I never supported him and this does not surprise me in the least. And, the very idea that he would think he could choose his replacement. As Maya Angelou said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
Well, he won the primary. Doesn't that give him the right to input on his replacement? Obviously he's a very flawed person and should be out, but do we "cancel" him?
He won votes on wish-fulfillment and a generous electorate’s assumption of innocence that has now eroded by the sheer number and of allegations. Democrats should not aspire to the cyclical ruthlessness that led the GOP and its voters to elect the damning evidence of the Access Hollywood tape, much less the convictions for fraud, defamation, and sexual assault in his home state of New York, where his sociopathy was on display for 50 years. Moreover, elections are a not service to the candidate; they are about service to the constituency, voters especially, but also the state, nation, and party. And with so much at stake for the party on whose platform he chose to run, it has a say, too—and they are not obligated to provide financial support.
I’m glad that the Democratic Party is very clear that it doesn’t want or need an accused rapist to help pick their candidates. When men assault women, they disqualify themselves from having a say in the representation of women. He did this to himself. No one else is responsible. No, it doesn’t matter that he won the primary.
We have a large tent and represent a diverse cross section of the American population. We need to be able to present them and have vigorous debates about how to approach the depredations of tRump and the rethuglicans. Think about it! We have reformed and renovated Eisenhower Republicans like Adam Kinzinger and George Conway alongside Zorhan Mamdani and AOC. We have Ossoff. Warnock and Talarico bringing up the moral middle. They represent the best of us - what we are and speak to the new, improved Nation we seek and we should be proud to share a party with them!
One out of how many? And I missed the reference to AOC since he used the actual names of the men. How about Tammy Baldwin? Elizabeth Warren? Kathy Hochul? All of the women who have been slogging in the back and who (except Warren who at least has the ear of NPR) are sidelined or dismissed when they present uncomfortable truths.
This is a column, not a thesis. Democrats should not have a quota of women. Ketanji Brown Jackson is a superlative SC justice, but she was unfairly diminished by Biden's statement that he would only consider black women. We need to avoid that sort of thing.
As does Graham Platner sport a penis. I took Mr. Brady's comment as a comparison to other males in politics that have managed their lives with integrity, not minimizing the women that have showed their moral and character integrity. I am not trying to put words in Mr. Brady's comments that aren't there. Off the top of my head I could name at least twenty women with moral and character integrity. For me, this is about Platner. I won't stick up for the MDP for a poor job of vetting Platner. But I for sure will not excuse Platner for his flat out dishonesty and lack of integrity he has displayed. It's a very bad time to be sloppy given what's at stake in this coming election. If the oligarchs let us have one.
The party does NOT get to choose the candidate. Bernie's voice is loud. Even Schumer wanting Mills to run brought screams from some in the party. Any citizen can theoretically choose to run.
Read the NYT article this morning about how Platner was selected, groomed, and his candidacy cultivated in the first place. That raises alarm bells about the whole process. A man selected for how his appeal could be manufactured rather than by what he had accomplished in public life.
Yes, it is also alarming how easily Dems fall into the circular firing squad.
You're correct but this is nothing at all new. And it is certainly not limited to Democrats. I seem to remember that the GOP powers-that-be picked Dan Quayle because they thought he was "handsome" and would appeal to female voters. And can we overlook Sarah Palin, chosen by the McCain campaign? Not sure exactly why. She was "cute"? Had nice legs? Wore those snazzy red shoes?
I believe top politicians (senate, gov. President) should come up through the ranks not because that's perfect but because working your way to the top is vetting stage two. What if trump had to start at school board, or even Congress? It's the self funded famous person catapult that is a disaster. That path ensues hubris and lank of voter experience with what they are voting for.
No thank you. Obama spent comparatively little time in the ranks. He was the best president that I have seen in my lifetime. Character, intelligence, ability to communicate, depth of knowledge, empathy, and understanding of government & history are the prerequisites for a president.
Doesn't it strike all of you Contrarian readers of the unbelievable ability of us Americans to pontificate about Platner's unworthiness to be a Senator when our sitting POTUS is a convicted sex offender and a felon?? I mean what type of drug or poison have they put into the water to make us all so pitifully tolerant of djt. Why doesn't the Maine Democratic Party "Ask E Jean" or even Angus King the ethical independent Senator from Maine about the right thing to do here?
We should be doing far more. WE HAVE MEN WOMEN & CHILDREN BEING TREATED CRUELLY IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. Albanians otoh have been out in the streets for 30+ days to stop the Kushners from taking a part if their country.
Next time someone complains that “both” major political parties are “no different,” point out that while Democrats still abhor and drive away candidates (Platner, most recently) and even sitting officials (Al Franken) accused of sexual assault, Republicans choose to ignore sexual crimes and even elevate men (Trump) who boast of sexual assault to lead their party—and the country. That alone is a massive difference between practicing one’s values vs. merely proclaiming them.
The only reason that "the parties are the same" became a popular opinion is because news journalists repeated it regularly. Why have they been misinforming or lying to the public like this since Reagan? Because Reagan ended the Fairness Doc and the news media started replacing facts and evidence with opinions and beliefs. 95% of journalists have been increasingly in the pockets of GOP for many years. Scott Pelley alluded to it after leaving CBS. This did not start with Ellison & Weiss.
Last minute "fill in" candidates rarely do well at the polls, no matter how qualified they may be. Kamala Harris is a living example.
Beyond that all I can say is that Susan Collins was eminently beat-able, but her chances just improved a lot. She's got to be the luckiest human on the planet right now.
sorry that woman really got raped of course, I am not a conspiracy person, but why did she come forward NOW instead of when platner was running ??? why now when he was probably going to win ??? we may have lost the senate in the wake of his crimes.
The entire Platner debacle demonstrates that the Dems, almost as much as the Rethuglicans, want to sideline women when they present uncomfortable truths until the allegations become so revolting that they are forced to act. Far too many men are narcissist arseholes who think that women's bodies are always permeable and that they can get away with it simply because [1] they always have, and [b] they are confident that the women will be scoffed at, belittled, and ridiculed. It is far past time for all of us to rise up and demand that ovaries as well as penises have a real seat at the table as equal partners. Remember: 53% of the American population is female. We outnumber the boyz. And the sexual harassment and assaults women routinely experience (and the numbers of actual cases of both are far, far higher than the reported cases--I challenge any woman to deny that they have experienced one and/or the other) must be acknowledged and MEN taught to behave themselves.
I agree that Platner needed to withdraw. But what about Corey Booker? He has supported the killing of 10's of thousands of Palestinian women. Surely that should disqualifying him too.
You are equating votes on policy to killing AND BLAMING ONLY the DEMOCRATS? GOP members have ALSO been aided by AIPAC, The entire GOP & GOP MOC are still in control and have spent $103B so far in bombing (at NETANYAHU's request) to aid N's war on Gaza & Lebanon. DO SOME RESEARCH and find out just how much AIPAC has been entangled in and influenced our government for DECADES. I was astonished. AIPAC itself is NOT just 1 organization. There are 100's of AIPAC pacs in the US.
If you wanted an honest answer from me about whether or not we still have a government "of the people", I'd have to say "whatever we had is on the verge of disappearing completely". But, I have to explain the context which is, quite simply, corporate and wealthy members of our society have been increasingly greedy about insuring our government is more concerned about them than the vast majority of people. And this has led us down paths that are not good for the health of our citizenry nor the health of our government. The best evidence for this is the fact that over 30% of our country's wealth is held by the top 1% while the bottom 50% of the country holds only 2.5%. That means that 1.5 million households hold an average wealth of over $16 million while the bottom half, over 67 million households, only average $60,000 in net wealth.
If you don't think things are getting worse, just look at Trump who has increased his wealth while president by over $2 billion. If the Democrats can't come up with a general platform that makes these points clear and promises to fix them, they are never going to gain the confidence of a significant majority of our country. It's way past time for Democrats to jettison the powers that be in their own party and start recruiting people who have the brains to understand just where we're at these days and get this message out to the people who need to hear it the most.
Are you not aware that the GOP has used unregulated capitalism since Reagan in order to enrich the rich, while the Dems have used regulated capitalism - fixed GOP financial messes, improved the economy AND cut the deficit? No, because the news media has been in the pockets of the GOP since Reagan ended the Fairness Doc. News journalists STOPPED investigating any political situations, stopped using facts & evidence and instead (just like social media)used opinions and beliefs in persuasive articles - NOT analytical articles.
Obama, HRC, and Biden all gave clear warnings about the GOP.
The life of a Democracy involves agreeing, disagreeing, and making compromises. It does not involve kneeling or genuflecting. Those looking for that kind of government have found it in the Trump Regime. Soon we will make that Regime a thing of the unpleasant past.
There was a lot of negative information about him out there for a while. I find it hard to give kudos to his party backers now that they having an oh no moment , in light of all that. I find it difficult to believe that this came as a surprise to them.
As a woman, I think rape abhorrent. I would not want it to happen to myself, my daughter, or my granddaughters, or any other woman. I see, however, a country so hypoocritical that it would elect a President who has been accused and found guilty of similar allegations - who, even when ordered by a court to pay up the fines he was found liable for, refuses to to date to pay the woman in question. Like Platner, he claims he was not guilty. Yet he was elected President - our moral leader.
Why do Democrats always suck at messaging? Things like "Defund the Police" is just throwing red meat at the right. I'm not a Socialist, and I'm not an extremist. Maybe a better term would be "Democratic Pragmatist." Read some George Lakoff.
" [Platner] announced he would pull out of the race, allowing the state party to devise a process for filling the vacancy".
Yes.
That's it.
He's out and now get someone better and get going to win this race.
Exactly what should have happened after the Access Hollywood comment came out in 2016.
The problem is that for the GQP, bad behavior is a feature, not a bug.
So it would seem. The Democrats have a stronger commitment to integrity and sense of propriety that this iteration of the Republican Party.
I never supported him and this does not surprise me in the least. And, the very idea that he would think he could choose his replacement. As Maya Angelou said, “when someone shows you who they are, believe them.”
Certainly the alarm bells were sounding for quite a while. It's a classic case of "drip...drip...drip....BOOM!"
It's enough to make me miss the smoke-filled room.
Well, he won the primary. Doesn't that give him the right to input on his replacement? Obviously he's a very flawed person and should be out, but do we "cancel" him?
He won votes on wish-fulfillment and a generous electorate’s assumption of innocence that has now eroded by the sheer number and of allegations. Democrats should not aspire to the cyclical ruthlessness that led the GOP and its voters to elect the damning evidence of the Access Hollywood tape, much less the convictions for fraud, defamation, and sexual assault in his home state of New York, where his sociopathy was on display for 50 years. Moreover, elections are a not service to the candidate; they are about service to the constituency, voters especially, but also the state, nation, and party. And with so much at stake for the party on whose platform he chose to run, it has a say, too—and they are not obligated to provide financial support.
Yeah...The voters wished they didn't have to choose between a 78 year old establishment centrist an a young flawed progressive sexist....
If you are talking about Susan Collins, she is NOT a centrist. She is a liar. She has always voted with the GOP and with T.
I’m glad that the Democratic Party is very clear that it doesn’t want or need an accused rapist to help pick their candidates. When men assault women, they disqualify themselves from having a say in the representation of women. He did this to himself. No one else is responsible. No, it doesn’t matter that he won the primary.
We have a large tent and represent a diverse cross section of the American population. We need to be able to present them and have vigorous debates about how to approach the depredations of tRump and the rethuglicans. Think about it! We have reformed and renovated Eisenhower Republicans like Adam Kinzinger and George Conway alongside Zorhan Mamdani and AOC. We have Ossoff. Warnock and Talarico bringing up the moral middle. They represent the best of us - what we are and speak to the new, improved Nation we seek and we should be proud to share a party with them!
I find it interesting that all of your heroes sport penises.
I don't think AOC sports a penis.
One out of how many? And I missed the reference to AOC since he used the actual names of the men. How about Tammy Baldwin? Elizabeth Warren? Kathy Hochul? All of the women who have been slogging in the back and who (except Warren who at least has the ear of NPR) are sidelined or dismissed when they present uncomfortable truths.
This is a column, not a thesis. Democrats should not have a quota of women. Ketanji Brown Jackson is a superlative SC justice, but she was unfairly diminished by Biden's statement that he would only consider black women. We need to avoid that sort of thing.
As does Graham Platner sport a penis. I took Mr. Brady's comment as a comparison to other males in politics that have managed their lives with integrity, not minimizing the women that have showed their moral and character integrity. I am not trying to put words in Mr. Brady's comments that aren't there. Off the top of my head I could name at least twenty women with moral and character integrity. For me, this is about Platner. I won't stick up for the MDP for a poor job of vetting Platner. But I for sure will not excuse Platner for his flat out dishonesty and lack of integrity he has displayed. It's a very bad time to be sloppy given what's at stake in this coming election. If the oligarchs let us have one.
JFK
The party does NOT get to choose the candidate. Bernie's voice is loud. Even Schumer wanting Mills to run brought screams from some in the party. Any citizen can theoretically choose to run.
Read the NYT article this morning about how Platner was selected, groomed, and his candidacy cultivated in the first place. That raises alarm bells about the whole process. A man selected for how his appeal could be manufactured rather than by what he had accomplished in public life.
Yes, it is also alarming how easily Dems fall into the circular firing squad.
You're correct but this is nothing at all new. And it is certainly not limited to Democrats. I seem to remember that the GOP powers-that-be picked Dan Quayle because they thought he was "handsome" and would appeal to female voters. And can we overlook Sarah Palin, chosen by the McCain campaign? Not sure exactly why. She was "cute"? Had nice legs? Wore those snazzy red shoes?
I believe top politicians (senate, gov. President) should come up through the ranks not because that's perfect but because working your way to the top is vetting stage two. What if trump had to start at school board, or even Congress? It's the self funded famous person catapult that is a disaster. That path ensues hubris and lank of voter experience with what they are voting for.
No thank you. Obama spent comparatively little time in the ranks. He was the best president that I have seen in my lifetime. Character, intelligence, ability to communicate, depth of knowledge, empathy, and understanding of government & history are the prerequisites for a president.
Illinois State Senate. U.S. Senate, POTUS.
Thanks for this thorough analysis. Platner lost me at the Nazi tattoos. But then I'm the daughter of a mother who survived Auschwitz.
Doesn't it strike all of you Contrarian readers of the unbelievable ability of us Americans to pontificate about Platner's unworthiness to be a Senator when our sitting POTUS is a convicted sex offender and a felon?? I mean what type of drug or poison have they put into the water to make us all so pitifully tolerant of djt. Why doesn't the Maine Democratic Party "Ask E Jean" or even Angus King the ethical independent Senator from Maine about the right thing to do here?
We are not all so tolerant of Trump, but as a member of the minority party at present, we are limited in what we can do.
We should be doing far more. WE HAVE MEN WOMEN & CHILDREN BEING TREATED CRUELLY IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS. Albanians otoh have been out in the streets for 30+ days to stop the Kushners from taking a part if their country.
Out, out black spot....
Next time someone complains that “both” major political parties are “no different,” point out that while Democrats still abhor and drive away candidates (Platner, most recently) and even sitting officials (Al Franken) accused of sexual assault, Republicans choose to ignore sexual crimes and even elevate men (Trump) who boast of sexual assault to lead their party—and the country. That alone is a massive difference between practicing one’s values vs. merely proclaiming them.
The only reason that "the parties are the same" became a popular opinion is because news journalists repeated it regularly. Why have they been misinforming or lying to the public like this since Reagan? Because Reagan ended the Fairness Doc and the news media started replacing facts and evidence with opinions and beliefs. 95% of journalists have been increasingly in the pockets of GOP for many years. Scott Pelley alluded to it after leaving CBS. This did not start with Ellison & Weiss.
Last minute "fill in" candidates rarely do well at the polls, no matter how qualified they may be. Kamala Harris is a living example.
Beyond that all I can say is that Susan Collins was eminently beat-able, but her chances just improved a lot. She's got to be the luckiest human on the planet right now.
Easy as ABC -- anbybody but Collins, aligned with Trump's position about 93% to 95% of the time.
sorry that woman really got raped of course, I am not a conspiracy person, but why did she come forward NOW instead of when platner was running ??? why now when he was probably going to win ??? we may have lost the senate in the wake of his crimes.
Or Platner's candidacy had been enabled by the GOP.
The entire Platner debacle demonstrates that the Dems, almost as much as the Rethuglicans, want to sideline women when they present uncomfortable truths until the allegations become so revolting that they are forced to act. Far too many men are narcissist arseholes who think that women's bodies are always permeable and that they can get away with it simply because [1] they always have, and [b] they are confident that the women will be scoffed at, belittled, and ridiculed. It is far past time for all of us to rise up and demand that ovaries as well as penises have a real seat at the table as equal partners. Remember: 53% of the American population is female. We outnumber the boyz. And the sexual harassment and assaults women routinely experience (and the numbers of actual cases of both are far, far higher than the reported cases--I challenge any woman to deny that they have experienced one and/or the other) must be acknowledged and MEN taught to behave themselves.
We have given our country away to Autocratic Fascists.
I see many who care little.
I agree that Platner needed to withdraw. But what about Corey Booker? He has supported the killing of 10's of thousands of Palestinian women. Surely that should disqualifying him too.
You could say the same of much of the Dem leadership.
Agreed
You are equating votes on policy to killing AND BLAMING ONLY the DEMOCRATS? GOP members have ALSO been aided by AIPAC, The entire GOP & GOP MOC are still in control and have spent $103B so far in bombing (at NETANYAHU's request) to aid N's war on Gaza & Lebanon. DO SOME RESEARCH and find out just how much AIPAC has been entangled in and influenced our government for DECADES. I was astonished. AIPAC itself is NOT just 1 organization. There are 100's of AIPAC pacs in the US.
really, why go there
edited for spelling
If you wanted an honest answer from me about whether or not we still have a government "of the people", I'd have to say "whatever we had is on the verge of disappearing completely". But, I have to explain the context which is, quite simply, corporate and wealthy members of our society have been increasingly greedy about insuring our government is more concerned about them than the vast majority of people. And this has led us down paths that are not good for the health of our citizenry nor the health of our government. The best evidence for this is the fact that over 30% of our country's wealth is held by the top 1% while the bottom 50% of the country holds only 2.5%. That means that 1.5 million households hold an average wealth of over $16 million while the bottom half, over 67 million households, only average $60,000 in net wealth.
If you don't think things are getting worse, just look at Trump who has increased his wealth while president by over $2 billion. If the Democrats can't come up with a general platform that makes these points clear and promises to fix them, they are never going to gain the confidence of a significant majority of our country. It's way past time for Democrats to jettison the powers that be in their own party and start recruiting people who have the brains to understand just where we're at these days and get this message out to the people who need to hear it the most.
Are you not aware that the GOP has used unregulated capitalism since Reagan in order to enrich the rich, while the Dems have used regulated capitalism - fixed GOP financial messes, improved the economy AND cut the deficit? No, because the news media has been in the pockets of the GOP since Reagan ended the Fairness Doc. News journalists STOPPED investigating any political situations, stopped using facts & evidence and instead (just like social media)used opinions and beliefs in persuasive articles - NOT analytical articles.
Obama, HRC, and Biden all gave clear warnings about the GOP.
Exactly. Follow the money
The life of a Democracy involves agreeing, disagreeing, and making compromises. It does not involve kneeling or genuflecting. Those looking for that kind of government have found it in the Trump Regime. Soon we will make that Regime a thing of the unpleasant past.
There was a lot of negative information about him out there for a while. I find it hard to give kudos to his party backers now that they having an oh no moment , in light of all that. I find it difficult to believe that this came as a surprise to them.
As a woman, I think rape abhorrent. I would not want it to happen to myself, my daughter, or my granddaughters, or any other woman. I see, however, a country so hypoocritical that it would elect a President who has been accused and found guilty of similar allegations - who, even when ordered by a court to pay up the fines he was found liable for, refuses to to date to pay the woman in question. Like Platner, he claims he was not guilty. Yet he was elected President - our moral leader.
Why do Democrats always suck at messaging? Things like "Defund the Police" is just throwing red meat at the right. I'm not a Socialist, and I'm not an extremist. Maybe a better term would be "Democratic Pragmatist." Read some George Lakoff.