Denials, failures, and fools seem to come in threes – Peter three times denying Christ, three strikes ending at-bats, three stooges, now Maine’s antidemocratic Democrats betraying voters three times.
Like most Mainers, I love our work ethic and working people, farmers, fishermen, woodsmen, our rugged coast, mountains, and lakes, but Maine’s Democratic Party is a breathtaking disgrace.
First, as the world now knows – and it has literally made Maine a laughing stock globally – Maine’s Democratic Party picked a Nazi-tattooed, Communist, Black-hating, woman-beating, veteran-mocking rapist to be their candidate for the US Senate.
Then, either by pre-plan or in response to new allegations of rape and fraud, they decided to dump this Bernie Sanders Socialist (Sanders selected him to run), whom my Democratic gubernatorial opponent happily took an endorsement from and praised, and threw just him under the bus.
In the second shocking departure from substance, honesty, and democracy, Maine’s anti-democratic Democrats disposed of Graham Platner after his nomination, just forced him out, disenfranchising 150,000 of their own Democratic voters.
For the record, his tattoo, prejudices, abuse, and sexual deviations aside, Platner actually received more Democratic primary votes than any candidate in Maine history. Nevertheless, the Democrat insiders – those who wanted the power and support Graham had – nixed him, over, done, out.
In a remarkable, incredibly anti-Democratic turn – topping even their rejection through “rank choice voting” of their own top vote getters in the governor’s race primary and run for the second congressional district, they bagged all that, including their beloved rank choice. Insiders picked a replacement for Graham, who – we all know it would happen – was a consummate Augusta Insider.
Then, in what is probably the hardest to swallow betrayal for traditional and Graham Democrats, an utterly corrupt group of Augusta insiders, the ultimate anti-democratic Democrats, personified by Hannah Pingree, my opponent for governor, and Janet Mills, the outgoing Democrat governor, picked one of their own, boldly slapping Maine’s Democratic voters in the face.
They picked a guy who has, for 22 years, been in Augusta, opposite of an outsider, bilked the taxpayers for tens of thousands for himself in a fraudulent house-flipping scheme, took $160,00 in undue travel money, and voted for every tax, spending hike, illegal alien benefit, legalization of crime, needle giveaway, and fraud pushed by Maine’s anti-democratic Democrat legislature.
The whole thing is breathtaking, as if someone is reading Marx, Lenin, and Mao at night, putting them into practice by day. It is a disgrace to Mainers, to Democrats who trusted the system, to Independents who wanted fairness, to others who want to be proud of our political process.
Bottom line: Maine’s anti-democratic Democrats have made a mockery of Maine, climbing over each other to grab and retain power, if not by twisting outcomes to defeat plurality winners and even majority winners, insiders sure they are the next king or queen, no thought of the People’s will, no understanding of how distressed, outraged, anxious, and even fearful people are of their antics.
In a one-liner, for those who just want honest government, growth, affordability, and accountability: Time for change. This is the year we get back to some notion of normal, because – we must.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
