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What? If it’s genuine, why would they do that? He can only drag down his replacement.
And so long as he denies it, what incentive would he have to help out?
Because he won the primary. He creamed the establishment candidate. She didn’t even make it to Election Day.
Presumably his political opinions are genuine. If he’s forced to quit (which he will be) he should quit on his own terms.
Maybe I was unclear.
The accusation represents new information unavailable to primary voters.
If that’s not enough to lose the general, they don’t need to drop him like this.
If it is enough, then his endorsement is worth less than nothing.
Therefore, they have no reason to drop him but keep asking him for input.
Okay, let me break this down.
Maine voters like Graham Platner’s politics and affect.
Maine voters do not like that Graham Platner is “consensually careless”.
Graham Platner would choose his endorsement based on alignment with his politics but not alignment on date rape.
Therefore, Graham Platner should get to choose his replacement.
But what if Graham Platner would in fact choose his endorsement based on alignment with date rape but not alignment with his politics?
Well then he wouldn’t drop out. No one is better positioned to make date rape mainstream than Graham Platner.
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I see where you’re coming from, and I guess I’m just not convinced that the average voter decouples those two things.
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