05/24/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D1MXfXvcw/
EDITORIAL: Maine Democrats Are Asking Voters to Normalize the Inexcusable
By Jon Fetherston
Graham Platner wants to be a United States Senator.
That alone should require judgment, discipline, character, and basic moral fitness.
Instead, Maine voters are being asked to ignore a growing list of disturbing controversies, obscene comments, bizarre behavior, and disqualifying lapses in judgment, all because the radical socialist arm of today’s Democratic Party has decided that power matters more than standards.
Gross.
Creepy.
Concerning.
Disqualifying.
This is not normal. It should never be treated as normal.
Reports and resurfaced comments tied to Platner are not minor political disagreements. They are not old tax votes, awkward debate clips, or routine campaign baggage. They go directly to character.
Public sexual behavior. Comments about porta potties. The blue water in a dirty hot smelly porta potty turns him on. Statements about women, r**e, religion, police, race, and soldiers that no serious candidate for the United States Senate should ever have to “explain away.”
And yet, here we are.
The political machine now wants voters to believe this is all just noise. They want Mainers to move along, forget what they saw, and accept another carefully rehearsed apology from another ambitious politician who got caught.
Do not tell us you have changed.
Prove it.
And proving it is hard to do when the pattern keeps getting worse.
You cannot claim you are ready to “stand up to Trump” when you cannot even stand up and fully account for yourself.
You cannot ask Maine families to trust your judgment when your own words and conduct raise this many questions.
You cannot demand public power while refusing public accountability.
Platner may be a great actor. But Maine does not need another actor. Maine needs leaders with judgment, humility, decency, and restraint.
Public office is not therapy. The United States Senate is not a rehabilitation program. And Maine voters are not obligated to reward disturbing behavior just because party activists insist the candidate has the correct ideology.
That same culture of excuses is now infecting Maine’s election process.
Secretary of State Shenna Bellows loves to say facts matter.
Fine.
Then let’s talk about facts.
You can run ads saying you “stood up to Trump…Um…you lost. The Supreme Court said you were wrong. Facts matter.
You can claim you were doxxed…but you you posted your own address on your own Instagram page, voters deserve honesty about that too. Facts matter.
Mainers still have questions about the 250 ballots reportedly found in an Amazon box. Facts matter.
And now, the Maine Girls Dad referendum appears to be facing the same insider treatment that has become far too familiar in Augusta.
City and town clerks reviewed the signatures. State staff reviewed the signatures. The measure was initially approved. Then, after political pressure, the effort to let Mainers vote on protecting girls’ sports and spaces is suddenly in jeopardy.
So who was wrong?
Were the clerks wrong?
Was your staff wrong?
Or is the problem that the wrong people signed the petitions and the wrong issue might appear on the ballot while you prepare for your own political future?
Mainers are not stupid. They can see what is happening.
The people wanted a vote. The political class apparently did not.
That is not democracy. That is voter suppression dressed up in paperwork.
The radical socialist wing of today’s Democratic Party is attempting to normalize horrible and inappropriate behavior, unethical acts, political dirty tricks, and a culture where accountability only applies to their opponents.
They lecture Maine about democracy while trying to block voters from voting.
They preach about decency while defending the indefensible.
They claim to oppose kings while acting like they alone get to decide which people, petitions, and candidates are allowed to survive.
Enough.
Maine voters should reject the excuses, reject the double standards, reject the dirty tricks, and reject the candidates and officials who believe power gives them permission to do whatever they want.
Vote accordingly.
