Writes Ben Rhodes, in "Graham Platner Went to Hell and Back. He Has a Simple Message for Democrats" (NYT).
Rhodes was a speechwriter for Obama. Platner is the likely Democratic Party candidate for U.S. Senator for Maine.
April 22, 2026
"'If the Democratic Party is to flourish in the future,' Mr. Platner told me, 'it needs to be an antiwar party.'"
"As talks to end the latest disastrous war focus on reopening a narrow strait of water that was open before the war began, this seems like an obvious conclusion. And yet many Democratic politicians would most likely be wary of embracing it.... [M]any Democrats seem to fear being seen as antiwar. What if they vote against wartime funding, and then an Iranian attack targets U.S. troops or the homeland? Or what if Mr. Trump bombs Iran, and the regime collapses and is replaced by something better? You could feel this calculation within the Democratic Party as the war began — a hedging that only dissipated when the war’s brutality and insanity became clear.... We like to frame our wars as virtuous, but they are not. Instead, they resemble a declining empire sowing chaos along its periphery as a matter of strategy.... [T]he forever war has been destroying America from within, like an organism that must keep growing to survive, filling us with fear of outsiders and contempt for one another. War does that to societies: Once you normalize taking human life abroad, you tend not to value it at home...."
Writes Ben Rhodes, in "Graham Platner Went to Hell and Back. He Has a Simple Message for Democrats" (NYT).
Writes Ben Rhodes, in "Graham Platner Went to Hell and Back. He Has a Simple Message for Democrats" (NYT).
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70 comments:
Ben rhodes flack for the iran deal weve been dealing with the consequences of
Link doesn’t work.
Ben rhodes isnt worth pulling off your shoe
Well "be a Nazi like me" is a simple message. It might just work for him. Nice to see Ben Hamas Rhodes pushing yet another death cult fanatic.
Fucking Nazi-lover Platner can go back “to Hell” and take up residency therein.
Link fixed. Thanks.
Seems like just yesterday Democrats were working all day every day to shovel money into Ukraine for a war. They are not the anti-war party. They are the party that roots for USA to lose wars or to fight unnecessarily in disputes where we have no interest. One or the other. Never on our side.
"Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars" ~ J.D. Vance
"He has my support in 2024 because I know he won’t recklessly send Americans to fight overseas." ~ JD Vance
"These are my principles, and if you don't like them I have others" 🤣
"..what if Mr. Trump bombs Iran, and the regime collapses and is replaced by something better?.."
indeed!
what if, things go Just A LITTLE BIT Trump's way?
what if?
by this fall; gas is flowing, and crime is down, and peace has broken out?
WHAT HAPPENS to Virginia (and all of US) then?
with the Dem vote spread thinly across the districts..
HOW MUCH of a swing would it take for a democrat collapse?
mind you;
i'm NOT saying this Would happen, just that it COULD happen
the flip side is: with the Dem vote already spread so thin..
how much MORE could they pick up?
obviously not much in Virginia (1 is a lonely number)
but even in Cali and Illinois?
People are looking for a new generation of leaders to break from the status quo. Graham Platner fits those desires. He speaks clearly on the issues people care about and stays focused, avoiding the cultural issue traps both sides get wrapped up in. If the party is looking to attract working class voters and independents, he is the candidate to go with. Mills may be a fine politician and a good candidate on paper, but with Schumers endorsement and her age just she feels like the same old thing we get every election cycle.
The Democrat Party base is anti-war by default and hysterically anti-Trump. Yet, the D's seem strangely quiet. You have people like "The young turks" Glen Greenewald, and Jimmy Dore, attacking the war. But the Liberal/left MSM is supporting it.
The reason for the disconnect is AIPAC money. The D politicans are all bought off. Or Jewish. So, when we ally with israel to attack another country, they're all for it. And all they do is peck around the edges.
It was somewhat different with Iraq. The Democrat establishment had to throw some red meat to their anitwar base, and attack Bush. But once Obama (the supposed radical) got it, the Iraq war went on.
Recently heard an hour plus interview with Platner. I'll leave it to Maine voters to decide who best represents their interests but he is a smart, thoughtful man who has a real understanding of the working class voters that Democrats need to win since he is legitimately a member of that group. And the fact that he isn't 78 is a huge plus.
No matter how much Rhodes likes to savor the majesty of his own word-smithing efforts, when you come right down to it, the Progressives hold so much hate for Donald Trump that they would rather see the US get beaten by a backward loser country like Iran, than see Trump get credit for doing something about a known rogue nation and exporter of terrorism that has been a blight on the region for 50 years - one that Progressives supported both passively and actively.
They can't stand to see it happen, which translates to: They can't afford to see it happen. One by one, the bricks are being knocked out, and with each new brick, people are peeking i behind the wall and getting an eyeful.
BTW, its funny how Maher during the Iraq war was telling us that Americans were cowards unlike the Arabs because we bombed from 20000 feet. But now its A-OK for America and Israel to do it.
The democrats are already pro-Iranian Ayatollah Islamic Theocracy.
The Democrat Establishment has a complete lock on the party.
Partly its because the african americans who make up 20 percent, are firmly in their camp. Partly its because most of their voters - outside the Bernie Bros - are recent immigrants, people on welfare, and low-information voters who don't really pay much attention. They just mark (D) on the ballot every election. You don't need to speak English to vote, and most of the foreign language vote goes Democrat.
So, the "rebels" may get a Senate seat in Maine, or a few other Pols elected in places like Colorado or Washington. But for the most part - the Establishment will remain in almost absolute control.
Here's the best reason to go with Platner: able to run for re-election if he wins. Why should the Democrats go to all the expense and effort to obtain the Senate seat just to give it up in the next cycle?
Democrats are predominantly Pro-Choice, including support for ethnic Springs and Obama's Iran-Hamas Affair. All's fair etc.
Most wars were Democratic conceptions. Abort, sequester the progress, and sheath the liberal license.
They are only anti-Trump and whatever Trump wants to do. When Trump was brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hama, they were anti-ceasefire. Hell, they are practically anti-ceasefire now, as Trump extends it, they call him TACO. It was just the extension happened after Rhodes article had to go to print.
Being an "anti-war" moralist is the way to eschew debate on the merits. The Ben Rhodes formulation is to proscribe war as fought to its conclusion by the US in response to the 47-year asymmetric warfare strategy employed by Iran before Iran is capable of holding the world, not just the Strait, hostage.
RCOCEAN II said...
The Democrat Establishment has a complete lock on the party.
Partly its because the african americans who make up 20 percent, are firmly in their camp.
4/22/26, 9:36 AM
Jeez man, I thought you would be more clear about this. Bloomberg is just one of many critical mega donors to the Democrats, even before the Bloomberg News contribution is measured. Without the donor class funding globalist aligned NGOs, the Democrats would violently collapse overnight. Their main problem is that there is no way to convince the voters that change is coming without major votes against donor interests.
What if they vote against wartime funding, and then an Iranian attack targets U.S. troops or the homeland? Or what if Mr. Trump bombs Iran, and the regime collapses and is replaced by something better?
The Democrats have created a party around the idea that they are "right" on every issue. The problem is that no one, or no party, can be "right" on every issue, thus their party is built on a fundamental lie.
They have become the Party of John Kerry which cannot recognize the Kerry-ness to which it is beholden.
The D party needs to be the anti-war party.... by this guys reckoning... for only so long as it's to their advantage. The Democrats hold a huge advantage of being able to support or condemn any position at any time without fear of being called out for their hypocrisy. All the videos showing Schumer, Pelosi or others directly contradicting their rock solid "beliefs" are to little avail. MSM sure doesn't highlight them or ask probing questions of why the 180 degree change.
The Dems are the scream and rant party of hate-fueled rage.
You should see the ridiculous and embarrassing ads from the dem gov hopeful Michael Bennett(D) - he's just screaming at RFK jr. That's it. That's the ad.
"Kamala Harris herself, as Vice President, stood in front of microphones and labeled Iran the United States’ greatest adversary."
There is endless tape of Dems forcefully stating that Iran is the #1 state sponsor of terror.
Democrats are only anti war when a Republican is in office and that is a fact. Because there is only one truth for democrats, the quest for power. That is the only thing democrats care about.
What Dude1394 just said. Exactly that.
They're trying very hard to make him look like a thoughtful and polished blue collar fella, aren't they. Too bad about the record of where he's bragging about the Nazi tattoo. Is his mom's restaurant still buying his oysters?
ITS A DISASTER.
The price of oil went up. Less than 5,000 people died. That's a big earthquake toll in the 1970's in China.
There is a cease fire.
If you think the middle east is a disaster - go look at live war Ukraine. Everyday drones kill civilians. Is Ukraine "a disaster"
Its still functioning. Its lost a quarter of its land.
Compare Ukraine to Middle East. And ME comes out at worst as "meh"
Even if the war ends today, it will be basically the status quo ante. Remember, US destroyed Iran's navy in Operation Grasshopper. If you don't remember that DISASTER then maybe don't assume this one is a DISASTER.
Democrats want poor and desperate people caught in cycles of perpetual violence as they are thus always desperate/dependent on government to sustain what has been broken and they are easier to deploy against perceived enemies of government handouts and corruption (which is then the goal of the poor and desperate, to get some of that corruption themselves)
Here's some good news about the middle east: the houthis probably don't have many missiles or drones left and can't get re-supplied while Iran is under blockade.
Blockade seems like a task that is roughly as expensive as doing normal training and operations of a navy.
80% of oil found alternatives routes out of the Gulf. Probably more are being worked on.
Iran has less weapons than before. Its less powerful. Its proxies have been severely weakened. It has internal political rifts visible. We have discovered the IGRC really does run Iran or is strong enough to not be controlled by civilians. that is not fun to learn but its important to know.
DISASTER.
There are some negatives. Its not all awesome. But those were already in place. Just not "revealed"
1) Our stockpiles of weaponry might be running low. Probably better to know that now than week 2 of China-USA war.
2) Strait of Hormuz is still a chokepoint for stuff, better to learn that now than on Week 2 of China-USA war when we have no assets to bear on Iran or far less.
3) Drones are hard to counter - but we're getting better and Ukraine can help. Good lessons for us.
I’m pretty sure the NYT won’t publish this comment. LOL? “Democrats ought to listen to Platner. He is a perfect Democrat for an era in which the famous Democrat tolerance extends to the intolerable in their public officials: A doddering POTUS; anti-American Congresswomen; a Communist/Islamist mayor; seditious, antisemitic Senators, etc. Why not a former Communist, SS sympathizer?”
From what I'm seeing nationally, the Democratic Party seems to think it needs to be anti-war, anti-Jew, anti-America, pro-Hamas, pro-socialism, and pro-Nazi (which is where Platner comes in).
I can't tell them what to do. But to me they are either so wrong they'll become obsolete in a decade, or they are so right and are reading the tea leaves of a new America, that the America we all grew up in is about to be over.
Also- based on how they run their primaries, and how they just stole Virginia from having any representation in Congress, they should probably come up with a new name. Calling these guys "Democratic" is like calling ISIS a peace party.
https://www.racket.news/p/new-york-times-old-people-suck-and
The labour party has tried that, they are losing to the greens and the moslem party
Just learned yesterday (my brother lives in NH near the Maine border) that Maine is now full of disallusioned Democrats who are livid about the current governor.
Recently heard an hour plus interview with Platner
That's two hours longer than I'd spend listening to Nazis but you do you kak.
"Or what if Mr. Trump bombs Iran, and the regime collapses and is replaced by something better? "
Democrats opposed to a better world if it curtails their grasp on power. How disgusting is that?
Democrats being the anti war party is like Chicago being the anti crime city.
…in between Obama and wherever he is now, Rhodes was a Politico Journolist hack, helping to craft the propaganda what was disseminated on cable tv…
"I know he won’t recklessly send Americans to fight overseas."
Well, he still really hasn't.
"People are looking for a new generation of leaders to break from the status quo. Graham Platner fits those desires. He speaks clearly on the issues people care about and stays focused, avoiding the cultural issue traps both sides get wrapped up in. If the party is looking to attract working class voters and independents, he is the candidate to go with. Mills may be a fine politician and a good candidate on paper, but with Schumers endorsement and her age just she feels like the same old thing we get every election cycle."
Did you write this? Or did ChatGPT? At least try to sound human.
Why is it considered a burnishing of the cv for a journalist to have been a White House speechwriter? It’s a bit like bullshit artist listed as your profession…
Platner is saying most of what you people were saying during the Auto Pen administration.
Ah. Ben Rhodes. The guy who called journalists "know-nothings" and boasted about manipulating the narrative to sell the 2013 Iran deal, in an article in the New York Times, The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama's Foreign Policy Guru.
Obama advisor openly brags about lying to public, media yawns (Mediaite)
"...the long-term policy goal of the administration is to “disengage” from Israel and our Arab allies and wash our hands of the Middle East. In line with that policy, the purpose of the Iran deal is not to protect our allies, but to abandon them. That’s not just a repudiation of forty years of American policy, it’s a vindication of everything critics have claimed about Obama’s policy for years.
But a sitting White House official is openly admitting all this in an on-the-record interview with a journalist for America’s most prominent media institution. He does so without a hint of shame or any sense that these admissions might face a backlash. Rhodes’ laying out of his many deceits reads less like a mea culpa and more like a comic book villain’s monologue after he knows the heroes are too late to stop his plan. The arrogance and lack of accountability here is simply breathtaking."
Do. Not. Trust. Ben. Rhodes.
Democrats top focus is always on how to message the rubes in order to expand power and keep their money laundering operations going. If embracing a “former” Nazi helps achieve those goals, oh well…
This Obama bro posits the difference between the Dems and the Reps as a choice, not an echo. Couldn't agree more, and it's been true for a long time.
The Democrats are hoping to grow a bumper crop of Astroturf from crabgrass seedlings.
Howard and teh Perpetual Forest/Trees dichotomy he constantly struggles with is an ongoing dramatic comedy.
Democrats and the left oppose this war, but have we seen anything like the protest against Bush's Iraq War, to say nothing of the outcry against the Vietnam War? Rank-and-file Democrats and leftists seem strangely subdued now.
Everything is temu outrage
I've spent lots of time in Maine over the past 50 years. A few things have changed. The home grown folks with academic inclinations have overwhelmingly gone left, and they are far more numerous and influential than in the past. An influx of people from Massachusetts and similar blue enclaves have also altered the electoral calculus. It's gone from 55/45 red to 55/45 blue, so look out America.
Proof that you can put lipstick on a pig.
"the latest disastrous war" Disastrous how, for whom? Is Rhodes trying to pull another fast one on ignorant youngsters who, as he said a long time ago, know nothing and are easy to manipulate?
Those under age 27,
A memory I savor is of a stunned, speechless Ben Rhodes in mourning outside the Javits Center on the night Donald Trump smashed Hillary Clinton's campaign to dust in 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aSK-fuLiB0
A memory I savor is of a stunned, speechless Ben Rhodes in mourning outside the Javits Center on the night Donald Trump smashed Hillary Clinton's campaign to dust in 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aSK-fuLiB0
Democrats opposed to a better world if it curtails their grasp on power. How disgusting is that?
Extremely disgusting, but totally on brand for them. They WANT poverty, squalor, anger, race hatred, dependency, despair, crime, and chaos. All of their policies are tailor-made to perpetuate it. There's no power or money to be had from prosperous, happy, well-off people who get along with their neighbors and see government as an obstacle rather than Santa Claus.
If there's a severe lack of actual racism or other trouble in the country, they'll spend a lot of money to manufacture it, as we have just seen with the SPLC.
Democrats these days are just despicable, evil people crazed for power and wanting a monstrously overgrown government controlling everything we do. I hate their guts, and it pains me to say that, because my grandma was a Roosevelt Democrat. At least she cast her last vote for Reagan...
“strait of water” is redundant. Rhodes embarrasses himself. Again.
Platner isn't going to win the librarians over.
As talks to end the latest disastrous war focus on reopening a narrow strait of water that was open before the war began...
Good Lord what a moron. Does he really think this is what is going on?
Howard said...
Platner is saying most of what you people were saying during the Auto Pen administration.
Except for the socialism and national socialist workers party tattoos.
boatbuilder said...
As talks to end the latest disastrous war focus on reopening a narrow strait of water that was open before the war began.
Good Lord what a moron. Does he really think this is what is going on?
No. But he is a servant of Lloyd's of London and he has masters to lie for.
Lloyd's wants their straight back.
He enabled the rise of islamic state as part of the iraq study group
Indefinitely Extended Excursion™️ said...
Recently heard an hour plus interview with Platner. I'll leave it to Maine voters to decide who best represents their interests but he is a smart, thoughtful man who has a real understanding of the working class voters that Democrats need to win since he is legitimately a member of that group. And the fact that he isn't 78 is a huge plus.
Democrats are also looking for a nice energetic young man to lead them in an effort to jail persecute and murder their political opposition.
The NAZI tattoos are a plus for democrats.
The Democrats are trying to resurrect the glory days of Bush II. I don't take this as Platner's views, I take it as party strategy.
Good luck with that Democrats, it's not allowed.
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