Eddie Eucker was a kid who lived next door to us when I was a young kid. Eddie was a year older, and his parents weren’t as strict as mine, so he got to do things I couldn’t.

Whenever I wanted to do something that Eddie was doing, my folks would say, “If Eddie jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

Of course, I was a smart ass, and I said I would, even though I knew the point my parents were trying to make. And it’s a point that has stuck with me all these years later.

Just because someone else is doing something doesn’t make it right for you to do it.

Evidently, the Democrats are going to jump off that bridge with Graham Platner. Just because the Republicans can have candidates with serious character flaws, they can have them too.

Platner is the Democrat who wants to be Maine’s next Senator. Platner is also the candidate who had a Nazi tattoo on his chest for years until he decided to get into politics.

But that wasn’t his only scandal. Among other issues that would have killed a campaign in the past, Platner sexted other women after shortly getting married.

An ex-girlfriend accused him of violence against her. But that ex is a Republican who has worked for the Heritage Foundation and campaigned for Nikki Haley, so her accusations should be taken with a grain of salt.

But the scandal of the Nazi tattoo, his sexting with women who weren’t his wife, his Reddit posts where he called himself a Communist, and his comment that a Purple Heart recipient deserved to die would have killed any other candidate’s aspirations before President Trump changed the political climate in this country.

Now, I don’t expect every candidate and elected official to be perfect. Everybody has something in their background they might regret today. And I agree that people can change. I don’t expect to agree with all the policies a candidate holds, but I do expect them to be of at least above-average moral character.

Platner served in the military and has suffered from PTSD. His wife has stood by him, and so have a number of high-ranking Democrats. Those high-ranking Democrats would be condemning these actions if a Republican had done the very same things.

Wrong is wrong regardless of who does it. But if doing the wrong thing brings you the right outcome, does that make it OK?

You might think that what is happening in Maine doesn’t affect us here in Nebraska. We’ve got our own candidates to worry about.

But if Platner can unseat Susan Collins and give the Democrats a majority in the Senate, it will affect us. We need the checks and balances in our government just as our founding fathers intended.

So do the Maine Democrats need to do what many Republicans did regarding President Trump? Do they need to hold their nose and vote for Platner?

Do they need to jump off the bridge, too?

I wish more people involved in politics and the voters they serve thought of themselves as Americans first and not Democrats or Republicans first. I wish the voters would stop making excuses for behavior from a candidate that they wouldn’t accept from a friend or family member.

If our Senate Republicans and the MAGA voters felt that way, they would have voted to convict President Trump after he was impeached for the January 6th insurrection.

But that’s all wishful thinking.

This is where we find ourselves in today’s political environment. A place where we make excuses for bad behavior just because someone has an R or a D after their name. Where half the country complains about Sleepy Joe while ignoring the president napping at a Knicks game.

Will the voters start demanding candidates with higher moral fiber? Will they vote for the character and the accomplishments instead of the consonant behind their name?

I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it in November.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.