Graham Platner released an 11-minute video announcing he has suspended his Senate campaign… with a catch.
“We are suspending campaign operations,” said Platner. “I want to make clear, though: I intend to file my paperwork to withdraw.”
Platner has until July 13 to officially withdraw. Suspending your campaign doesn’t mean you’ve dropped out.
Oh, it’s not his fault, you guys:
This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We’re not doing it because of the allegations. We’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power, and I also feel an immense amount of responsibility to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to where we are.
How did we get here? Let’s review Platner’s past, which the Democrats brushed aside.
If you’re a Republican woman, the Democrats don’t care if a man assaults you. But if you’re a Democratic woman, they will lose their minds.
The Democrats also don’t care if you had a Nazi tattoo, post disgusting online comments against women and soldiers, or lie about your past.
After Politico published Jenny Racicot’s story, the Democrats who stood by Platner even after all the scandals decided that assaulting a Democratic woman was too much.
They pulled their endorsements. Some even deleted their past posts praising Platner, excusing his actions.
Platner denied all the allegations again. He did not address the women, but blamed “corporate media.”
“I learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury, and executioner,” he complained.
Platner moaned about the party establishment, insisting they saw him as a threat and trying to get rid of him before the Politico story.
However, it sounds like Platner isn’t 100% finished. It sounds like he needs to approve of the person taking his place:
I’m not trying to dictate to anyone who it should be or how we get there, but I will say this: it needs to be open, transparent, and democratic. It needs to be reflecting the will and the values of the people that built this movement: the people that showed up on June 9.People in DC need to stay in DC. Decisions should not be made in back rooms by people in places of political power. Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions. These decisions need to be made in the open by the people of this state, the people who got us here. This is exactly the kind of political system that everyone voted against on June 9, and for that reason we need to be assured that it is going to be open and democratic as we move forward. Amy and I struggled about getting into this last summer, right around this time of year. We sat down and we looked at each other, and we said, if we believe in the kind of politics we think that we do, we have to do this over the past couple days, really. Yesterday and today we have had to have that exact same conversation. We believe that for the movement to continue it can’t be made, and for that reason we are suspending campaign operations. This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We’re not doing it because of the allegations, we’re doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power, and I also feel an immense amount of responsibility to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to where we are. We went toe to toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won.We beat them on June 9 in overwhelming numbers. We did it the right way. We built a campaign, we engaged in electoral politics, we motivated people, we banded together, we did it the way that we were told we are supposed to make change. And we won. And now they are not going to let us have it, not if it’s me, and so we’re suspending campaign operations.I want to make clear, though, I intend to file my paperwork to withdraw.The process needs to assure that what comes next is reflective of the Mainers, who on June 9 turned out and showed that they are desperate for a different kind of politics. It needs to be driven not from back rooms, but by the will of the people, and the decisions that come next must come from that all. We were asking for healthcare, 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 were asking for an end to the corruption, the end to the money in politics. We were asking for real democracy, and we did it the right way, and we won.But now the ball is in the court of the Democratic establishment. My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. And on November 3, it needs to belong to the people of Maine, and the next Democratic senator for Maine needs to belong to the people of Maine.
Guys, I’ll believe it when I see it.
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