2026 Midterm Elections

  • Thread starter Thread starter nycfan
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies: 2K
  • Views: 101K
  • Politics 
Mundial said:
Yes but see:

www.pbs.org

Maine Senate candidate Platner says tattoo recognized as Nazi symbol has been covered

Platner says he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.
www.pbs.org www.pbs.org

I never said they had similar ideology, just that there is the possibility that this could be a massive feint/long-con.
Click to expand...
I’m well aware of the story. I also don’t think anyone here is following this race closer than I am. At this point, it’s more likely than not we’ll have a Senator Platner, and we can check back in a year.

Suffice it to say, there is more than sufficient evidence that Platner is sincere in his beliefs and is also responding to a much different political constituency than Fetterman ever did. Mainers got it from here.
 
pspsps said:
He had the SS tattoo below until he covered it in recent years.
Click to expand...
Not just recent years - recent months. He only covered it up when it came out in the media that he had it. And his coverup is some Norse mythology stuff that, when considered in conjunction with his literal Nazi tattoo, is not unconcerning!
 
altoheel said:
Not just recent years - recent months. He only covered it up when it came out in the media that he had it. And his coverup is some Norse mythology stuff that, when considered in conjunction with his literal Nazi tattoo, is not unconcerning!
Click to expand...
It’s not “Norse mythology.” He got it covered up with a Celtic Knot with a dog in it.
 
heelinhell said:
3. I would recommend that you dig a bit into Platner's history if you are interested. I find the impact his service in Iraq had on him and the disillusionment he felt coming home after the war to be a compelling account of someone's evolution in how they now have a different political world view.

Platner is making the case as a change candidate. Mills and Chuck Schumer make the case for playing it safe and keeping the status quo ( which has never beat Collins ). That is the choice
Click to expand...
I'm not really interested. The only thing that matters to me is a D holding that seat. Since I have no say in Maine's politics, nor do I really know anything about Maine as a state, and when I think about Susan Collins my blood pressure spikes, I don't think there's any reason for me to dig deep.

I'll take your word that there is more for Platner than there was for Fetterman. And even if there's not, it isn't like everyone in Fetterman's position would do the Fetterman pivot. Mark Kelly is basically in the same spot as Sinema, but has not pulled a Sinema and I do not expect that he will.

That said, you like Platner because he's not fitting the typical mold. All I'm saying is that makes the variance high, in both directions.
 
Paine said:
Literally the only thing he said is “it’s a cleric knot with dog imagery.” I don’t know if it’s Fenrir, and I don’t really care. Neither do Mainers it would seem.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. But he started his campagin with a Nazi tattoo. He decided to run for Senate knowing that he had a totenkopf on his chest. Maybe he fully believes everything he is saying and will be a progressive champion in the Senate but you have to agree that both getting that tattoo in the first place and then subsequently not covering it up for years and years displays some very questionable judgment.
 
altoheel said:
Fair enough. But he started his campagin with a Nazi tattoo. He decided to run for Senate knowing that he had a totenkopf on his chest. Maybe he fully believes everything he is saying and will be a progressive champion in the Senate but you have to agree that both getting that tattoo in the first place and then subsequently not covering it up for years and years displays some very questionable judgment.
Click to expand...
Sure. It’s for Maine Dems to decide if they want him to be their nominee and then for the whole state to decide if they want him as their senator. The info is out there and has been for months. If you believe the polling, he’s doing very well.
 
superrific said:
First off, Fenrir was a wolf. Second, I don't really care. Next time there is a neo-Viking movement that has alarmingly established itself as a fixture on one side of the aisle, then maybe I will be concerned.
Click to expand...
Viking/Norse imagery is endemic in extreme right wing/neo-Nazi circles.
 
Paine said:
I’m well aware of the story. I also don’t think anyone here is following this race closer than I am. At this point, it’s more likely than not we’ll have a Senator Platner, and we can check back in a year.

Suffice it to say, there is more than sufficient evidence that Platner is sincere in his beliefs and is also responding to a much different political constituency than Fetterman ever did. Mainers got it from here.
Click to expand...
I challenge you in who is following the Maine race closer( full disclosure I am donating to his campaign monthly ) ;)

What impresses me is he has been reaching out to voters all across the state and he has hundreds of volunteers knocking on doors to inform Maine voters .

He has held dozens of town halls in large and small towns and has had amazing attendance . That tells me people are hungry for change and a new politics that addresses the concerns of middle class and working class families.

Platner is not going to be outworked to speak directly to voters and make his case for change. I don't think Collins or Mills has held one town hall at this point. That is sad.
 
heelinhell said:
I challenge you in who is following the Maine race closer( full disclosure I am donating to his campaign monthly ) ;)

What impresses me is he has been reaching out to voters all across the state and he has hundreds of volunteers knocking on doors to inform Maine voters .

He has held dozens of town halls in large and small towns and has had amazing attendance . That tells me people are hungry for change and a new politics that addresses the concerns of middle class and working class families.

Platner is not going to be outworked to speak directly to voters and make his case for change. I don't think Collins or Mills has held one town hall at this point. That is sad.
Click to expand...
Platner has been active in many of the same independent left-wing media spaces I operate in for years at this point. Your point about his disillusionment after serving in the Marines is exactly correct, and it produced a genuine ideological reckoning for him, though he was always sympathetic to left-wing causes. If he’s doing some kind of long con, it’s a super elaborate one.
 
altoheel said:
Viking/Norse imagery is endemic in extreme right wing/neo-Nazi circles.
Click to expand...
Yes, but unlike, say, a swastika, it's not limited to those circles. For instance, most black metal is not neo-nazi. A few bands are. Most don't want to touch politics in any way. some of them are too busy crooning about Satan as King or black crows sitting on tombstones.

Anyway, since we have no evidence that the "dog" is Fenrir, I'd say this conversation is premature.
 
Paine said:
Platner has been active in many of the same independent left-wing media spaces I operate in for years at this point. Your point about his disillusionment after serving in the Marines is exactly correct, and it produced a genuine ideological reckoning for him, though he was always sympathetic to left-wing causes. If he’s doing some kind of long con, it’s a super elaborate one.
Click to expand...
That's reassuring. I don't always agree with you politically, but I don't take you for a rube or a naif.
 
heelinhell said:
Platner is not going to be outworked to speak directly to voters and make his case for change. I don't think Collins or Mills has held one town hall at this point. That is sad.
Click to expand...
Well, in fairness, Mills is the governor. And I don't think she needs to be holding town halls because her positions are well known.

But what I hear in this description is Beto's first run, which was a successful campaign that fell a little short. So that's good too.
 
altoheel said:
both getting that tattoo in the first place and then subsequently not covering it up for years and years displays some very questionable judgment.
Click to expand...
Well, it's just one judgment. I mean, if he got the tattoo and covered it up, that would be more suspicious. Here, he seems to have made the judgment that the image was NBD and acted accordingly.

I think it says less about his judgment than about his attention to optics. And it's not surprising that an inexperienced political candidate would not be closely attuned to the optics. Will that potentially make him a liability in a general election? I mean, yeah, potentially. He's got a much larger tail risk than Mills. But maybe he has a better median. I don't really know.
 
superrific said:
Well, it's just one judgment. I mean, if he got the tattoo and covered it up, that would be more suspicious. Here, he seems to have made the judgment that the image was NBD and acted accordingly.

I think it says less about his judgment than about his attention to optics. And it's not surprising that an inexperienced political candidate would not be closely attuned to the optics. Will that potentially make him a liability in a general election? I mean, yeah, potentially. He's got a much larger tail risk than Mills. But maybe he has a better median. I don't really know.
Click to expand...
So your argument is, the judgment that he made in deciding that the Nazi tattoo was not a big deal was not BAD judgment?

I will concede that mostly nobody agrees with me and am going to stop tilting at this particular windmill but I will just say that it is incredibly easy to have never accidentally gotten a Nazi tattoo and then fail to have it removed or covered up for two entire decades. For example I have never done that, and I am far from the sharpest tool in this particular shed.
 
altoheel said:
So your argument is, the judgment that he made in deciding that the Nazi tattoo was not a big deal was not BAD judgment?

I will concede that mostly nobody agrees with me and am going to stop tilting at this particular windmill but I will just say that it is incredibly easy to have never accidentally gotten a Nazi tattoo and then fail to have it removed or covered up for two entire decades. For example I have never done that, and I am far from the sharpest tool in this particular shed.
Click to expand...
It depends on what you mean by bad judgment. I really don't like that phrase because there are many types of judgments and lumping them all under a single word like "good" or "bad" isn't helpful.

If Paine is to be believed, and there is no reason to doubt him (imo), then there is actually no risk of Platner being a stealth Nazi or white supremacist. Policy judgment isn't in question.

As I said, it was a bad judgment in terms of optics, which is a very different type of bad judgment. And since he apparently got the tattoo while suffering from PTSD from Iraq deployment, I'm willing to give him a mulligan. Yes, it's concerning. But it's not an obvious Nazi symbol (I didn't know it was a Nazi symbol before this controversy), and it comes with a pretty good excuse, and I really don't think we should be deciding elections based on body art from a decade ago or more.

I'd say that this is the type of distraction that the GOP has been using for decades to pull the wool over voters' eyes. Bill Clinton once smoked marijuana. Barack Obama's preacher said something bad about America. Blah, blah, blah.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top