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AIPAC and Auchincloss

Why is a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts attacking Graham Platner?

The other day, Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a corporate Democrat who represents one of the most liberal districts in Massachusetts, dredged up the issue of Graham Platner’s tattoo, attacking the certain Democratic nominee in a must-win Senate contest two states away. “I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying,” Auchincloss told CNN Monday.

“I think that it would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner’s brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country,” Auchincloss said, adding that he hoped Maine voters would agree with him.

Auchincloss has been attacking Platner for months, but now the significance has changed. Since Platner’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Janet Mills, has folded her campaign in the face of Platner’s overwhelming lead, in effect Auchincloss has endorsed the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins.

What in hell is Auchincloss up to?

For starters, the issue of whether this was really a “Nazi” tattoo was discredited months ago, and it doesn’t seem to bother Maine voters. As Platner explained, when his unit was on shore leave in Croatia as a young Marine in 2007, he got the skull and crossbones tattoo. He had no idea that it had Nazi connotations or resembled the Nazi Totenkopf. He has since altered it.

It helps to know a little about Auchincloss and the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District. The seat, which was once held by the late progressive Barney Frank, includes the heavily Jewish but also heavily liberal towns of Brookline and Newton. It also includes working-class Attleboro, Fall River, and Taunton.

In 2020, Auchincloss squeaked into the Democratic nomination with just 22 percent of the vote, in a badly splintered primary where several other candidates divided the progressive vote. Auchincloss also benefited from a controversial Boston Globe endorsement. It seemed odd that the liberal Globe editorial page endorsed the most conservative Democrat in the race. Auchincloss’s mother is a close friend of Linda Henry, CEO of the Globe. The editorial page editor insisted at the time that Henry had no influence.

Auchincloss as the incumbent hasn’t faced a serious primary challenge since then. This year, Auchincloss has two progressive challengers, who have both questioned his funding from political action committees associated with AIPAC and his extensive corporate funding. They are Jason Poulos, an AI researcher and critic, and Chris Boyd, a public school teacher. If one dropped out and endorsed the other, the September 1 primary might be close.

Auchincloss’s outrageous attack on Platner sure looks like a doubling down on his bid for the AIPAC vote. But Auchincloss’s timing is terrible. Increasingly, AIPAC support is becoming a mark of Cain. AIPAC support for a candidate has backfired in primary after primary.

Even in Newton and Brookline, there is plenty of criticism of Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza and the West Bank. Slavish support for “Israel right or wrong” is no longer a surefire tactic for winning the Jewish vote, much less for winning elections generally.

Rep. Seth Moulton, another Massachusetts centrist, who is challenging Sen. Ed Markey in the same September 1 primary, came to Platner’s defense. “Look, Graham clearly made a mistake and I’ve been on CNN saying that what I appreciated about him is that he owned that mistake,” Moulton said during a separate interview on CNN later that day. “He took responsibility for it and I don’t think that that’s disqualifying.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland recently published a gutsy op-ed piece calling for Democrats to resist Israel’s indefensible actions. “AIPAC’s influence in Congress remains formidable even as Americans increasingly reject its positions and its use of super PACs to pour money into elections,” he wrote. “Democrats must stand firm against these headwinds.”

Platner, meanwhile, is nine points ahead of Collins in the latest poll, a lead that keeps widening. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and its Senate counterpart, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), regularly intervene in primaries on the premise that they are working to nominate the most effective Democrat against a Republican in the general election. That was the DSCC’s rationale for pushing Janet Mills to challenge Platner.

Now the shoe is on the other foot. For the DCCC, Auchincloss’s de facto endorsement of Susan Collins should be a capital offense. We await their endorsement and financing of one of his opponents.

Robert Kuttner
Co-Editor, Co-Founder

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