Top off-the-wall Reddit posts haunting Graham Platner’s Maine Senate bid
Marine veteran running to replace Susan Collins attributed posts to crude humor from his infantry days
By Robert Schmad Fox News
Maine’s presumptive Democratic Senate nominee is facing considerable backlash over unearthed social media posts where he made controversial statements about race, sexuality, political violence and his own ideological beliefs.
Graham Platner, a 41-year-old Marine Corps veteran, attributed his online behavior to depression and PTSD stemming from serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says he became accustomed to "crude humor" and "offensive language" while serving as an infantryman.
"I’m sorry for this. Just know that it’s not reflective at all of who I am," Platner said of his previous comments posted online. "I don’t want you to judge me on the dumbest thing I ever wrote on the internet. I would prefer if people could judge me on the person I am today."
While he no longer operates under the "p-Hustle" username on Reddit, thousands of Platner’s deleted posts and comments have been made easily searchable by outlets like the Maine Monitor. It's sparking renewed criticism in his bid to replace incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and flip the Maine Senate seat blue.
8. ‘Why don't black people tip?’Many of Platner’s old Reddit posts struck a progressive tone on race, but that didn’t stop him from making the occasional off-color comment.
"Why don't black people tip?" he wrote in August 2013.
"I work as a bartender and it always amazes me how solid this stereotype is," he continued. "Every now and again a black patron will leave a 15-20% tip, but usually it [is] between 0-5%. There's got to be a reason behind it, what is it?"
It came in response to a thread on a page called AskReddit where a user prompted: "What is one question you have always wanted to ask someone of another race?"
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