OPINION:
If only there had been some teeny, tiny hint in Graham Platner’s past that the far-left oyster farmer might not be Maine’s ideal Senate candidate (“Platner ends whirlwind Senate bid after rape allegation,” Web, July 8). But most Democrats saw nothing to worry about.
Granted, Mr. Platner had a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo, universally recognized as a symbol of hate. He blamed women who are sexually assaulted for failing to “just take some responsibility for themselves.” He made dating partners feel unsafe and referred to women with crude misogynistic language.
And he praised a 2014 Hamas terrorist attack that killed ten Israelis as “a damn fine looking and successful raid … I dig it.” But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?
Mr. Platner’s landslide Senate primary win told us that for most Maine Democrats, the answer was yes.
Even when reports of domestic violence came to light, progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Ruben Gallego and Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Ro Khanna, among others, stood by their man, excusing the inexcusable.
Not every Democrat rushed to drink the Kool-Aid. But those who resisted the mob paid a price, as dissenters invariably do when a political party devolves into a cult.
Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both New York Democrats, drew intense criticism for their reluctance to endorse mr. Platner, as did Sen. John Fetterman, for flatly opposing him. Rep. Josh Gottheimer was attacked for having the chutzpah to suggest that Platner’s Nazi tattoo alone should be disqualifying.
Ultimately, it took a rape allegation — and the likelihood of general election defeat — for most Democrats to rescind their support.
This was the latest moral failure for a party that has embraced far-left extremists from “the Squad” to Zohran Mamdani to Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Will Democrats now veer back toward the center, or continue off the rails?
STEPHEN A. SILVER
San Francisco, California
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