Who Is This Guy In A Bear Suit And Why Is He Hanging Out At Graham Platner's Rallies?
Disgusting internet meme shows up at Monday event
Things are getting mighty strange in those woods. An overweight man in a bear costume turned up for a Graham Platner rally with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows in Portland on Sunday.
The Maine Wire, an online muckraker, reported the event had “by far the smallest crowd we’ve seen for a Platner event in the entirety of his campaign”. Perhaps it was the weather. Or maybe it was the story that blew up this weekend about Graham Platner using the Kik app, an infamous ‘predator’s paradise’.
As the candidate left, Platner staff physically checked the Maine Wire reporters from asking him any questions. Then, while Platner fled the scene behind the screen of staffers, the man in the bear costume made sure to be seen on camera, holding a Bellows/Platner sign.
Reader, I strongly suspect someone is signaling us that a sickening story is going to drop.
To be sure, a man in a bear costume will not be challenged at a Democratic Party event. That would be exclusionary of therian and fursona allies, a violation of the intersectional principle.
Furthermore, I have personally worn a bear costume at a progressive event to pose with Democratic candidates while holding a union sign (don’t judge me). The costume was quite hot. I sweated it out completely during my 30-minute volunteer session, and not because I got to take pictures with Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum.
The bear costume at Platner’s rally was purposeful, I think. Someone was paid money to attend the event in the bear suit, to hold a sign, to be seen on camera as close to the candidate as possible, to walk away from the scene with his hands in his pockets, as if he was a little bit sad.
I think someone is using an internet meme, here.
Erick Erickson has a possible scoop. In this clip, he speaks to unconfirmed reports that former classmates of Platner, who remember him from his abortive prep school days, are speaking to reporters. Erickson says that these disclosures have been strategically sequenced, and I believe him.
Timing matters. The first stories about Platner’s old social media posts began to drop right after the voter registration deadline in Maine.
First to plop were the gross Reddit posts about porta-johns. Then, Platner’s takedowns of Purple Heart recipients and combat heroes, and his admiration for Hamas tactics, went plop-plop-plop.
Erickson refers to the 13 July deadline for replacing Graham Platner on the ballot, which is the break-the-glass emergency measure for Democrats. This gives us a timeframe to know when the disclosures might end.
Democrat Janet Mills suspended her campaign a month ago for lack of funds, but she is still on the primary ballot. Maine Democrats will have to make a decision soon about Platner.
Perhaps Maine Democrats will choose Platner regardless of what he has done because Donald Trump is supposedly worse.
His defenders have brushed off every story so far, saying they make him “relatable”. The blows are not landing, they say, because his story of becoming a communist is so convincing.
But the bear suit seems like a hint that some things cannot be so easily forgiven. I will keep an eye out for bear-suit man.