Bernie Sanders Can’t Say Whether Dems Vetted Troy Jackson After Platner Implosion

did anybody actually check out Troy Jackson before Democrats rallied behind him as the next great progressive hope in Maine? Sanders couldn't answer it. He pivoted to Jackson's logging background and his working-class bio, the same kind of resume padding that got trotted out for Graham Platner right up until Platner's old social media posts and podcast rants blew up in everyone's face.

That's the tell here. When your instinct after a vetting failure is to talk about a candidate's biography instead of the actual vetting, you're telling on yourself. Democrats just watched a Senate nominee implode in real time over stuff that a basic background check should have caught before he was ever put in front of voters. The lesson from that should be obvious: check first, promote second. Instead Sanders is doing the same dance again, leading with the résumé and dodging the process question entirely.

Maine Democrats are trying to hold onto a seat in a state that doesn't always cooperate with national progressive branding. If Jackson turns out to have his own skeletons, the party won't get to plead ignorance a second time. Voters noticed the first collapse. They'll notice if this looks like déjà vu.

None of this is really about Jackson personally. It's about a party that keeps mistaking enthusiasm for due diligence, then acts surprised when the bill comes due.