The New York Times published what appears intended to be a sympathy article on Friday by reporter Annie Karni on freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on how he is dealing with becoming a U.S. senator just months after suffering a debilitating stroke. However the article contains quotes and reports that indicate Fetterman should never have continued with his candidacy after what the Times calls his “near fatal” stroke last May–including the observations that Fetterman knows he likely permanently harmed himself by not taking the proper time to recuperate, that he has “serious mental health challenges” and that his brain is so scrambled he hears “Peanuts” voices when people talk to him at times.
Fetterman was sworn in January 3rd. He has kept a low profile but was seen attending the State of the Union address the night before he was taken to George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Wednesday evening where he is being held for tests and observation.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) at the State of the Union address, February 7, 2023, screen image.
The Times article was prompted by Fetterman being hospitalized Wednesday after feeling lightheaded. A Fetterman spokesman said Thursday night that tests had ruled out a new stroke but that Fetterman was being held to test for seizures (none detected so far as of last night.)
Excerpts from the Times article via Yahoo (Note: excerpt skips Senate adaptions for already known hearing issues):
John Fetterman, Recovering After Stroke, Labors to Adjust to Life in the Senate
…Fetterman, 53, the 6-foot-8, tattooed and goateed Democrat from Pennsylvania who suffered a near-fatal stroke last May and went on to win one of the most competitive seats in November’s midterm elections, was never going to blend in seamlessly in the marbled corridors of Congress.
But his adjustment to serving in the Senate has been made vastly more difficult by the strains of his recovery, which left him with a physical impairment and serious mental health challenges that have rendered the transition extraordinarily challenging — even with the accommodations that have been made to help him adapt.
“What you’re supposed to do to recover from this is do as little as possible,” said Adam Jentleson, his chief of staff. Instead, 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.”
…The latest health scare convinced his staff that Fetterman needs a better plan to take care of himself, both physically and emotionally.
Fetterman declined to be interviewed for this story. But aides and confidants describe his introduction to the Senate as a difficult period, filled with unfamiliar duties that are taxing for someone still in recovery: meetings with constituents, attending caucus and committee meetings, appearing in public at White House events and at the State of the Union address, as well as making appearances in Pennsylvania.
…The hearing issues are inconsistent; they often get worse when he is in a stressful or unfamiliar situation. When it’s bad, Fetterman has described it as trying to make out the muffled voice of the teacher in the “Peanuts” cartoon, whose words could never be deciphered.
The stroke — after which he had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted — also took a less apparent but very real psychological toll on Fetterman. It has been less than a year since the stroke transformed him from someone with a large stature that suggested machismo — a central part of his political identity — into a physically altered version of himself, and he is frustrated at times that he is not yet back to the man he once was. He has had to come to terms with the fact that he may have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount of rest during the campaign. And he continues to push himself in ways that people close to him worry are detrimental.
“It is stressful, having to go through that experience in the context of the most high-profile Senate race in the country,” said Jentleson.
The article ends noting Fetterman lives alone in a D.C. apartment and drives home (alone?) four hours almost every weekend to be with wife Giselle and their three children at their Braddock, PA., home. Gisele posted a thank you note Thursday:
REACTION to the revealing Times article:
Greg Price noted Fetterman’s campaign donor Dr. Clifford Chen released a statement last October that Fetterman “can work full duty in public office.”
More Greg Price, “The Democrat Party literally gave John Fetterman permanent brain damage just to have a vote in the senate to kill unborn babies.”
Newsbusters’ Curtis Houck, “Where does Dasha Burns go to get an apology for being dragged by fellow journalists for daring to point out John Fetterman isn’t able to be in charge of his most basic faculties?”
Joe Concha, “Remember when NBC’s Dasha Burns reported this before the election? “In small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation,” she observed. And she got eviscerated for it by Kara Swisher and Fetterman’s wife and others.”
Redsteeze notes a politically correct stealth correction was made to the phrase “special needs.”