standards, you will wind up living in a fascist shit hole forever. I say this without judgement: assuming you accept that sentence as true some people will conclude we can't let candidates get derailed by scandals if the other side isn't going to, because it creates an electoral disadvantage, and yet another structural advantage for republicans. And some people look at that sentence and conclude 'well fine, I'd rather live under fascism and be able to live with myself'. Neither side is wrong, per se.

Finally the deontologists are kind of split, and those people believe in rules and process. Technically, this is an accusation, not a conviction, so some deontologists want him to stay in. Other deontologists adhere more closely to party norms as rules, and want him out.

The problem is, he has less than a week to decide to drop or not.

The impact on his candidacy won't be known until AFTER the deadline to drop.

Which is why people are saying the accuser is politically motivated.

This entire thing screams "orchestrated hit piece because accusing him of being a Nazi didn't work."

They get pissed at MAGA for doing this shit too.

I care more about a Nazi tattoo than I do about the same old stupid allegations I always hear about the guy they don’t like. Like it’s so textbook it’s not funny.

Apparently everyone is a rapist. So now the fucking bar is were they raping kids? The president is.

These latest accusations are super credible. And when multiple women have come forward saying someone is a sex pest and have contemporaneous documentation corroborating that, it's a little hard to just look past.

Why do we insist on backing the guy with multiple rape allegations and a Nazi tattoo? There's no equally qualified candidate that isn't a rapist?

If we have to elect rapists to win then I guess we should lose.

Have some fucking standards and stop acting like electoralism is the end all be all

RAPE EVERYONE OR YOULL LOSE THE ELECTION GAMES!!