MS NOW: Democrats ‘Overlooked’ Platner Red Flags
MSNBC host Katy Tur acknowledged Wednesday that Democrats overlooked several controversies surrounding former Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner before ultimately abandoning his campaign following the latest allegations against him.
During an appearance on MSNBC's The Moment, Tur argued that Democratic leaders had accepted a number of warning signs as they searched for a candidate they believed could appeal to voters who had shifted toward President Donald Trump.
"The Democratic Party, in searching for somebody that fit the bill of someone who could relate to and appeal to a broader set of voters that had been lost to Donald Trump, they found Graham Platner," Tur said. "And, yeah, he had a lot of warts, a lot of warts, and they overlooked them."
She added that while the latest allegations appeared to be "a bridge too far" for the party, the situation also raised broader questions about redemption and how much weight should be given to a candidate's past.
"But I think it does bring us into the realm of, at what point do you allow for redemption?" Tur asked. "At what point do you say this person did have a rough past, they did make mistakes?"
Tur emphasized that she was not defending Platner's alleged conduct, which he has denied, but questioned where political parties should draw the line.
"How far does the party let someone go who's said bad things online, who has a tattoo that's not great? Like, where is the path for redemption?" she asked.
MSNBC political analyst Basil Smikle responded by arguing that redemption requires more than simply acknowledging past mistakes.
"I guess what I look for is, you may have done some things, but where is the — is there penance?" Smikle said. "How much have you done since then to kind of make up for that bad behavior?"
He then pointed to one of the controversies that had surrounded Platner's campaign: questions about a tattoo that critics said resembled Nazi imagery.
"And there's actually even a more simple evaluation here. Let's just take the tattoo, for example, which is horrible, and he said, well, I covered it up because I found out what it meant."
Before Smikle could continue, Tur interrupted with a blunt assessment of Platner's explanation.
"Which is not very believable," she said.
Tur's remarks came after Democratic leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Ro Khanna, withdrew their support for Platner following a woman's allegation that he broke into her home and sexually assaulted her. Platner has denied the accusation, but the allegation intensified calls from within his own party for him to withdraw from the Senate race.