He's not prepared to be a senator. He's childish, thin skinned, immature, and un-serious.

John (Hoodie) Fetterman says Hi

1) He HAS a Nazi tattoo. He just had it covered over, allegedly.
2) Bernie needs to withdraw the endorsement.
3) We have enough real Nazis, we don't need any crypto-Nazis, or Fetteremans/Sinemas/Machins.
4) While a drunk youngster may get a Nazi tattoo, a sober adult does not keep it.

But it resembled a totenkopf (skull and crossbones).

You can see an image of the tattoo here:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQTRbluL-_vx1PIEipPL81lTc9RHo38i6-MkQ&s

It is obviously identifiable to anyone who has any knowledge of the Holocaust at all, and/or to any one bothering to do a little research. I would expect a candidate for the US Senate, especially in these times, to qualify on at least one and preferably on both accounts as a bare minimum requirement, even if they did not have the symbol tattooed on the body, and even if they weren't displaying that tattoo in public.

It doesn't resemble "a totenkopf (skull and crossbones)" it is the Totenkopf.

(The Totenkopf) became the symbol of the SS-Totenkopfverbande (one of the original three branches of the SS, along with the Algemeine SS and the Waffen SS), whose purpose was to guard the concentration camps. Many original members of this organization were later transferred into and became the core of a Waffen SS division, the 3rd SS "Totenkopf" Panzer Division, which engaged in a number of war crimes during World War II.

https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/totenkopf

I associate skull and crossbones with modern pirate mythos, not nazis. And Im someone who's spent a fair bit of time researching nazi and subsequent white power symbology so I can make sure i can catch and expose them in online gaming groups.

Is a totenkopf any skull and crossbones or is it specialized? I notice most of what comes up on a Google search have shorter bones than what I normally think of?

You aren't running for the US Senate. You probably don't claim to be a military historian, either. Nor have you been wearing it as a tattoo and displaying it in public. The Totenkopf is not just any skull and crossbones, it is specialized.

But most troubling for me is not that he had the tattoo, but his absolutely lame responses to questions about it.

he lied.

And was worn by the absolute worst of the worst Nazis.

It was the point of the this Mitchell & Webb sketch which has since become a meme. You can see it in the close ups. It is markedly different from the pirate use.

I asked some friends and family who I felt were the among the more well versed in Judaism and Jewish history.

One is well-steeped in judaism, and is married to someone who escaped the holocaust as a child. Another is not observant, but was brought up in a pretty observant household (fully kosher, etc.). Another worked on the web site for the Anne Frank museum. Another works for Hadassah. I guarantee you, they all have knowledge of the Holocaust. None of them recognized it as a Nazi symbol (or at least not prior to all this news coverage).

Admittedly this is a small sample (5, including myself). But for those saying that pretty much anyone would recognize this as a Nazi symbol, well, it should not be so hard for me to find anyone who recognized it as such, especially among the people I was asking.

I'm not defending Platner, I don't live in Maine and have paid little attention. I'm just saying I'm quite sure it's not as obvious to everyone as you think it is.

re: "It doesn't resemble "a totenkopf (skull and crossbones)" it is the Totenkopf." -- I used the word resemble because the picture was not crystal clear. (Not germane to my point, though.)

re: "The Totenkopf is not just any skull and crossbones, it is specialized" -- actually, it has apparently been used both ways. At least if wikipedia is to be believed. See the images at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf (though again, just a side point of possible interest.)

Again, not defending Platner! And not referring to anything else you've said. I just think the particular statement of yours I quoted in the subject line (which you originally addressed to me) isn't accurate.

How many of them ran for US Senate? How many claimed to be military historians?

I will rephrase it: anyone with knowledge of that era should recognize it. I didn't say anyone who is Jewish would recognize it.

Never fear, soon enough nothing about the Nazi era will be remembered by anyone.

in military school was that it was known about and recognized. So, again, small sample size in a specialized environment. I learned about it from them.

It is a well-known Nazi symbol, a symbol millions of people saw literally right before they were gassed or shot or buried alive.

And, even if the drunk 21-year-old didn't somehow know, the 40-year-old WWII history buff sure as hell knew.

I put it to the test. Please see my post at https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3557255

(I'm not disagreeing with anything else you said.)

what you said as being an "apologist", that is unfair, and I can see you are trying to be fair. However, I would say I received most of my education about these things from Jewish classmates, and my experience was it was known and recognized. Let us assume for the sake of argument that a 20 year-old soldier didn't know, and just thought it cool. Hard to believe that in the intervening 20 years he didn't figure out the symbolism. Also, he later admitted he knew what it was, and while I grant leeway for "youthful indiscretions", that only hold for people under 30. At the point he knew what it was, he should have had it covered/removed.

Also, I posted a video about the symbol above, and it has been an internet meme (Are we the baddies?) for about a decade plus.

Democrat is running for Senate.

Kind of like back when David Duke was a Democrat.

I'm not a Maine voter, and I have no dog in this hunt. But I'm going to take the word of Kevin Brown and Genevieve MacDonald.
Platner has lost 2 key people in a very short time.

and will probably stick with her on voting day, and not go for Bernie's guy. imho

Info is in these two links..

Ronald Holmes, Platner’s national finance director,


https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3557337

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3557698

Actually I think we all have a stake in who Wins in Maine.. It will affect the Country if We can Get a Democratic Win

I said the same below. It matters who is elected in every state because their votes and actions will affect us all.

the Democracy Loving Country is In on This, too.

We can donate, and any other way we can Support the one, who we think would Beat Collins is Vital.

Mahalo, she

Ronald Holmes III, his campaign finance director (also a friend). He submitted his resignation the other day effective immediately.
"

Link to tweet

However, as a US Senator his vote and representation have consequences on all our lives.

For posting my daughter's article!

via these two posts..

Ronald Holmes, Platner’s national finance director,


https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3557337

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=3557698

Link to tweet

Ronald Holmes Leaving, too.

Graham Platner, Maine Democratic candidate, loses another top campaign official

Snip***

Ronald Holmes, Platner’s national finance director, resigned from his position on the campaign “effective immediately” Friday in an announcement posted to LinkedIn.

“I joined this campaign because I believed in building something different — a campaign of fresh energy, integrity, and reform-minded thinking in a political system that often resists exactly those things,” Holmes said.

But he wrote that “somewhere along the way,” he began to feel his “professional standards” no longer “fully aligned” with those of Platner’s campaign.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/graham-platner-maine-democratic-candidate-loses-another-top-campaign-official/ar-AA1PAltA

I am also glad people have stopped apologizing for a faux populist. He has shown who he is let’s find someone better to support and we do have a say in this fight, he wants to be a United States senator.