184
Mixed Feelings About Platner? Fine. But He Needs to Win. Case Closed. (newrepublic.com)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/politics@lemmy.world
151 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 29 points 5 months ago* (14 children)

Every time I get into it with one of these people online it goes exactly the same way:

Them, acting like Nazis and pointing fingers: "Platner has NAZI tattoos!"

Me: [pointing out that Platner is up against literal fascists, building concentration camps and filling them with immigrants; Hegseth has proven and unambiguous Nazi tats and acts like a Nazi; etc]

Them: "But his tattoos! His TATTOOOOOOS!"

It's all they have. And if they don't care about Hegseth's multiple Nazi/white nationalist tats, don't even have an answer for them, then why should I care about Platner's? Without the actual ideology behind it, it's just ink, and it's pretty clear that whatever Platner is, he's not an ideological Nazi, so I don't give a good goddamn how many tats Platner has.

So now every time these motherfuckers start pearl-clutching about Platner, a voice reaches up from the past in my head and softly says,

"I believe that the president has learned from this case. The president has been impeached. That’s a pretty big lesson.”

That little voice never fails. Bless Susan Collins for that turd of wisdom she dropped back in 2020 as sufficient reason not to convict in the Senate impeachment trial, because that same stupid ass line is still ringing through the years. Trump did indeed learn his lesson: that Susan Collins would never act to lift a finger against him.

I wouldn't vote for Mills, either. But Collins is not worthy of the office, nor of the great state that sent her. Maine can do better. I'd vote for Platner just because of Collins.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 14 child comments
    •
  • [–] 11 points 5 months ago (12 children)

    People have a legitimate fear of electing another John Fetterman who will say everything right until they have the seat, then turn around and end up a Republican sleeper. That's not an entirely unfounded concern. Unfortunately, all we have to convince them otherwise is words, and the Democrat party doesn't exactly have a high degree of trust among people for the quality of their vetting right about now.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 12 child comments
    •
  • [–] 24 points 5 months ago* (6 children)

    The problem here is that whatever Platner is, Collins is actively working to destroy democracy in this country.

    Platner is unproven, but that is all he is.

    Collins, on the other hand, IS proven -- to be corrupt and working against the best interests of her constituents and this country.

    You did not actually directly address anything I said, you just tried to change the conversation back to "Platner bad" along with some spurious "we" claims. But there is NO "we" anywhere in what you said for me.

    And the direct reason for my absence in your assumed "we" -- I mean beside the fact that you personally are Canadian and not an American Democrat -- is Zohran Mamdani.

    Platner could be a Fetterman or a Sinema, true. But he could also be a Mamdani. And at the very fucking least he won't be a Collins.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [+] -9 points 5 months ago (5 children)

    I'm not sure what you think you're proving by pointing out I'm Canadian. We all have a vested interest in making sure the Republicans get wiped out. If anything, the only role I do have in an American election is appealing to Americans not to put the lives and safety of my own people at risk by electing another Republican.

    Not being Collins isn't good enough to motivate people to support him. People need a reason to believe that his actions will match his words. Fetterman is also actively working to end democracy in the US. Whether he does it with a D or an R in front of his name is irrelevant. Mamdani won credibility by getting his hands dirty and putting actions on display to prove he wasn't just parroting rhetoric. If you want to convince people he's on the level, don't focus on attacking Collins, focus on telling people what he's done to back up his rhetoric.

    Oh and you might want to boost your own credibility by not copying and pasting AI slop. The em-dashes all over your post are a dead giveaway.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (4 children)

    Not being Collins isn’t good enough to motivate people to support him.

    Without Platner, all there is left is Collins, so yeah, it is. If you're so interesting in "wiping out" Republicans for "the lives and safety" of "your people" then why are you hitting against Platner? Have you forgotten that Collins is a Republican?

    As a first-time candidate for his office, Mamdani was unable to back up what he was talking about before the election, so your assertion, "Mamdani won credibility by getting his hands dirty and putting actions on display to prove he wasn’t just parroting rhetoric," is a demonstrable untruth. Graham Platner is also a first-time candidate.

    But it doesn't matter, because it's down to Collins and Platner now. If you like Trump and you like what he's done, definitely continue supporting Collins, because she always has supported the orange chancre and continues to do so.

    Oh and you might want to boost your own credibility by not copying and pasting AI slop. The em-dashes all over your post are a dead giveaway.

    I'm what AI trained on, lol. To boost your own credibility, you might want to look at the source of my comment. Go ahead, it's that little paper icon with the bent corner. These aren't em-dashes.

    And when you're done with that, take a look at my post history. I've been writing like this for decades, long before AI, and you could probably dig some of that up as well, if you're interested in more than just throwing out untruths and false accusations.

    And if you personally knew how to write, you'd see enough grammatical and punctuation errors to know that my prose never saw the inside of an LLM, lol.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] -4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    If Platner is not demonstrably better than Collins, there is no point in voting at all the state is already a lost cause. Mamdani didn't have any policy achievements to show. There are 100,000 different ways to show that you practice what you preach.

    But keep screaming at people trying to help you. I'm sure that will win votes. Maybe you should sit this election out friend because you don't seem to even understand what you're fighting for anymore.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago* (2 children)

    Screaming? I think you need a mirror. Didn't you just switch your position on Mamdani and then accuse me of being AI, then call me friend, then tell me to sit out an election even as you claim to be appealing to Americans to vote out Republicans, and then say there is no point in voting at all because the state is already a lost cause?

    You must not have any idea how much we are bombarded with day in and day out from people pretending to be Americans, and here we are talking about American politics with you using an unqualified "we" then getting upset when it is pointed out -- and speaking like this:

    If anything, the only role I do have in an American election is appealing to Americans not to put the lives and safety of my own people at risk by electing another Republican.

    You personally have NO role in an American election, any more than I have a role in a Canadian election. If you cared at all about this you'd already know we got into this via foreign election manipulation, among other things, and a president openly working for Russia.

    You even insist you are "appealing to Americans" to vote out Republicans by concern-trolling the sole non-Republican who can win in that primary, and then doing it in English that sounds like you just stepped off the transporter in Star Trek: "the lives and safety of my own people."

    "The lives and safety of my own people," lol. What a strange "we" you have. And now you don't want us to vote at all:

    there is no point in voting at all the state is already a lost cause.

    What the hell are you even trying to say?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    You personally have NO role in an American election, any more than I have a role in a Canadian election.

    That's never stopped you before. Your people are trying to manipulate one of our provinces into a separation referendum right now. It's awfully rich of you to start complaining now about foreign interference given that's been your country's primary MO world wide for over 100 years. Stop sending advertising up here demanding our vacation dollars and selling your useless products if that's your attitude. The governor of Maine seems very upset in their Canadian TV ads that we're not visiting, and doing everything in her power to convince us to come back, maybe you should tell her to mind her own business before you start telling us to mind ours.

    I said that if Platner turns out to be another Fetterman, than Maine is a lost cause. He would, in fact, be worse than Collins because he'd be living proof there is no viable alternative. You're getting a Republican either way, whether you vote D or R. We had both better hope that those warning signs are a tempest in a teapot, because if not then democracy is truly dead in that state. Hopefully that's clear enough for your American reading comprehension. I didn't change my position on Mamdani. I said his actions backed up his words. Did you look at any of his campaign ads? He didn't have any legislation to show his sincerity, so he worked hard to demonstrate that he was committed to building the community, to listening to the concerns and needs of the people he was running to represent, and show that he was committed to following through on his promises, even the ones that were going to be a hard sell. You want to make sure people vote for Platner, up-sell his community engagement. Or don't and keep telling everyone to piss off in every direction.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago*

    That’s never stopped you before.

    It has always stopped me personally. I am speaking as a person of integrity to a person of none, as a non-AI individual representing myself as opposed to some soi-disant tool speaking for "the lives and safety of my own people," lol. What are you, Sacagawea?

    It's funny how the more I go back to what you actually wrote and what you demonstrably said (and I have screenshots too, lol) the angrier you get. Why is that? I didn't write your comments for you. I just read them.

    maybe you should tell her to mind her own business before you start telling us to mind ours.

    Lol. No. I am telling YOU, personally, to stop hiding behind a proud country and people you do NOT speak for, to propound overt dishonesties to support the exact candidate you say you don't want, in an election that you cannot and will not vote in, even as you alternate between telling me I that should or should not vote in my own.

    I am not my country, any more than I am fooled into thinking you are Canada -- and much less what you clearly wanted in the beginning, which was for your reader to believe that you are an American voter.

    And here you are, rewriting and reworking your positions yet again. You shift and twist with the slightest wind. Why? Why should I take you seriously, or even take your feigned concern seriously, when the things you assert aren't cohesive to start with nor even remain the same over four retellings?

    And tell me again: who's shouting? If my "American reading comprehension" is so inadequate, why do you think personal insults and historical anger and rage at the people in DC will make it better?

    Or to put it another way, if I scream at you personally for burning down the White House during the War of 1812, does that validate or invalidate anything else I say?

    Of course it does not -- but that is now what YOU are relying upon for authenticity. Lol.

    If I tell you to go scream at people in Ottowa (or even more uselessly at Chuckie the Third, lol) would that garner your respect? Be absolutely assured that you have garnered my own in exactly that fashion.

    For all my American reading comprehension, I had no problem spotting you as a poser and an angry liar who is now all kinds of upset that you got busted in your lies by someone that actually READ what you wrote. Take your Platner concern-trolling to someone who doesn't actually read.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago (4 children)

    Let me start by saying Fetterman is bad, and PA deserves better. But looking back on the election it still seems like the voters made the best choice available at the time.

    There are good reasons to be uncertain about Planter, but he seems unlikely to be quite as bad as the current situation.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

    But looking back on the election it still seems like the voters made the best choice available at the time.

    And it was the choice because Fettermam won a primary.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Absolutely. Unfortunately, warnings of a candidate's issues may not show up until after a primary. Digging up dirt requires resources, and those can be hard to come by until a candidate is considered serious.

    At which point voters are locked into choosing between the two viable candidates (assuming first past the post, which I'd have to double check how much Maine fixed their voting).

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] -1 points 5 months ago

    Thank you. My point was to point out there are legitimate reasons to be concerned. A big problem is the "Best choice" of live hand grenades to drop down your pants is still not a great list of options. Fetterman is the worst of all worlds. A Republican wearing a D on his name tag undermines the credibility of the whole party, and quite frankly, the Democrats don't have a lot of credibility left to burn. Electing another Fetterman is worse than electing Collins because not only will you still not get the representation you deserve, but no one is going to believe your platform is worth the paper it's printed on next time either. That's the gamble here. If there's even the vaguest appearance of lack of commitment, people are going to just walk. "You don't have another option" isn't good enough for anyone anymore.

    So show that he lives by the principles he talks about. Elevate his community work, elevate his union work, give people a reason to believe he believes in what he's saying. And god help us all if he's the wrong pick because this is the absolute last shot. If the Democrats fail to get their house in order now, there won't be a "Next Time" to concern ourselves with as far as I can tell.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent