General Discussion

That is often true. It does not only happen to one wing of the party. Also, it is not that "he said what they wanted to hear." He talked policy that they support and agree with. That is legitimate, though Platner is not. You insult and demean his supporters with your statement.

Manchin was, in my view, a bad candidate from the beginning and people ignored that because "it's the best we can do in that state." I think that is similar.

Platner is a really odd case. His team, outsiders who strike me as very strange, capitalized on voter frustrations and "anti-establishment" sentiment in a cynical and manipulative way. They recruited a guy who looked the part and crafted a phony "working class hero" narrative around him.

Platner's oyster business was bought for him by his mother. His only customer was his mother's restaurant. He was supposedly against the wars, but then re-upped. Then he went to work for Blackwater. He was sexting multiple women after he was married. He made racist and sexist posts over the years. He had a Totenkopf tattoo.

I didn't find Platner's explanations for any of that very persuasive. I think that anyone who didn't understand that those issues would come up is not ready to be a US Senator. I found the explanations by his team to be abhorrent and disgusting. I was not impressed by his wife's defense of him, and thought that was a weak and amateurish move to have her defend him.

That said, I didn't find the Politico reporter who was interviewed on Morning Joe to be at all credible. Also, the woman who accused him of rape did not seem credible to me nor to my wife, either.

The whole disgusting episode is a nightmare and a threat to the success of the party at the worst possible time. I would encourage people to refrain from throwing fuel the fire and to refrain from using this to attack an entire wing of the party.