GOP Sen. Tim Scott opens Senate hearing with moment of prayer for hospitalized Sen. John Fetterman
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) opened his first hearing as ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee by asking for prayer for fellow committee member Sen. John Fetterman, who was hospitalized Wednesday.
As you've likely heard, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was taken to the hospital recently for what was described as "lightheadedness" by his office. He remained there under observation for the five days.
The senator’s hospital stay comes nine months after the towering 53-year-old suffered a massive stroke in May of 2022. At the time, he had already announced his run for Pennsylvania's open senate seat after Republican Pat Toomey announced his retirement.
For months after that stroke, Fetterman was absent from the campaign trail, with the campaign relying heavily on social media messages and memes, which was applauded by more than a few media outlets including the New York Times and Philadelphia Inquirer.
His campaign said at the time he had difficulty with auditory processing. And during the times he would do an interview with friendly outlets like MSNBC, he needed a closed captioning device to read the questions as a result.
For Democrats, the Pennsylvania race was seen as crucial given the Senate was 50-50 at the time. But it was obvious Fetterman was in no condition to be in the race, let alone the U.S. Senate. And if anyone had any integrity or actually cared about the man, they would have respectfully suggested that Fetterman should back out of the race and take the proper time to recover.
Note: According to Johns Hopkins, one-quarter of stroke victims go on to have a second stroke. And given Fetterman's size (he once weighed more than 400 pounds) and job description, it would appear he would be at more risk than the average person. But throughout the campaign, the candidate refused to release his medical records, which was an obvious tell that the whole story regarding his health wasn't being revealed.
"Dr. Oz has never forgotten, every day, that I had a stroke," Fetterman said in October. "But in January, I’ll be much better, but he will still be a fraud."
During his campaign stops in the fall, Fetterman difficulties were happening in plain sight. He often stumbled rhetorically and his sentences were often disjointed. Here's a transcript from a rally in Pittsburgh from September 2022 as an example.
"Send me to Washington, D.C., to send — so I can work with Senator Casey," And I can champion the union way of life — in Jersey, excuse me, in D.C. Thank you. Thank you very much. And it’s an honor — I live eight minutes away from here. And when I leave tonight, I got, three miles away, Dr. Oz in his mansion in New Jersey. You’ve got a friend and you have an ally. Send me to Washington, D.C. Thank you very much."
As for the press, outside of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Washington Post, no one, including Pennsylvania's largest newspaper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, called on Fetterman to release his medical records. Something that should be the standard for all candidates seeking office regardless of party.
In one of the rare instances when an actual reporter got access to Fetterman, the report wasn't good. Per NBC's Dasha Burns:
"Because of his stroke Fetterman’s campaign required closed captioning technology for this interview to essentially read our questions, as we asked them in small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation," she reported on Oct. 11.
Burns was promptly eviscerated for simply telling the truth. Here are just some of the headlines that followed from her interview:
Associated Press: NBC reporter’s comment about Fetterman draws criticism
Mediaite: Stroke-Survivor Journo Leads Backlash Against NBC’s Dasha Burns Reporting On Computer-Aided Fetterman Interview
The Independent: Kara Swisher shuts down ‘nonsense’ claims that John Fetterman couldn’t follow conversation
When it finally came time to debate his opponent, Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, Fetterman's cognitive and rhetorical difficulties came on full display for the nation to see. It was painful to watch and listen to right out of the gate.
"Hi. Good night everybody." marked Fetterman's first four words of the debate.
It would get worse from there when the moderators, who were excellent that night in asking fair and pointed questions about major issues, asked him to square his comments about fracking, which he was against before he was for it.
Fetterman in September 2016: "I am not pro-fracking and have stated that if we did things right in this state, we wouldn’t have fracking. The industry is a stain on our state and natural resources."
Fetterman in October 2022: "I do support fracking, and I don’t, I don’t — I support fracking, and I stand, and I do support fracking."
After the debate was called a disaster by almost everyone, many thought the race would turn for Oz. But the endorsements came flying in anyway, from everyone to Oprah to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"An experienced public servant, Fetterman has an abundance of the kind of values and priorities that are needed to move the nation forward—and to earn this board's support. The Inquirer endorses John Fetterman for U.S. Senate," the Inquirer board said in its endorsement shortly before the election.
Fetterman would go on to win his race against Oz by a comfortable margin of five points. As it did for Biden, the basement strategy worked again. Democrats would go on to hold the Senate by a 51-49 margin, with Fetterman's flip of one of Pennsylvania's senate seats seen as the most important victory. Even one MSNBC anchor named Katy Tur even argued Fetterman could be presidential material down the road.
Just three months after his victory, Fetterman was again back in a hospital, where he would remain for several days.
He was released last weekend and cast a vote in the Senate on Monday, but the press wasn't terribly interested in following up.
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Why was Fetterman under medical observation for several days only because of light-headedness? And should he continue to live alone in Washington on weekdays and do a four-hour commute back home to weekends given he clearly has not recovered from his original stroke to do so? Can he truly serve his constituents and debate on the Senate floor?
And most importantly: Should John Fetterman step down for the good of his health and for the sake of his family?
"The latest health scare convinced his staff that Mr. Fetterman needs a better plan to take care of himself, both physically and emotionally," reads a Friday New York Times piece.
Here's more. And it's truly disturbing that no one in Fetterman's orbit seems to have his best interest at heart:
"What you’re supposed to do to recover from this is do as little as possible," said Adam Jentleson, his chief of staff. Instead, Mr. Fetterman "was forced to do as much as possible — he had to get back to the campaign trail. It’s hard to claw that back."
"...forced to do as much as possible."
Actually, he wasn't.
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The final question is, should that plan include leaving his dream job of being a U.S. senator?
That's for John Fetterman to decide.
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