Co-hosts of “The View” feuded on-air over whether Democrats should hold their noses and support Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner as he remains embroiled in multiple controversies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Yesterday, I was sort of on the fence,” co-host Sunny Hostin recalled. “I\u2019m like, \u2018Character matters, morals matter. I can\u2019t believe that this is the person in Maine to take on Susan Collins.\u2019 I\u2019m now convinced that we are really in a bad place in this country. Democrats have to take over the Senate. They have to take over the House. They have to bring some semblance of normalcy back to this government.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“If I lived in Maine, I would hold my nose and I would pull that lever and vote for him,” she concluded. “That\u2019s it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I vehemently and strongly disagree with this,” co-host Sara Haines replied. “I knew you would,” Hostin retorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Haines agreed that it is up to the people of Maine to decide who should represent them, she argued Americans need to do some soul-searching about political tribalism and basic standards of decency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have too many crappy people with no character, no integrity in D.C. And if we are going to say \u2018Donald Trump is a problem. Look at this person, look at this person, look who he surrounds himself with\u2019 \u2014 we can\u2019t plug our nose and send someone there that\u2019s an antisemitic person, racist, bigoted, sexist, you name it,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“His marriage is the least of my problems,” Haines added. “In fact, that reminds me of just a church-going regular person. It\u2019s everything else that is problematic to me that I would never be able to endorse. This is where it becomes so partisan, because it\u2019s all about what jersey are you wearing?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She went on to say that she would rather vote for Platner\u2019s opponent, Susan Collins, citing her bipartisan record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin argued that there is enough time for the Democratic Party to field a better candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019m just so deeply uncomfortable with the fact that it feels like we have Nazis to the right of me and Nazis to the left of me,” Griffin said of modern politics in general. “I feel like we can’t let that out of our sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Because we do,” Haines agreed. “That\u2019s where the extremes are meeting.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine\u2019s Senate race, has been dogged by scandals ranging from allegedly having sent sexually explicit messages to multiple women while married to his wife Amy Gertner, to having had a tattoo for decades that resembled the Nazi SS Totenkopf skull and crossbones insignia associated with concentration camp guards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I mean, there\u2019s so much baggage out there to be used by both sides,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said as she lamented the state of politics in general. She then referenced multiple political scandals when she said, “There has to be people out there who have not been accused of wearing bad tattoos or feeling up people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Yes, we\u2019re all flawed,” she added, “But, come on.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“All I\u2019m saying is, I think we at some point should think about doing better on both sides,” Goldberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she noted Platner\u2019s claim that he was not aware of the tattoo\u2019s associations, Haines immediately pushed back, baffled as to how somebody could be unaware for 20 years that their tattoo had Nazi connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\u2019ll vote for the guy who says \u2018I didn\u2019t know,” Goldberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You criticized other folks for doing this,” Griffin retorted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My point does not change,” Goldberg said, adding, “We need a better caliber, and it\u2019s on us!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n