Drew Magary, a great writer and columnist, had a really interesting article in SFGate. He is a survivor of a serious stroke and TBI, so he speaks from experience. All I know about Fetterman is what I've read from reliable news sources, and there seems to be little doubt that he has some health issues that may be affecting his emotional regulation, and ability to meet the demands of his job. For whatever reason, it appears that he has decided not to commit the time and effort to recovery that might be in his best interest. Regardless of his health issues, Fetterman has no future in Democratic elected politics. He is right in thinking his brand of crude, outspoken, pro-genocide, anti-immigrant, anti-free speech bullshit will win over the MAGA voters.
That’s how I remember it. The shotgun thing seemed more like the rash actions of a jerk than some racial incident (not every confrontation between a white and black guy is racist) and obviously PA black voters didn’t care (they had Kenyatta and Lamb as choices, depending on their politics) and I think Fetterman won not because he was “progressive” (did he even run on any stances that were to the left of the median Democrat, or to the left of Lamb?) but he ran what I thought was a smart campaign—standard liberal policies but a very “fight like hell and give no quarter” style that appeals across the board. That’s why it’s such a disappointment that he’s not just signaling divergence from the Democrats (that alone is fine) but that he’s being so a vocal asshole about it and adopting right wing framing that undermines the rest of the coalition. This isn’t “pragmatic independence”, it’s shitting on your side in the wrongheaded belief that it’ll pay off for you.
I see him going the Sinema route and trying to cash in on this when his term is over.
OT: I hope you'll excuse the interruption, Mr. Stephen, but this needs to be spread as far and as wide as possible -
This June 14, 𝘚𝘗𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋!
𝗡𝗢 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: 𝗔 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Republicans have defied our courts, deported our citizens, kidnapped Americans off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and gutted our tax-funded social services. The GOP's corruption has gone TOO. FAR.
We've all had enough with the Republican Party's fascist treachery and have said "We need to do something!" OK, NOW'S the time and here's our chance - let's start some Good Trouble.
Fetterman definitely did a good job of saying the Pretty Words what Democrats like and was good at trolling and that really gave him the edge.
That said, this dynamic of Democrats easily leads them into situations like this. Now that I think about it, has there EVER been someone who was rootin-tootin-rightwinger in their campaign, won, and then did a 180 and became progressive?
I can think of some Republicans who did a 180 on their party like Joe Walsh, but the typical case is a moderate drifting farther from the party until they leave it like Spector or Jeffords.
I've noticed that before too. While there is such a thing as blue dog democrats, there ARE no red dog Republicans....The deceit is unidirectional and the culprit is exactly who you'd think they'd be. You'd EXPECT one of the parties to lie about who they are more than the other...That's the thing about True Progressives that I particularly respect...Love them or hate them, they NEVER lie about who they are and what they represent, but plenty of centrist dems coopt the language and popularity of progressivism in their campaigns. Which is both interesting and INFURIATING because if you're running your campaign on progressive rhetoric, you are tacitly ACKNOWLEDGING that progressive policy is what your base WANTS and you are LYING to them that you will give it to them...Its a real betrayal
It also depends because there's a case of "Green" Party activists doing this (Kyrsten Sinema is the best example of this but there are others). There is a special path for that. There was also an interesting axis around Nomiki Konst, et. al. back around 2016 or so.
I don't even think it's necessary for any of these assholes to "show up" for work. To a person they're useless and at best destructive through passivity. Little Marco, for example...there is no effective difference in action if you replaced him with a bowling ball. Heck having the bowling ball avoids the salary hit.
Pennsylvanian here. Fetterman was trolling the local trash GOP long before he was trolling Oz. That's why people liked him. He used to hang the Pride and trans flags from his office balcony in Harrisburg to get in their faces. And the shotgun incident was reported in the mainstream news here so it's not like people didn't know. I voted for Kenyatta in the primary but I wasn't upset that Fetterman won. I think his illness has affected him more than he wants to explore and that's between him and his doctor. When people do get ahold of his office, he's not changing his stand on LGBTQ people or anything so it's not a lost cause. I just don't expect him to get a second term.
Thanks, Erin! Yeah, I think Fetterman’s “trash talking GOP” persona resonated more with Dem voters in 2022 than Lamb’s “work across the aisle” buttoned-up approach.
Fighting image beats substantive policy any day of the week. I’d ask voters what stances they liked about Fetterman over Lamb of vice versa and the truth is there’s really not much difference on policy positions, but Lamb seemed more button downed bipartisan guy like a Mark Warner, and Fetterman seemed like he’d talk shit about Ted Cruz on a daily basis.
Another Pennsylvanian here, and I agree. I also voted for Kenyatta but thought that Fetterman would be OK when he won the primary. I thought he'd be a reliable D vote but he's sucked up to trump and the MAGA crowd more than I ever imagined he would. And I definitely want him to show up to committee meetings!
“chocolate pot de creme”
Aka “pudding cup with whip cream on top”
Drew Magary, a great writer and columnist, had a really interesting article in SFGate. He is a survivor of a serious stroke and TBI, so he speaks from experience. All I know about Fetterman is what I've read from reliable news sources, and there seems to be little doubt that he has some health issues that may be affecting his emotional regulation, and ability to meet the demands of his job. For whatever reason, it appears that he has decided not to commit the time and effort to recovery that might be in his best interest. Regardless of his health issues, Fetterman has no future in Democratic elected politics. He is right in thinking his brand of crude, outspoken, pro-genocide, anti-immigrant, anti-free speech bullshit will win over the MAGA voters.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/as-fellow-stroke-survivor-fetterman-disgusts-me-20341662.php
That’s how I remember it. The shotgun thing seemed more like the rash actions of a jerk than some racial incident (not every confrontation between a white and black guy is racist) and obviously PA black voters didn’t care (they had Kenyatta and Lamb as choices, depending on their politics) and I think Fetterman won not because he was “progressive” (did he even run on any stances that were to the left of the median Democrat, or to the left of Lamb?) but he ran what I thought was a smart campaign—standard liberal policies but a very “fight like hell and give no quarter” style that appeals across the board. That’s why it’s such a disappointment that he’s not just signaling divergence from the Democrats (that alone is fine) but that he’s being so a vocal asshole about it and adopting right wing framing that undermines the rest of the coalition. This isn’t “pragmatic independence”, it’s shitting on your side in the wrongheaded belief that it’ll pay off for you.
I see him going the Sinema route and trying to cash in on this when his term is over.
OT: I hope you'll excuse the interruption, Mr. Stephen, but this needs to be spread as far and as wide as possible -
This June 14, 𝘚𝘗𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘋!
𝗡𝗢 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦: 𝗔 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲
Republicans have defied our courts, deported our citizens, kidnapped Americans off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and gutted our tax-funded social services. The GOP's corruption has gone TOO. FAR.
𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀. 𝗡𝗼 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀. 𝗡𝗼 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.
https://www.nokings.org/
It's gonna be huge. My 86 year old mom is going to one across the state from the one I'm going to
Hubby and I, plus two neighbors (so far), are going to one in the big town closest to us. We have our American flags all set to wave.
God willing, this will big enough to garner national/international attention and spawn future protests. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
We've all had enough with the Republican Party's fascist treachery and have said "We need to do something!" OK, NOW'S the time and here's our chance - let's start some Good Trouble.
Fetterman definitely did a good job of saying the Pretty Words what Democrats like and was good at trolling and that really gave him the edge.
That said, this dynamic of Democrats easily leads them into situations like this. Now that I think about it, has there EVER been someone who was rootin-tootin-rightwinger in their campaign, won, and then did a 180 and became progressive?
I can think of some Republicans who did a 180 on their party like Joe Walsh, but the typical case is a moderate drifting farther from the party until they leave it like Spector or Jeffords.
I've noticed that before too. While there is such a thing as blue dog democrats, there ARE no red dog Republicans....The deceit is unidirectional and the culprit is exactly who you'd think they'd be. You'd EXPECT one of the parties to lie about who they are more than the other...That's the thing about True Progressives that I particularly respect...Love them or hate them, they NEVER lie about who they are and what they represent, but plenty of centrist dems coopt the language and popularity of progressivism in their campaigns. Which is both interesting and INFURIATING because if you're running your campaign on progressive rhetoric, you are tacitly ACKNOWLEDGING that progressive policy is what your base WANTS and you are LYING to them that you will give it to them...Its a real betrayal
It also depends because there's a case of "Green" Party activists doing this (Kyrsten Sinema is the best example of this but there are others). There is a special path for that. There was also an interesting axis around Nomiki Konst, et. al. back around 2016 or so.
"I doubt Fetterman would leave the Senate for a role in the Trump White House.... because he’d have to occasionally show up at work."
WOULD he though?
Yeah that I don’t believe. The only reason Republicans wouldn’t offer him a Cabinet position is he’d be replaced by a Shapiro pick.
I don't even think it's necessary for any of these assholes to "show up" for work. To a person they're useless and at best destructive through passivity. Little Marco, for example...there is no effective difference in action if you replaced him with a bowling ball. Heck having the bowling ball avoids the salary hit.
GMTA...I was gonna use Rubio as an example. Didn't he at one time (and still may) hold the record for number of days absent from the senate?
“Evans even frames the shotgun incident from 2013 as if Fetterman hunted Black joggers for sport, like a racist Elmer Fudd.”
I needed a good laugh this morning; thank you, Mr. Robinson!
Pennsylvanian here. Fetterman was trolling the local trash GOP long before he was trolling Oz. That's why people liked him. He used to hang the Pride and trans flags from his office balcony in Harrisburg to get in their faces. And the shotgun incident was reported in the mainstream news here so it's not like people didn't know. I voted for Kenyatta in the primary but I wasn't upset that Fetterman won. I think his illness has affected him more than he wants to explore and that's between him and his doctor. When people do get ahold of his office, he's not changing his stand on LGBTQ people or anything so it's not a lost cause. I just don't expect him to get a second term.
Thanks, Erin! Yeah, I think Fetterman’s “trash talking GOP” persona resonated more with Dem voters in 2022 than Lamb’s “work across the aisle” buttoned-up approach.
Fighting image beats substantive policy any day of the week. I’d ask voters what stances they liked about Fetterman over Lamb of vice versa and the truth is there’s really not much difference on policy positions, but Lamb seemed more button downed bipartisan guy like a Mark Warner, and Fetterman seemed like he’d talk shit about Ted Cruz on a daily basis.
At least, he came across that way.
Another Pennsylvanian here, and I agree. I also voted for Kenyatta but thought that Fetterman would be OK when he won the primary. I thought he'd be a reliable D vote but he's sucked up to trump and the MAGA crowd more than I ever imagined he would. And I definitely want him to show up to committee meetings!
"I think his illness has affected him more than he wants to explore "
That's my feeling too. Changes in personality due to stroke aren't at ALL uncommon
Thanks for the local insight/perpective.
Talk about copperheads.