Platner has been accused of behavior (borderline violence towards women) that, quite frankly, would earn visceral condemnation were he not running for the Senate.
I've had someone try to brush that off as "relationships can get physical without it descending to abuse", which struck me as a very obvious cope. Leaving marks on someone with your hands, pushing them into a room and keeping them there against their will... those are abusive behaviors and trying to argue otherwise is wildly disingenuous. The former is battery, the latter could be false imprisonment or hell, even kidnapping.
So as I see it the question is, do our values about how women (and people in general) should be treated hold firm and apply in all cases or do we set those values aside in service of a political agenda, namely control of the Senate? If we excuse or ignore or minimize these behaviors in Platner in the name of political expedience I feel like that undermines our claim to take these values seriously.
The next time a Republican candidate is accused of putting hands on people the criticism of that behavior by those who defended Platner are going to ring just a wee bit hollow from where I'm standing.
That's just how I view this and my opinion is worth absolutely nothing since I don't vote in Maine. I just find it disheartening that so many people are shrugging off these very, very problematic behaviors without a backward glance when they'd be roundly condemning him if he were some random schmoe and not a Senate candidate.
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