From #MeToo to Maine? Dem experts weigh in on how Platner's rise tests party standards: 'Pulling the plug'

By Fox News · Fox News

Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner's scandal-plagued rise is causing rifts within the Democratic Party, and several Democratic strategists who spoke to Fox News Digital warned of the long-term implications of the party embracing him. "Anyone paying attention to the intersection of culture and politics knows that my party pushed #MeToo well beyond the bounds of common sense long before Graham Platner's rise," Michael LaRosa, former press secretary to first lady Jill Biden, said about whether the #MeToo movement rings hollow within the party now that top Democrats have rallied behind Platner. "But the reflexive partisan instinct to circle the wagons around him is the political equivalent of pulling the plug on whatever credibility Democrats had left as the self-appointed champions of women." "If the standards disappear the moment they're politically inconvenient, they were never standards at all." JONATHAN TURLEY: WHEN JOURNALISTS WHINE ABOUT #METOO, THEY DON’T MEAN PLATNER, TOO Former adviser to President Bill Clinton and Democratic strategist Doug Schoen argued that Democrats are choosing power and Senate control over serious concerns about Platner's past, and that could hurt them in 2028. "In the short term, for some Democrats, those on the progressive left, it's the right decision, a practical decision," Schoen said. "To me, it's a very sad one and certainly undermines the moral legitimacy of the Democratic Party as a whole." " C ertainly, I think they've left themselves vulnerable vis-à-vis Platner's extreme left-wing positions, his toxicity as a person, the issues with relationships, arguably lying about his Nazi tattoo," Schoen said. "I certainly think this creates issues for the Democrats where none needed to exist." Platner has denied allegations from former girlfriends who told The New York Times that he discussed rape fantasies, drank heavily and had violent episodes, while also facing mounting criticism over sexually explicit messages allege…