The sneering tone of the Sept. 27 op-ed “Graham Platner sings for his supper in the rain in Portland” was disgraceful.  The piece devoted as many inches to the clothing of the attendees (“brunch boots,” seriously?) as to the arguments of the candidate.

When the column did mention his remarks, it was deceptive. Platner gave a longer, more thoughtful answer to the question of reaching Trump voters than the quote implied. I came to the event skeptical about Platner but left impressed, not the least by how many people stood in the pouring rain to listen to him speak.  

The core of his argument is that we are a very rich country, but the working and middle class are getting crumbs. Case in point, we spent over $2 trillion on the Afghan war, enough to have paid for every high school graduate to attend community college and every parent to have free day care for every single one of the 18 years of the war in Afghanistan. Instead, parents are struggling. That colossal waste is why Platner called them “stupid foreign wars.” 

America’s economic strength was always based on the success of our middle and working classes. It was great to hear a candidate for Senate talking about how we might rebuild that. I recommend that any voter interested in real change check out Platner.

Sigrid Olson
Cape Elizabeth