I have a lot more respect for someone that does something wrong and then admits and fixes it than someone who does something wrong and then does nothing but deny and deflect.
this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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I am so tired of the smear attempts and the bots and the purity test police trying to fuck up the best thing that's happened in my state in a decade. If you don't live here, and won't be voting in our elections, please fuck off. I understand that he is being elected to a national office, but reflect on how you would feel if a bunch of people from away deliberately tried to prevent a progressive from being elected in your home district. I doubt anyone anonymously detracting from Graham has had a chance to meet him, hear him speak, or shake his hand and look him in the eye. I have, and I think my bullshit filters are pretty up to date. Platner is a genuine guy actually pushing for change and the establishment is being pretty transparent in their attempts to stymie him.
I’m a Mainer and I worry that this guy is going to be the new Sinema. Say all the right things and then swing hard right after the election. I grew up in Piscataquis county and knew plenty of guys like him who seem ok until you start digging and find out they believe in some awful stuff.
Someone having Nazi tattoos isn’t someone I want as a senator even if those tattoos were accidentally acquired.
Also people from away can have an opinion because the senate is country wide. Having a disingenuous person in the senate affects everyone (cough Fetterman cough).
Well, you can now read his full reddit comment history if you wanna know what he's about.
What if it DOES matter if they did it deliberately or accidentally, and it DOES matter how they respond when confronted about it? What if they're humans who make mistakes, and are able to own them like an adult?
Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good, that's the left wing cat herding part that earned us this fascist takeover in the first place. If you have someone better to vote for, by all means. But you can always convince yourself that the progressive candidate is secretly a right wing extremist. Always. That's right there with QAnon rational.
I grew up in Piscataquis county and knew plenty of guys like him
You know lots of people from Piscataquis county who call themselves communists and are really vocal about medicare for all?
I know lots of people who seem nice and genuine and wanting to help people until you start asking them questions about their beliefs. And I'm not talking specifically Piscataquis. People in the county are like that too. And downeast too. That's why I'm extremely wary of someone who has had nazi tattoos on their body.
Are you saying there are people who might misrepresent their political beliefs and background, and be disingenuous for some kind of ulterior political motive? And we need to be wary of them and ask probing questions and think critically about what they're saying and what reasons they might have?
Personally, as a veteran of this comments thread, I actually think you might be onto something.
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Sinema told all of AZ she was a progressive too. Right until she got into office. Im sure her handshakes were also nice. Don't see how that's relevant.
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I didn't find out about this guy until yesterday, man.
It's a damn shame if he really is the genuine guy you think he is. A damn shame.
Because there's really no recovering from that big of a blunder and that's just reality. I would be devastated if I were you, and try to think of next steps because the ship has sailed on this guy. I'm sorry for that.
Agreed, but folks up here are seriously rallying around him right now. It doesn't seem as hopeless as it really should. Anybody that has met the man, and he is making a GIANT effort to meet anyone that cares, knows that his checkered past has no bearing on his desire for a better future. He is a shining example of human growth and what we should be defining Manliness by, ability to adapt, change and grow from a place of ignorance.
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A skull and crossbones sounds like a symbol that was co-opted by nazis but not an explicit nazi symbol. I didn't know that connection either. Without seeing it, that sounds more like a pirate symbol, or poison.
The pirate skull and crossbones is different from the one used by nazis. The pirate one has the skull facing forward and long bones behind. The nazi one is facing a bit to the side and only the snobby joint parts of the bones behind are showing.
Kind of like how the US and other countries have eagle iconography that is visually distinct from the nazi eagle iconography.
Yes, he did have the nazi one but his explanation of it being a mistake sounds reasonable. Nobody is perfect, we can admit mistakes and change for the better.
Yes, but the bigger question is, if it was a mistake, why didn't he remedy it in the part 20 years since? He apparently did learn it was a Tottenkopf at some point, if the reports that he has told others that exact thing are to be believed; why wait to cover it up until he was running for office?
Also, he had it covered with a Norse wolf, which, Nazis appropriate Norse imagery to cover up their most unsavory bullshit is a whole goddamn thing...
He didn't even wait until he was running for office, he waited until the photo leaked. He never would have disclosed it.
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Good to know, thanks
I agree, the description is vague and the symbol was most assuredly was co-opted by Nazis (past and present) just like the swastika, blackletter typeface, Nordic symbols, and a whole bunch of other stuff of historical significance.
But, accidental or not, this seems a pretty cut and dry comparison, art-wise.
And a quick search of the historical context
Depending on the person, id give it the benefit of doubt for a case of "You were in the wrong tattoo parlor and didn't recognize the more subtle nazi and/or supremacist dogwhistles".
Politicians are blatantly exempt from any benefit of doubt. They have PR teams for this shit, and couldn't be bothered to utilize that.
If your PR team is well versed on the minutia of Nazi symbology, they are either expensive or they are Nazis.
Establishment candidates have more support from the national party than progressive primary candidates running for the chance to challenge an incumbent. I’d give the latter more benefit of the doubt, especially when they express remorse and regret.
he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police. … while his campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, he chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine. … “Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”
I think for a normal person leaving that kind of tattoo there is sort of understandable.
For somebody running for political office as a yoked bro he had to realize this would come up at some point
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This tattoo was the Totenkopf? Jesus Christ what is with this article? They described as skull and crossbones. As if making you think it's a pirate symbol. Fuck no. The Totenkopf has always been associated with the Nazis. That's a straight-up Nazi symbol that they wore while genociding people. I don't believe for a fucking second this thing was an accident.
I can't say I'm shocked that a PBS article is whitewashing this kind of shit. Cuz they've been whitewashing fascist shit for a while now. But God damn.
Honestly, if I saw that, I wouldn't think "nazi", can't blame him if he saw it on a drunken night and didn't think much of it.
When the media stated we live in a “post-truth” society, they meant it. Trump admin imported the Russian propaganda tactics of Surkov. This is our reality now, nothing is true or false, it’s all just information.
His former political director said he "knows damn well" what the tattoo signifies.
The Totenkopf has always been associated with the Nazis.
To be pedantic, it actually predates Nazis by quite a bit, it was in use during the Empire - but by modern-day standards it's absolutely associated with nazis.
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He was a 20-some year old marine; I absolutely believe he didn't know what the tattoo actually was, and just thought it was cool.
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Oh, well, crisis averted then. It's all good, now. Carry on, everyone.
It’s so simple.
He either is lying about knowing the meaning of the symbol and is therefore not qualified to be a Senator, no matter his apparent stances.
Or he is insanely ignorant of basic history and is therefore not qualified to be a Senator, no matter his apparent stances.
I do not think that symbol is basic history, and he was a gunner in the military. Not exactly the smartest of people as teenagers.
I like to think I know history, and I've been around longer than Platner, and I would never have identified this as a Nazi symbol if someone hadn't told me.
Take a look at this list of symbols and see how many you would have recognized. For me it is four: swastika, party eagle, odal rune, and SS lightning bolts. Maybe the wolfsangel and the SA emblem I would have had some kind of inkling that something about it was suspect. The death's head and the cross type patterns (even the KKK one) I would have had absolutely no idea unless someone told me.
Plus, of course, it is relevant that he had all the time in the world to express some kind of Nazi ideology including on his Reddit account which was suddenly de-anonymized without him planning to have any of it exposed, and there was 0 Nazi stuff in any of it. People are just happy they found this reason to be able to shit on him and have one less progressive candidate they may have to deal with as a competitor for horrible people like Mills.
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Like, covered by a shirt or actually covered by another tattoo?
Either way, this is pretty shitty judgement and I think another Dem candidate would probably be a better bet.
See how easy it is to criticize someone on your own "team"? We should bring that back in America.
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