The Maine Wire chief editor’s description of a U.S. Senate candidate’s alleged oyster business as a fake campaign prop turns out to be true, despite an alleged media critic claiming he’s wrong.
Steve Robinson came under fire from a group that calls itself Politifact for saying on national TV that Graham Platner’s oystering is a ruse designed to prop up his status with voters as a working stiff.
Politifact tried to prove Robinson wrong with what turned out to be a lengthy, vacuous “investigation” allegedly looking into the Democrat candidate’s claims of being a workingman’s oyster farmer.
But, try as it might, Politifact came up embarrassingly empty.
Ben Brasch insisted in a piece he published Tuesday that Robinson is wrong – that Graham Platner is a bonafide oyster dealer.
The problem is, Brasch failed to confirm that Platner is making any real money selling oysters – other than maybe to his mother’s restaurant.
Brasch actually admitted as much in his article, writing:
“Platner’s income from the oyster business is unclear. Under the ‘compensation’ section of his personal financial disclosure, the one entry listed as providing him more than $5,000 annually is from his mother’s business, Ironbound Restaurant and Inn. The description is simply ‘oyster purveyor to restaurant.’”
“Platner’s income from the oyster business is unclear.”
So there it is in black and white – Brasch admitting that the finances of Platner’s business are suspect – the very essence of Robinson’s skepticism.
Platner’s own financial disclosures show that he reported between $5,000 to $10,000 in income for an entire year – at least $5,000 of which came from his mom’s restaurant, Robinson pointed out.
“Politifact claims Platner’s oyster hobby is a full-time job and a business that’s not phony,” Robinson said Tuesday night. “Maybe Politifact pays their fact-checkers $5k and calls it a full-time job. But here in Maine, when mommy pays you to play in your boat, that’s a hobby.”
Though Politifact claims to be nonpartisan, Wiki says two analyses showed it’s more likely to find fault with Republican claims than Democrat.
Independent media monitors generally rate PolitiFact as having a lean-left, or liberal bias, according to AllSides.com.
“PolitiFact leans center-left,” says Bryan White, creator of Zebra Fact Check. “That means it’s fairly consistently tougher on conservatives and Republicans than on liberals and Democrats.”
If Brasch’s critique of Robinson was supposed to be nonpartisan then his pointing out that The Maine Wire “was founded in 2011 by the conservative think tank Maine Policy Institute” is suspect on its face.
Brasch’s supposed analysis of Robinson’s claim that Platner is a fake oyster farmer should be based on whether it is true or false, not on the editor’s political leanings.
“PolitiFact has not earned a reputation for consistent accuracy,” White says. “Indeed, it is hard to see how any fact checker that insists on making a subjective rating system the focus of its website could ever legitimately earn readers’ trust.”
Meanwhile, Brasch falsely claimed that Robinson refused to comment when he reached out to him.
In fact, when Brasch emailed Robinson online with questions, Robinson responded with a lengthy, detailed analysis of his claims.
I would rather have somebody like this who does all of his business above board with his parents then somebody like Donald Trump Junior who is enriching himself by taking advantage of the tax payers through no bid contracts given to his various companies by his father‘s administration or by foreign interests who purchase from or invest in his companies as a back doorway to get influence with his dad.
Oh Charles ….. YOU MEAN like Hunter Biden .
I have read that Platners rich parents lived in the wealthy town of Blue Hill, which has its own Private School, George Stevens Academy. That was not a good enough school for young Platner: his parents shoveled him off to one of the finest Preparatory Schools in the Country, Hotchkiss, where tuition is $79,000.00 per year. I do not think it was at Hotchkiss, that Platner learned to pretend to be a member of the Down East Fisher Folk and dress as though he sleeps under a bridge. When he mustered out of the service the military shrinks thought that he was 100% mentally disabled so that he would not be able to find a job and allowed him an annual pension of $57,000.00 for the rest of his mentally disabled life. I am a ‘Nam era U S Navy vet and I will not be voting for the 100% mentally disabled Platner to become a Maine Senator for the next six years.
Charles wants a NAZI, hates Jews,doesn’t care much for fellow vets, women deserve to be raped, all cops are bastards, Blacks don’t tip well, lobstermen are low life’s, loves porta -potties likes KIK while married, hates successful people. Why wouldn’t today’s Maine democrats love this guy, they wouldn’t even mind him in their daughters or wife’s locker room.
And yes given the chance Platner will be no different than the rest in DC.
He drank that much at his mothers bar, along with porta potty rentals. I hear a lot of this and that but no plan on how he is going to accomplish any of it.
How about some actual examples, Charles? You know, like “evidence.”
Or is it easier to sling baseless mud?
In any event, this article is not about President Trump, so try to focus.
Lets not forget about the Clinton slush fund, renting out the Lincoln bedroom, while Hillary was SOS and First Lady. Or the whole Biden family cashing in. Or the insider trading by Congress. The list is long on both sides.
But Platner being a NAZI is in a league of his own.
Politifact is in Tampa and was/is operated by the remnants of the Saint Petersburg Times Newspaper which closed over 10 years ago. POLITIFACT tries very hard to be to the left of ABC NEWS and the Portland Press Herald, but this isn’t easy!
fake business
I have lived all of my 74 years in Maine, and I never would have guessed there could be a candidate for the U. S. Senate from Maine with a past as unstable as that of this character. In my opinion, actions speak louder than words, and anyone who at any time in his life has chosen to have a Nazi death symbol drawn on his body, close to his heart in Platner’s case, has made a very strong statement about his true values. Again and again – in fact just two days ago – I read yet another very disturbing report about this man’s unhinged background. In my opinion, the bar cannot be lowered any further. Graham Platner should NOT be elected to be a leader in government anywhere in America – and he certainly should not be in a position to legislate the future of America for our children and grandchildren.
I think you’re missing the whole point of the story…. It’s proof he’s a real democrat, mitotically checking all the boxes. Lier, lazy, grifter, shallow, biden trained script reading moron. I wont say nazi because its out of context and people who do are either confused or just trying to push buttons. But man,,, to blame woman for being raaped, I didn’t see that coming.
The scum who were planning to attack DC would vote for Platner if they could.
Ok Charles,now you’re describing the Mills administration 😂 ..
Whoa! He is supposed to be paid a LIVING WAGE for his work. His mother is guilty of exploiting him and should be hauled off to the Gulag for re-education and her assets confiscated and given to Pattner for reparations. How dare she pay him so little.
Charles Jacques / Apparently no one agrees with you
I thought of someone is on disability they are not able to work? I thought his ptsd made him unable to function normally. I thought someone who gets flash backs and harms his girlfriend when he gets drunk, isn’t someone who should be in a senete position. Am I living in the freaking twilight zone?!
Disabled vets can run any damn business they want without affecting their payments, as long as they’re not considered totally disabled. And all the family-run lobster shacks in Maine where the husband catches the lobster, the wife cooks, the kids serve – do you really think the wife pays market price for her husband’s catch? This narrative won’t work against Graham, sorry.
This guy has so much baggage yet the far left Democrats love him. One can only say the many in Maine (and America) have lost their moral compass along with a good dose of common sense. Hopefully moderate Democrats and Independents will wake up and do the right thing in November.
Plater. another long line of empty suit liars. And he is against the Oligarcy? What a line of BS. This guy is a total fraud and simply reads Bernies speeches. Hopefully, Mainers are not that stupid? Oh yeh, Mills pulled out of the July 4th Town Hall in Washington DC. Great move by a bitter b….h. Lets NOT promoter tourism, lets NOT promote recreation, lets NOT promote our business and “the way life should be?”. Another lying dumbass who simply has TDS. And the point? The guy is gone in three years, Maine will still be at the bottom of the barrel…or lower, with these dumbass leaders we have. Platner??? come on Mainers, wake up to reality. Maine is simply leaderless that this time. No clue.
Is Porta-Potty Platner’s 15 minutes of fame [infamy] over yet?
Hey Kred, he is 100% disabled, yes he can run a business but his only customer is his mom and he only makes $5,000/yr at this business? I guarantee you that the lobstermen selling to a family business make way more than that. And they have enough leftover to sell to a dealer. You are comparing apples and oranges.
when you read about oyster farming , and they explain how they help clean the waters they are grown in by filtering out toxins , how they can be sold for human consumption is questionable to me ………… and why anyone would ingest them is beyond me …….
Well he is also maintenance engineer. He makes his bed and takes out the trash. It isn’t easy. It goes against the first nature of a leftist. They tend towards making a pigs sty out of their life.
The quality of the restaurant food is excellent. P-P-Hustle’s oysters are great as well.
P-P-Hustle is a verifiable POS and a serial liar. I might not use the bathrooms at Ironbound again though.
Im waiting for the next big boot to drop regarding Platner and his sex obsession. Will it be about children or young girls? Its a thing with democrats. It certainly wouldnt shock me. How anyone could vote for this lunatic commie is beyond me.
I wonder how many people who voted for Platner would like to be like Platner?
Lol, Lord knows if Politifact says it true, it must be true! I see where TV ch-8 is pushing the Politifact BS.
Lol, Lord knows if Politifact says it true, it must be true! I see where TV ch-8 is pushing the Politifact BS.
Clayton. Like how a lot of people wanted to be like mad men’s Don Drier but not to BE him. Essentially to have the things and opportunities, but not to physically be a rather disgusting person.
Graham has a lot of things that men would like to have: Family wealth, a loving wife, a job that’s only a hobby, an athletic build, etc. I wouldn’t mind having those things, and I suspect you wouldn’t mind having them either.
But Graham is a disgusting person, someone whom I would never ever want to be. What I think people are not doing is separating Graham the person from Graham the image.
Does anyone actually know when was the last time that platner was out collecting oysters?