To the Editor:
Re “Platner Is Not the Answer,” by David French (column, May 13), about Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the Senate race in Maine:
President Trump and his political movement pose the biggest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. Mr. Platner, for all his faults, is infinitely more honest than Mr. Trump and his administration, and, unlike a vast majority of Republican politicians, he cares about the plight of the working and middle classes.
You’re going to wag your finger at him over a tattoo and some offensive statements that were posted years ago, and that he has repeatedly disavowed?
From my perspective, he is clearly better than his opponent, Senator Susan Collins. In her own dreary way, she is no better than the rest of the Republican political leadership. She is a sheep in sheep’s clothing, a fence-straddling career politician who votes her conscience when her party has enough votes to prevail, but always comes through for it when the legislation or nomination is on the line.
This Republican administration is engaging in widespread corruption, disenfranchising Southern Black people, undermining our democracy through baseless lies about voter fraud, destroying our environment, gutting medical research, ballooning the deficit and persecuting people like Jerome Powell via a corrupt Justice Department.
Please stop with the whataboutism and focus instead on the evils of this corrupt and vindictive regime.
Chris Dilworth
Somerville, Mass.
To the Editor:
David French excoriates Graham Platner, a Democratic hopeful for the Senate, for the tattoo he had engraved on his chest in 2007 during his service in the Marines.
According to Mr. French, not only did the tattoo closely resemble the Totenkopf, a Nazi symbol, but Mr. Platner has also not been sufficiently penitent about it.
If you look at the hundreds of skull-and-crossbones images that tattoo artists present to their clients to choose from, you will see the basic theme repeated with slight variations, some of which are quite horrifying. Mr. Platner chose a rather conservative version. Even military historians would be hard-pressed to identify that particular image as the one to be avoided.
So let’s drop this silly tattoo obsession and get on with more serious political discussions. Please!
Judy Kaiser
Waldo, Maine
To the Editor:
I cannot argue with David French’s well-founded and solid logic. In an ideal world he is right. I am a Maine voter, and I also know that Susan Collins is a good person. However, we are not in an ideal world, and Ms. Collins has shortcomings, not the least of which is helping create a Republican majority in the Senate.
Unfortunately our binary political system often leaves the voter with a “lesser evil” choice. Good, decent, qualified people too often choose to avoid public office because of the vicious character assassination that sadly comes with the job. In Maine the Graham Platner train gained lots of early momentum through premature endorsements, and now he will likely be the Democratic nominee.
There will be no ideal choice in the Maine Senate race. Once again many voters will head to the polls holding their noses — but head to the polls they must. A vote for Susan Collins serves only to enable the biggest danger to democracy this country has experienced to date, since she is carrying the flag for a party that refuses to uphold its constitutional responsibilities.
So the lesser of two evils is the only choice we will have on the ballot, and logic dictates that this is the rational choice, even if it may not be as morally sound as we would like.
Jeff Gardner
Cumberland Foreside, Maine
To the Editor:
I live in Maine and support Graham Platner. David French’s column has Platner supporters very upset. I respect Mr. French, and although he is more conservative than I am, I agree with much he has to say about President Trump and his cronies and how our country is in one of the worst places it has ever been in because of Mr. Trump.
My advice to Mr. French is, if he hasn’t already done so, to come to Maine, interview Mr. Platner, go to his rallies, interview his supporters and then write an article about his own firsthand impressions.
Karen Jo Young
Corea, Maine
To the Editor:
It is interesting that people outside Maine are obsessed with a disavowed tattoo and paint Graham Platner as nothing more than a one-dimensional cartoon character. People in Maine listen to what he has to say up close.
He is very accessible on the campaign trail and does not shy away from hard questions. He has an enthusiastic following because he addresses issues about which Mainers are most concerned, and his views couldn’t be further from fascist ideology.
He is seen by many not as a “lesser evil” but as someone who is genuinely interested in improving their lives.
Sharon Silverman Chabrow
Portland, Maine
