there is an internet lefty pundit who went really, really hard for graham platner, dismissed every controversy, and mocked everyone who was alarmed by any of the stories coming out, right up until the rape allegation. at that point, she immediately withdrew support. she was talking about a presidential run for him. she is surrounded by people who were also backing him heavily but she is one of a few who went above and beyond. in the wake of the rape allegation, she talked about how she was shocked and she felt betrayed by his campaign, and how devastating this was etcetera and so forth. she then did a mini podcast tour that was half "he really betrayed a lot of people.. it kinda came out of nowhere, really. he thought he was untouchable" and half "I do feel bad and like, looking back in light of this new allegation, all of those other things seem worse now, but idk I don't really regret how I acted. I think I did the best I could with the information I had I'm just sorry it ended up hurting people"
in one of those podcasts, when asked if she would have done anything different, she said "my thing is, I care about the policy and not the person. i don't care if bernie or aoc is a secret nazi, as long as they vote the right way in congress." which is an incredibly stupid thing to say. first, the idea that she wasn't invested in him as a person is laughable in its face. she wanted him to be the face of the movement. she thought he could be president. that's not how you talk about a guy you're just supporting because his platform is okay. second... I get that it's meant to be bombastic and provocative, but it missed the mark and landed with a thud in the realm of "in poor taste" and "tone deaf". what she means is that we, the public, have no way to know what's in a politicians heart, or what they do behind closed doors. the only thing we can really judge them on is their public record. which is generally a true thing. I may not love bernie or aoc, but there's nothing in their public behavior that strongly suggests alt right leanings of any sort. we have no reason to question that about them.
but platners public record, prior to this most recent allegation, involved: four tours in the military in active combat units, including time as a guard at abu ghraib - service which he was vocally proud of and which he said he enjoyed. a stint as a mercenary at the company that absorbed blackwater. a nazi tattoo. a reddit history that, while it did have some vaguely left ish posts, also included him talking about how much he enjoyed war and combat, his longing to have been able to fight in other wars like vietnam and the genocide of native americans, as well as some racism and misogyny for good measure - at best it indicates a dude with wildly inconsistent and flimsy political beliefs that are largely vibes based. a cheating scandal. and a domestic violence allegation.
there was every reason to be suspicious of this man based on information available to the public. this idea that we can't know what he's like behind closed doors doesn't hold up, because we have a lot of evidence that he should at the very least be put under heavy scrutiny for, if not outright disqualified. pretending that it's unreasonable to have expected anyone to care about what he did and what he believed in his personal life because we can't see what's in his heart, we can only judge him on his actions, does not fucking hold up. it is a uniquely bad rationalization, and she has done it on a minimum of three podcasts so far. four, if you include hers.
she is being scrutinized more than other people because a) she went so hard for him, b) she has put herself in a spotlight as a face representing the people he betrayed, c) she is not showing any signs of genuine reflection on her own culpability in this. also, frankly, no one really expects better of most of the people who are still standing by him. they're disgusting and beyond redemption. and no one else who has dropped him has been so loud about it. yes, her cohost is also extremely responsible, but he was off working on something else when this news hit. their producer guys are also on the hook but they aren't the faces of the pod. there may be some misogyny in the amount of focus she's getting but frankly I would put more blame on the other people in her ecosystem for not also stepping up and taking some of the heat off of her than I would the people who watched her and trusted her analysis and trusted her to care about people who watched her do abuse apologia and make excuses for a war criminal and are appalled.
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