Graham Platners abrupt exit from the high-stakes Maine Senate race has ignited a fresh round of criticism over his refusal to accept blame for the scandals that sank his campaign.
Platner, who had mounted a progressive challenge to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, released a lengthy social media video Wednesday night announcing he was suspending his bid and again denying the sexual assault allegations that have shadowed him. According to Mediaite, MS NOW host Catherine Rampell, filling in for Chris Hayes, savaged the announcement, faulting Platner for taking zero responsibility while casting himself as a victim of shadowy forces and entrenched power brokers.
Rampell summarized the video with evident exasperation, telling viewers, Well, that was Graham Platner officially announcing that he is dropping off of the ballot for Maine Senate, or excuse me, for federal Senate from Maine, but taking zero responsibility for any of the scandals and more troubling things in his past that have destroyed that campaign, instead blaming, lets see, corporate media, the political establishment, lots of hate for the political establishment, saying that we banded together, we did it the way we were told we were supposed to make change, and we won. And now they are not going to let us have it. Her critique underscored a familiar pattern on the left: when progressive candidates implode under the weight of their own conduct, the blame is shifted to corporate media and the establishment rather than personal accountability.
So lots of finger pointing and blame and not taking any responsibility, Rampell added, noting that Platners definition of the political establishment now appears to include his own ideological allies. She pointed out that you do have many of his once allies, including Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna, also calling for him to drop out, a striking rebuke from figures who share much of his policy agenda.
People who believe many of the same policy ideas believe in many of the same policy ideas that Graham Platner himself says that he was taken down for, Rampell observed, undercutting his narrative that he was targeted solely for his far-left platform. In the video, Platner insisted, all we were asking for was health care, was to end the genocide, to use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fair system. We are asking for an end to the corruption.
Rampell characterized this as a sweeping conspiracy theory, saying there were lots of allegations that he was being taken out by nefarious forces that are forcing him to suspend his campaign, rather than the drip, drip, drip of scandal after scandal that has dogged his campaign and that have littered the last few months with red flags. For conservatives who have long warned that the progressive movement often elevates grievance over responsibility, Platners defiant farewell serves as a cautionary tale about a political culture more eager to indict institutions than confront its own failures.
Login