On Platner

I assume there will be discussion of this article [gift link] no matter what so we might as well have a thread. I have a few points:

• I strongly recommend these pieces by Jerusalem Desmas and Alan Elrod. If Platner cannot be persuaded to drop out, “vote for the dirtbag, it’s important” remains the correct position for the general election. Control of the Senate is far more important than any candidate’s personal failings, and the nature of political parties is that you cannot personally order bespoke candidates. But the argument that his bad behavior is ACTUALLY a mark of Working-Class Authenticity is embarrassing, condescending bullshit.
• In addition to being stupid on the merits, this defense of Platner also seems like an incredibly bad way of achieving what should be (in this partisan context) the relatively straightforward task of appealing to Collins/Harris voters who are going to need to be flipped to win.
• While we’re here, Platner is not any kind of working-class archetype — he’s an underemployed sadistic prep school asshole.
• If you are confident that there are no more shoes to drop you are much more optimistic than I am. If he’s the candidate I hope it works out but this seems like a foolish and unnecessary risk.
• The fundamental underlying problem in Maine is multiple younger-than-Mills normie libs deciding to run redundant longshot-at-best campaigns for governor because they were too chickenshit to challenge Collins. If this ends up costing Democrats control of the Senate, they share some of the blame here.