It will be interesting if Platner can beat Collins in Maine. For a decade now democratic leadership has been holding people like him and Bernie Sanders back because they don’t think they’re “electable”.
If he can be the first democrat in 30 years to beat Collins, it would show the direction the party should be moving.
They do not view the electorate as the people. They believe that elections are won by donors and until we prove them wrong it will continue.
Just replace “electable” with “able to shill to corporate and wealthy donors.”
I have a Dem rep, and have been actively promoting his primary opponent because he is just another establishment Dem. Though I’m not sure who my rep will be with the new maps in my state.
I guess we are just going to have to hope that the former blackwater mercenary who was an out and proud Nazi until about ten minutes before becoming a progressive candidate doesn’t turn out to be another fetterman.
Fetterman had a LOT of guys around here saying the same sort of shit you are saying right now.
I guess we are just going to have to hope that the former blackwater mercenary who was an out and proud Nazi…
All good points, especially if you’re partial to Republican talking points and manipulation tactics.
I don’t think it’s fair to make other progressive candidates answer for what Fetterman did. Any new candidate can turn their back on the entire party if they wanted.
Was it the republicans that hired him to be a mercenary and tattooed a totenkopf on his chest? Well, i guess it probably was, but I kinda think they don’t want us to think about that too hard.
Using Fetterman as a cautionary tail to make people think a little harder about who they support is not making other candidates answer for what he did. It is called “learning” and its a thing we probably should be doing more of.
It’s the Republicans that exaggerated his role and say things like “he’s an out and proud Nazi“ because he had a tattoo that 99% of people would have no idea was associated with nazis.
Doesn’t sound like an out and proud nazi so much as a Republican talking point you’re spreading.
I’m sure you’re right. I for one did not recognize it. Though I don’t tend to pay attention to nazi symbols, except the main one… Nazi symbols is not exactly something they teach in schools. You can easily learn about the history while never seeing the symbols.
I have been in the military before, and I understand the brainwashing that takes place. I can understand the team choosing something and the individual not really caring what it means. Even if they understand its history. If he really knew what it meant and was supportive, I would think he would have covered it up before getting into politics. I think he genuinely did not think about it till he was running.
If you look at his Reddit comments, he absolutely does not come across as an “out and proud Nazi”. He clearly didn’t remove his problematic posts, but there isn’t anything that aligns with him being a Nazi. When I listen to what he has to say about his past, and I read the comments he made on Reddit, he sounds consistent and genuine.
When I hear people call him “out and proud Nazi”, I think they clearly have an agenda that aligns very closely with the people that want Collins to win reelection.
I’ve probably had a dozen reddit accounts over the years. I would imagine that he did too.
People that actually wanted Collins to lose wanted a better candidate to win the Democratic primary so that she would face a less problematic opponent. The people that wanted her to WIN are probably ecstatic that they get to campaign against someone they can throw on an attack ad with their neo-nazi tattoo.
I’ve probably had a dozen reddit accounts over the years. I would imagine that he did too.
This sounds like you’re just reaching for something to keep the narrative going. Despite the tattoo, the dude does not come across as a Nazi. And his excuse for the tattoo sounds reasonable.
I’m not too familiar with previous elections, but Collins has beat plenty of other democrats. Janet Mills seemed a pretty standard candidate. Platner was backed by Bernie Sanders. I honestly give that more weight than anything.
Republicans can try their attack ads, but it didn’t work in the primaries. Going into the actual election, this will be old news.
It was also Mills who pushed this narrative before dropping out of the primary.
I’ve seen him talk in person and my bullshit detector is pretty good. It didn’t go off for what he said about it and his upbringing mirrors mine besides the military part. It’s possible he’s a better liar, but there isn’t much incentive to believe anything Collins says over Platner.
Many people educated by the United States school system have a very surface level understanding or knowledge of the Nazi’s, even if 99% is exaggerated I think anybody that has a deeper than surface level knowledge would be surprised how much ignorance a typical American citizen has about Nazi’s, especially symbolism beyond the swastika. It is likely intentionally so given how many Nazi’s were integrated into the US.
The US media represents Nazis in popular films going back to the actual days of WWII. The only reason any American would fail to recognize this symbol is because they are stupid.
Seriously, you have to be a moron not to recognize this symbol as being associated with the Nazis and you didn’t need to go to school to learn it. Here is Indian Jones about to punch a Nazi on a zeppelin.
Ignorance isn’t stupid. Doesn’t even have to be willful ignorance. Expecting people are taking notes or paying that much attention to a movie seems odd. Also a weird flex to claim Americans are stupid if they didn’t pass your bar for a Hollywood education. I fundamentally disagree with you but you have obviously emotionally made up your mind so you do you boo.
LOL. Solid point. I should be focused on a politician’s reddit shitposting that they’ve publicly disavowed, not the fact that people can’t afford to eat.
You’re comparing apples to oranges. Fetterman did not run as a progressive, and until a few months ago, running as a progressive made it harder to get elected and not easier. And the DNC is still publicly working against actual progressive candidates despite Mamdani’s obvious success.
Platner’s going to turn some heads in a positive way. I just hope he helps open the door for other progressives to get elected, because centrist is a synonym for fascist now.
Fetterman absolutely did run as a progressive, pretending he didn’t doesn’t change what actually happened.
And the DNC only works against ACTUAL progressives, not fake ones, which is why they supported Fetterman and is probably why they are supporting Platner.
hope springs eternal in the hearts of anyone not an actual fascist and platner intelligently talks a good game (the redemption arc is attractive). were there any better options? I sure didn’t see any. bernie carries weight as a lefty moderate and has not called out platner as as a snake - so… let’s see what happens.
agreed that the dnc is shit, but their support of platner seems to be a pretty mealy-mouthed attempt to curry favor with a potential senator they may have to work with. regardless, its now collins or platner; which would you prefer? I dont expect platner to be great, just good enough. if his actions meet his words, thats what he will be.
Yeah, this right here is my biggest problem with him and the thing that springs alarm bells for me.
He is NOT claiming to have been redeemed. He is claiming that he was always this progressive, even when he was fighting as a mercenary, even when he was getting and then proudly wearing his Nazi tattoo. He has never admitted to being wrong or said what made him change, because he does not think that he was wrong or that he has changes. That is what tells you that he is a liar.
You are correct that we already lost this one. Our choice is a Republican vs a fascist plant, exactly as the DNC and RNC intended. Now both parties can walk away from Maine and put their money into deplatforming actual progresses instead of fighting over a state that is already locked in.
It will be interesting if Platner can beat Collins in Maine. For a decade now democratic leadership has been holding people like him and Bernie Sanders back because they don’t think they’re “electable”.
If he can be the first democrat in 30 years to beat Collins, it would show the direction the party should be moving.
They do not view the electorate as the people. They believe that elections are won by donors and until we prove them wrong it will continue.
Just replace “electable” with “able to shill to corporate and wealthy donors.”
I have a Dem rep, and have been actively promoting his primary opponent because he is just another establishment Dem. Though I’m not sure who my rep will be with the new maps in my state.
I guess we are just going to have to hope that the former blackwater mercenary who was an out and proud Nazi until about ten minutes before becoming a progressive candidate doesn’t turn out to be another fetterman.
Fetterman had a LOT of guys around here saying the same sort of shit you are saying right now.
It’s interesting that some of the top political aides that used to work for Fetterman now work for Platner in Rebecca Katz and Joe Calvello.
All good points, especially if you’re partial to Republican talking points and manipulation tactics.
I don’t think it’s fair to make other progressive candidates answer for what Fetterman did. Any new candidate can turn their back on the entire party if they wanted.
Was it the republicans that hired him to be a mercenary and tattooed a totenkopf on his chest? Well, i guess it probably was, but I kinda think they don’t want us to think about that too hard.
Using Fetterman as a cautionary tail to make people think a little harder about who they support is not making other candidates answer for what he did. It is called “learning” and its a thing we probably should be doing more of.
It’s the Republicans that exaggerated his role and say things like “he’s an out and proud Nazi“ because he had a tattoo that 99% of people would have no idea was associated with nazis.
Doesn’t sound like an out and proud nazi so much as a Republican talking point you’re spreading.
Its probably the third most recognized nazi symbol after the swastika and SS lightning bolts. It was literally on every single SS uniform.
Its literally on the hat of the “are we the baddies?” meme.
In any case, you know who DOES know what it is? Three tour mercenaries who get it tattooed on their chest.
I’m sure you’re right. I for one did not recognize it. Though I don’t tend to pay attention to nazi symbols, except the main one… Nazi symbols is not exactly something they teach in schools. You can easily learn about the history while never seeing the symbols.
I have been in the military before, and I understand the brainwashing that takes place. I can understand the team choosing something and the individual not really caring what it means. Even if they understand its history. If he really knew what it meant and was supportive, I would think he would have covered it up before getting into politics. I think he genuinely did not think about it till he was running.
If you look at his Reddit comments, he absolutely does not come across as an “out and proud Nazi”. He clearly didn’t remove his problematic posts, but there isn’t anything that aligns with him being a Nazi. When I listen to what he has to say about his past, and I read the comments he made on Reddit, he sounds consistent and genuine.
When I hear people call him “out and proud Nazi”, I think they clearly have an agenda that aligns very closely with the people that want Collins to win reelection.
I’ve probably had a dozen reddit accounts over the years. I would imagine that he did too.
People that actually wanted Collins to lose wanted a better candidate to win the Democratic primary so that she would face a less problematic opponent. The people that wanted her to WIN are probably ecstatic that they get to campaign against someone they can throw on an attack ad with their neo-nazi tattoo.
This sounds like you’re just reaching for something to keep the narrative going. Despite the tattoo, the dude does not come across as a Nazi. And his excuse for the tattoo sounds reasonable.
I’m not too familiar with previous elections, but Collins has beat plenty of other democrats. Janet Mills seemed a pretty standard candidate. Platner was backed by Bernie Sanders. I honestly give that more weight than anything.
Republicans can try their attack ads, but it didn’t work in the primaries. Going into the actual election, this will be old news.
It was also Mills who pushed this narrative before dropping out of the primary.
I’ve seen him talk in person and my bullshit detector is pretty good. It didn’t go off for what he said about it and his upbringing mirrors mine besides the military part. It’s possible he’s a better liar, but there isn’t much incentive to believe anything Collins says over Platner.
Saying that 99% of people don’t recognize one of the most recognizable Nazi symbols is absurd. Simply absurd.
Many people educated by the United States school system have a very surface level understanding or knowledge of the Nazi’s, even if 99% is exaggerated I think anybody that has a deeper than surface level knowledge would be surprised how much ignorance a typical American citizen has about Nazi’s, especially symbolism beyond the swastika. It is likely intentionally so given how many Nazi’s were integrated into the US.
The US media represents Nazis in popular films going back to the actual days of WWII. The only reason any American would fail to recognize this symbol is because they are stupid.
Seriously, you have to be a moron not to recognize this symbol as being associated with the Nazis and you didn’t need to go to school to learn it. Here is Indian Jones about to punch a Nazi on a zeppelin.
Ignorance isn’t stupid. Doesn’t even have to be willful ignorance. Expecting people are taking notes or paying that much attention to a movie seems odd. Also a weird flex to claim Americans are stupid if they didn’t pass your bar for a Hollywood education. I fundamentally disagree with you but you have obviously emotionally made up your mind so you do you boo.
LOL. Solid point. I should be focused on a politician’s reddit shitposting that they’ve publicly disavowed, not the fact that people can’t afford to eat.
You’re comparing apples to oranges. Fetterman did not run as a progressive, and until a few months ago, running as a progressive made it harder to get elected and not easier. And the DNC is still publicly working against actual progressive candidates despite Mamdani’s obvious success.
Platner’s going to turn some heads in a positive way. I just hope he helps open the door for other progressives to get elected, because centrist is a synonym for fascist now.
Fetterman absolutely did run as a progressive, pretending he didn’t doesn’t change what actually happened.
And the DNC only works against ACTUAL progressives, not fake ones, which is why they supported Fetterman and is probably why they are supporting Platner.
hope springs eternal in the hearts of anyone not an actual fascist and platner intelligently talks a good game (the redemption arc is attractive). were there any better options? I sure didn’t see any. bernie carries weight as a lefty moderate and has not called out platner as as a snake - so… let’s see what happens.
agreed that the dnc is shit, but their support of platner seems to be a pretty mealy-mouthed attempt to curry favor with a potential senator they may have to work with. regardless, its now collins or platner; which would you prefer? I dont expect platner to be great, just good enough. if his actions meet his words, thats what he will be.
Yeah, this right here is my biggest problem with him and the thing that springs alarm bells for me.
He is NOT claiming to have been redeemed. He is claiming that he was always this progressive, even when he was fighting as a mercenary, even when he was getting and then proudly wearing his Nazi tattoo. He has never admitted to being wrong or said what made him change, because he does not think that he was wrong or that he has changes. That is what tells you that he is a liar.
You are correct that we already lost this one. Our choice is a Republican vs a fascist plant, exactly as the DNC and RNC intended. Now both parties can walk away from Maine and put their money into deplatforming actual progresses instead of fighting over a state that is already locked in.
I hope he wins and am donating to his campaign, though I’m worried about him becoming another Fetterman.
Collins is a snake acting like a moderate. She only opposes unpopular bills when her vote doesn’t matter, I hope Mainers see who she is.