Or not if you're a republican president.

but I thought the 5 million was for defamation after the first verdict, the actual sexual assault case, was awarded 83 million.
If that's true this writer needs to stop using AI to write his/her articles.

which is why I said correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm fine with it as long as he loses and pays.

Wouldn’t want to upset the people who voted for a pedophile that trafficks, tortures, rapes, cannibalizes, and kills little kids now, would we….

I pointed out its language in the OP. It's in favour of electing or appointing sexual abusers.

that R women will support them and look the other way. D women will not typically look the other way and the Dems lose voters if they support rapists and known abusers.

Elect a rapist --get f-----. There is a connection.

- but different from the pitchbot because it's self aware of how cheek it sounds and gets attention.

One could substitute "murder" (covid, etc., etc.) instead of self assault. Republicans will forgive anything if it gets them what they think they want.

Ok, I read it more carefully. It seems like they're trying to conflate some accusations that don't bear up to scrutiny with ones that have more evidentiary weight. For example, the Franken affair was clearly different from the Platner case. That's being disingenuous by the columnists. Can Democrats jump the gun sometimes based on mere accusations and perceived optics? Sure. At first I supported Platner and gave him the benefit of the doubt as being just a rough around the edges kind of guy - all the while opining that the choice offered (Mills, Platner) was a very defective slate. I'm in my 60s and earnestly want younger people to run. So I supported Platner at first while hoping that nothing else would surface. However, at some point the Platner accusations became both more serious and more credible and it is clear that he is a very suspect candidate. Maybe he has sought help and reformed, but he is simply too damaged at this point. He did a disservice not being candid with Sanders and Warren. The answer to this problem is better vetting, not acceptance of sexual misconduct.

This happened only FIVE years ago. We don’t need to keep any man raped a woman at any time for any reason as a US senator. I’d rather lose the race and the Senate.

I say this as someone who held a small hope that he would be breaking the mold. A macho persona and direct way of speaking, potential media attention that would cross barriers with ideas. Maybe such a person could move certain political goalposts to the left by brute force. Public discourse is hopelessly narrow. Maybe a voice like that can break through some of the closed ears of men who have been supporting MAGA. I hoped, but it was hopeless. It always seems to work this way.

What an ass, so lacking in self respect and in empathy.

But it is not our principles as a party that cost us talent. It is the misogyny and the poor-upbringing (by the culture, not solely by the parents) that tolerates and equates use of force with manhood. We refuse to overlook it, the GOP overlooks anything.

Not comparing rape to consensual infidelity but as far as standing by their man, i remember when Hillary Clinton was derided or made fun of for doing just that’. Perhaps the Ken Starr, Karl Rover (sic), Brett Kavanaugh trio perhaps hoped that the in-office dalliance would cause an Oval Office divorce. GOP guys like that don’t understand that a marriage of equals with a strong woman can contain loyalty and love that is deep enough to forgive and survive.

When denial becomes futile, the GOP version tends to fall in three camps: religious pretense: ‘my husband and I are relying on God and on our faith as he makes our marriage stronger than ever’, financial bribes: ‘pay them off or threaten them with a fixer’, but especially through a media-shutout. The media is so locked up now, that GOP scandals evaporate before they get airtime.

We dodged a bullet. Better to suffer this now than have six months of media time devoted to the hypocrisy of a party electing a guy like this to the US Senate. The media would give that free airtime forever. Or they’d blackmail him, he’d change his positions, and we would have another DINO helping destroy our agenda in critical senate votes.

... it's just as likely to be a behavior pattern of other bad decisions throughout this guy's life.

If this was a one-time-only thing then I feel sorry for him. But if it only happened once and never again, why couldn't the accuser find a way to forgive him? It just looks like a pattern, that's all.

Unfortunately they actually have the ability to vote, unlike the NYT.

See how that turned out.

I will say on Fetterman, a friend of mine in SW PA expressed unease with him before the primary. Wouldn’t say why though. Maybe just a gut feeling or maybe there were signs there that most of us ignored.

And truth be told, what morally responsible person would want to be a big time politician? There’s a lot of sacrifice and unwanted scrutiny involved with that job.

Oh. Wait. That never happens.

... I am close to completing my 79th circumnavigation of the Sun, and I fully support encouraging younger people to assume the reins of power, but not at the expense of knowledge, experience, and hopefully, wisdom. There's a delicate balance between youth and wisdom.
Which brings me to my question: Given the horrors we know another Republican regime would visit upon the country, and that winning the midterms is of critical import, is there a Mainer who can manage that tightrope walk between youth and the qualities required of a responsible senate candidate? I like Janet Mills, but she is only a couple of months younger than me, so even completing one 6-year term might be a challenge. Ain't nobody perfect, but sexual assault cannot be forgiven, of course, and high standards must be upheld, but neither should we allow perfection to be the enemy of good.
A conundrum of epic proportions.

Edit to add: Troy Jackson might have the chops, but he'd better be damned sure his closet is clean! NO skeletons.

Twice!

so they allude to it:

I hate that fucking asshole with every microfiber of my being. He has to be stopped, but who's going to stop him?

In the interim, a Democratic Congress will stop SOME of it.

Democrats were willing to tolerate Platner's texting, but the assault was the last straw.

Tony Gonzales (R) was never accused of sex assault. But he was having an affair with one of his staffers, which is against congressional ethics and rules. Eventually some sexting rumors also came out. However. by then he was done.

i think it is disqualifying in most cases.

as for the ny times, are they kidding. repubs have been getting away with this stuff forever.

franken ,weiner, gary hart spitzer, cuomo how many others while gingrich and hastert did this stuff from the gavel. the senator with the "wide stance." the florida guy with the house pages, etc etc etc matt gaetz is still working.

This is just the Democrats falling in line with what the party aims to project: morality at the forefront of their policies.

Yes, Republicans have seemingly 'won' by allowing candidates like Kavanaugh, RFK Jr, and Hegseth to compete in their elections or stay in their positions anyway, but with the way the Democratic Party wants to win, it's unsurprising that Platner dropped out. They've routinely chose to stay on the path in which they believe upholds their moral standards.

As many have said, Platner's drop out was the right choice, and we can only hope that we find someone to go against Susan Collins at the convention. If Platner won with SA accusations on board, it wouldn't have felt like a win.

Which is par for the course these days for the msm.

All the objectivity and fairness republicans will barely tolerate and not an iota more.

and willingly giving these men power. It's more than I expected. I expected a bunch of voth sider BS, to be honest.