Some candidate vetting processes produce the obvious choice. The Maine Democratic Party’s produced Graham Platner, who has a tattoo of the SS insignia, the symbol of the Nazi paramilitary organization that administered the Holocaust, and who is now their nominee for United States Senate against Susan Collins, which is either an example of the party’s commitment to second chances or evidence of a recruitment pipeline that ran out of alternatives before it reached the bottom of that particular list.
Platner has explained that he got the tattoo before he was politically active and that it was a mistake. The Maine Democratic Party reviewed this explanation and determined that Platner remains their candidate, a decision that required weighing “he got a Nazi tattoo and says it was a mistake” against the available alternatives and concluding that Platner represented the stronger path forward. The alternatives included not running anyone with a Nazi tattoo, which was apparently considered and set aside.
Slate’s February piece on “Dark Woke” specifically cited Platner as evidence of Democratic voters’ expanding tolerance for candidates who would have been immediately disqualifying a decade ago, describing him as “remaining competitive,” which was accurate in February and describes a situation that has since progressed to the Maine Democratic Party formally nominating him. The remaining competitive phase has resolved into the nominated phase, which is a different phase.
Far-left activist Linda Sarsour has described Platner as “authentic,” per Breitbart, which is one word for a man whose authenticity includes an SS tattoo he describes as a mistake. Collins, who has held her Senate seat since 1997, is the longest-serving woman in Senate history, votes for Democratic war powers resolutions, and has survived every attempt to unseat her by being the Republican that Maine Democrats prefer to whatever the Maine Democratic Party offers. The Maine Democratic Party has now offered a man with a Nazi tattoo explaining it was a mistake, which is a campaign message that requires a very specific type of voter.
The tattoo is on his arm. It has been photographed. The photographs are available.
When the party that has spent a decade making language the center of its politics nominates a candidate with an SS tattoo who says it was a mistake, what exactly is the standard for mistakes?
Sources
Breitbart: Far-Left Activist Linda Sarsour Declares Graham Platner ‘Authentic’
Slate: A New Version of Woke Is Coming. Conservatives Aren’t Going to Like It
HuffPost: Under-Fire Graham Platner Wins Democratic Primary To Challenge Collins
