As Graham Blattner’s Maine Senate campaign blew up in their faces, Democrats everywhere began offering condolences and advice.
Some compare Plattner’s collapse over the scandal and his last-minute withdrawal to the 2024 presidential campaign, when a confused Joe Biden withdrew in early July and the nomination was handed to his running mate, Kamala Harris.
This comparison reflects deep pessimism among Democrats about their chances now of winning the Maine seat held by incumbent Republican Susan Collins, which is crucial to their hopes of obtaining a majority in the Senate.
Part of that pessimism stems from the fact that Harris continues to claim that her lopsided loss to Donald Trump was largely because she secured the nomination just 107 days before Election Day.
She wrote an entire book with that title, as if that alone explained her burning out. But she still refuses to accept the fact that she was a terrible candidate who refused to advance an agenda different from the failed and unpopular record she and Biden produced.
When asked what she would do differently in her streaming appearance on “The View,” she hesitated before giving the absurd response, “Nothing came to my mind.”
Okay, then. Plattner’s replacement will have less time than Harris, as party members in Maine said they will choose a new candidate at a convention late this month.
Time is obviously of the essence, but there is another similarity to the Harris campaign that is also relevant to events in Maine.
Notably, Blatner is largely a carbon copy of Harris’s disastrous choice for vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Tampon Tim’s personality, appearance and background reflect some of the same traits that led many Maine Democrats to fall in love with Blatner.
Both men are fat and rough, military veterans and blue-collar in nature, which sets them apart from the angry soy boys and feminists who are the dominant faces of a party moving further and further to the left.
Meanwhile, Walz and Plattner were able to talk progressive activists’ talk. They seemed like Democrats’ idea of a Republican, but they went along with the slogan of nearly unlimited immigration, higher taxes, anti-police rhetoric, and cultural fever over transgender issues and racism.
After Trump’s 2024 victory, Walz admitted, in a podcast, that Harris had chosen him simply to appeal to blue-collar white male voters, whom Democrats had lost for decades.
“I was on the ticket, quite frankly, because I could talk to the white guys who watch football, fix their truck, do that, and then I could put them at ease,” he said.
Although his resume and brash style convinced Democrats he was the everyday guy they needed, the target demographic was not impressed. The ticket received only 43% of the male vote nationwide, while Trump and J.D. Vance received 55%.
In Blattner’s case, Maine Democrats’ thirst for a progressive “real man” was so overwhelming that his supporters were willing to overlook his massive Nazi tattoo, as if that were common among real men.
GQ magazine, in a glowing profile meant to explain his campaign appeal, declared him “the earthy, masculine working man many male politicians wish they were.”
Enough Maine voters bought into the hype by looking at Blattner’s vile social media posts and complaints about his heavy drinking and sexual misconduct, some of which he has admitted to.
It didn’t matter to Senator Bernie Sanders, who endorsed him. Or to Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called him “my nice guy” even though he said rape victims should “take some responsibility for themselves and not get so angry that they end up having sex with someone they didn’t mean to?”
Victim complex
This did not pose a problem for his supporters when he reportedly wrote the phrase “I dig it” next to an online video showing Hamas terrorists killing Israeli soldiers.
None of that was enough to stop or even slow down a train headed to glory. Only when Politico magazine published credible allegations last week that he had committed sexual assault with his ex-girlfriend came out public that the dam broke, and Sanders and Warren abandoned ship.
Two days later, Blattner faced the music and withdrew from the race.
Even then, he hesitated and threatened to remain on the ballot and clash with the party before withdrawing as the deadline approached.
“We competed head-to-head with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won,” Plattner said in announcing his withdrawal in a video on social media. “And now they won’t let us have it, not if it’s me.”
Regret was not on his mind, as he defiantly insisted that “we are not doing this because of the allegations; we are doing this because of the structures that those in power have taken from us.”
Look, he’s a victim. Maybe that’s why so many Democrats loved him.
In the era of Trump, the victim has become the engine of the left led by socialists.