Imagine, for a moment, that was a Republican.
The Democrats would be going nuclear, declaring him a horrible human being.
Hes utterly unfit for office, they would shout, sexting other women while he was married.
How could he in the Senate, they would say, when he was sporting a Nazi tattoo?
Look at the New York Times, which found three women who say he physically manhandled them and made them extremely uncomfortable.
How could the Republicans even dream that he could win an election?
But of course, Platner is a Democrat â a very liberal Democrat â so its okay. They are glossing over all the garbage thats come out and playing up his military record.
Sheer, unadulterated hypocrisy.Â
Now in fairness, a few Democrats have raised questions about Platners checkered past and expressed doubts about his candidacy.
But what was he thinking, running for office with an oyster boat full of baggage? (He doesnt really make any money from oysters but it fits his salt-of-the-earth image.)
This race is getting huge national attention because the Dems need to flip a state like Maine if theyre going to have a serious shot at taking control of the Senate.
It was a huge miscalculation for Platner to think he could run for the Senate and just wall off part of his life, other than to say he drank heavily, battled depression and PTSD after combat duty, but has put that part of his life behind him.
Platner, 41, joined the Marines after high school and did three combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.
Platner does have a natural charisma that has drawn potential voters to his side. And all care about at this point is whether he can oust veteran Republican senator Susan Collins.
I blame the press for showing up too late. Journalists loved covering a rough-edged character far more interesting than the standard-issue suit-and-tie lawyer who looks like he was conjured up in a consultants office.
By the time the scandals erupted, tomorrows Maine primary was practically upon us.
Remember, Maines low-key, 78-year-old governor, Janet Mills, was supposed to be the nominee. But she suspended her campaign after falling way behind, though her name remains on the ballot.
Platner appears not to be telling the truth about the Nazi tattoo. One of the ex-girlfriends who spoke to the Times, Lyndsey Fifeld, said he told her this was “my Totenkopf,” a German word for deaths head.
Platner has dismissed her account because she has worked with conservative groups and GOP campaigns, which Fifeld says is irrelevant.
While Platner never hit her, according to Fifelds account, he “regularly grabbed her by the shoulders â sometimes hard enough to leave marks â and, on one occasion, yanked her out of a cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car.” In another incident, she says, “he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldnt get out, telling her to remain there until she was calm.” â and fell asleep. “It hurt,” she said.
Whats more, Fifeld says, Platner would fantasize about killing people he deemed a threat, and told her he would rape them because rape is about power. In a 2016 diary entry, Fifeld called Platner “the most toxic, literally abusive man on earth who destroyed my life.”
Another former girlfriend, Jenny Racicot, said Platner “does not respect women” and that his behavior was “reckless” and “unsettling,” adding that he once showed up drunk after she told him not to come over. (Some other exes said they had a good relationship.)
Such liberal lawmakers as Elizabeth Warren and Ro Khanna have campaigned with Platner, although Khanna called his past behavior “misogynistic” and said he should a
