Posted on 03/24/2023 8:32:28 AM PDT by Red Badger
The handlers responsible for cognitively impaired Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., once again avoided questions about his return to the U.S. Senate as even the mainstream media begins to wonder if they are being forthright.
Meanwhile, some conservatives have begun to question whether Fetterman is alive at all.
Questions about Fetterman’s status exploded in late February as rumors spread via social media that he might be clinically braindead and that his staff was attempting to forestall an announcement until after an August deadline had passed, allowing the state’s far-left governor to avoid calling a special election.
Despite the gravity of the concerns, the Fetterman camp—which actively lied about his health conditions throughout the 2022 campaign—remained characteristically evasive, even blocking journalists who inquired about it on platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn.
But with outlets like the Associated Press now seeking answers, they were finally obliged to field questions while remaining noncommittal about anything that would require actual proof of life
Fetterman’s office claimed Thursday that he is expected to return soon to the chamber, although Democratic leaders are giving no timeline five weeks after he ostensibly sought inpatient treatment for clinical depression.
Fetterman, 53, was weeks into his service in Washington and still recovering from the aftereffects of the stroke he had last May during his campaign when he checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Feb. 15.
Aides said at the time that Fetterman had not been his usual self for weeks. He was withdrawn, showing a disinterest in talking, eating and the usual banter.
Asked about when Fetterman might return, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said only that Fetterman is recuperating.
“We want to give him the space to recuperate,” Schumer said at a Wednesday news conference. “He needs it, it’s fair, it’s right. There are other people in the Senate who have taken their time to recuperate, but I’m confident he’s going to come back and be an outstanding and fine senator.”
There is no evidence that any senator has ever taken an extensive leave of absence due to a supposed mental disorder.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said in an interview that he has purposely not called Fetterman to talk—“the last thing he needs is a lot of phone calls,” Casey said—and does not know when Fetterman will return.
Casey said his sense from Fetterman’s staff is that Fetterman has made “good progress.”
“I’m just happy he’s getting the time that he needs and most people understand that these things don’t occur over two or three weeks, it takes a little longer,” Casey said.
A spokesperson claimed Fetterman is getting better and that the recovery is going well.
“He’ll be back soon, at least over a week, but soon,” spokesperson Joe Calvello said Thursday.
Calvello claimed Fetterman is receiving daily in-person briefings by chief of staff Adam Jentleson.
The senator is reading the news and getting briefings, he said, while issuing statements through his office and even sponsoring legislation. Aides are opening new regional offices in Pennsylvania.
After Fetterman checked in to Walter Reed, his office admitted he had experienced depression “off and on throughout his life,” but it had only become severe in recent weeks.
The Capitol physician, Brian P. Monahan, recommended Fetterman’s hospitalization after conducting an evaluation, his office said then.
In the meantime, Fetterman’s aides and his wife, Gisele, have released photos of the senator smiling, being briefed or visiting with her and their three school-age children.
Fetterman had the stroke last May as he was campaigning in a three-way Democratic primary race. The stroke nearly killed him, he has said, and he had surgery to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator to manage two heart conditions, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy.
Leftist media steadfastly circled the wagons for him during his campaign, decrying any questions about his condition first as disinformation and later as ableist bigotry when it became clear in an October debate that he was cognitively impaired.
At that point, many of the state’s mail-in ballots already had been returned, enabling him to beat GOP nominee Mehmet Oz in November in the campaign cycle’s most expensive race. Fetterman’s victory boosted Democrats to a 51-49 majority.
Asking whether he is alive is the wrong question.
If/when he does die, his wife will likely be ‘given’ that Senate seat.
I saw Fetterman and McConnell hanging out with Elvis at the Tasty Freeze. I think I saw Jim Morrison there, too.
Ah, yes - the old "bantering with computer software", since I don't understand what you're saying...
FETTERMAN: “Questions of Handling a Duck...Explains a lot of serious problems with....Social Security lockbox...and you can count on us....eliminate the filibuster....if you come out and step with us!”
Call me a bigot. If you're incapable of carrying out your job, you need to resign or be fired.
It would actually be beneficial to the Dems if he was dead......................
Schumer has his proxy?
Well, Fetterman was already brain dead. Now he may be dead dead.
Of course, being dead is no obstacle to being elected or even serving in congress these days, if you're a democrat.
For example, the walking corpse of Frank Lautenberg was senator from 2002 until 2013, when he officially died at the age of 89. And of course, there's PA Rep. Anthony DeLuca, who was reelected in 2022 after being dead for over a month.
A Pennsylvania Senatorial Walker. Send Daryl Dixon and Rip Wheeler to check it out.
LOL! The usual banter?!
He's brain dead, Jim.
My apologies to Warren Zevon ...
See how they deflect?
They would sing a damned different tune it that SOB Fetterman were their heart surgeon or airline pilot.
“ablist bigotry” my ass.
If anyone ever has doubts about the side they are on, asking your views on “ablist bigotry” might be a good cleavage point.
Asking that question and tapping it might cleanly split people cleanly into a Conservative or Leftist category.
Fetterman smiles whenever Jentleson plays "Judy" in the hand puppet
Pookie, ya gotta see the meme in comment 2! https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4140526/posts?page=2#2
The stroke was serious enough that Fetterman was unable to feed himself, relying entirely on his scheming wife to see to his daily needs. She failed, and he became dangerously dehydrated preceding his latest disappearance. A few cynics speculated that she took the kids and fled the country fearing formal abuse charges.
Gosh, why wasn't this disclosed during the election season?!
They got him elected via fraud, obfuscation, and a weak GOP opponent. Now we are stuck with him. My Gawd how far Our Republic has fallen. Caligula appointed a horse to the Roman Senate; we have Fetterman and Feinstein et al. I’ll leave you to decide which is worse.
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