Shame works: "Fetterman, Often Absent From Senate, Says He Has Been Shamed Into Returning"
— Lindsay Beyerstein (@beyerstein.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 8:18 AM
I was a Fetterman supporter in 2022, which I can’t honestly say I regret, because he’s not wrong about his illness being weaponized. Not least by the FTFNYTimes [gift link]:
… [U]nder intense scrutiny about his mental health and his ability to function in his job, Mr. Fetterman has been in damage control mode, attending hearings and votes that he had been routinely skipping over the past year. His colleagues, some of whom have privately described him as absent from the Senate and troubled when he is there, are trying to be supportive…
Mr. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the United States Senate.
In an interview, Mr. Fetterman, who represents 13 million people, said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a “performative” waste of time.
Instead, he said he was “showing up because people in the media have weaponized” his absenteeism on Capitol Hill to portray him as mentally unfit, when in fact it is a product of a decision to spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a senator.
“My doctor warned years ago: After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Mr. Fetterman said in his office this week. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.”…
Since his return from Walter Reed, Mr. Fetterman has missed more votes than all but two senators, both of whom were campaigning for president last year: Republicans JD Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina, according to a New York Times analysis of Senate roll call records.
This year, the analysis found, Mr. Fetterman also has missed more votes than all but two of his colleagues: Senators Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, and Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. Ms. Murray has been absent to care for her ailing husband, while Mr. Sanders has been on his “Fighting Oligarchy Tour,” speaking out against President Trump and drawing a total of 265,000 people to events across 12 states so far, according to a spokeswoman.
Mr. Fetterman, who has said that being away from his family is heartbreaking and “the worst part of the job,” says he has missed votes to spend more time at home with his children. He seethes over the idea that he must show up for Monday night votes — a staple of the Senate calendar often known as “bed checks,” a term he finds paternalistic and demeaning — rather than skip them and enjoy an extra day with his children…
He has also often missed Thursday evening votes because he likes to check in with his father, who recently had a heart attack…
Hearings also seem to him like a waste of time. Senators question witnesses in order of seniority, leaving Mr. Fetterman, a first-term lawmaker, feeling that by the time his turn comes around, there’s nothing left to ask. He has told people it is like making a plate out of the dregs of a buffet bar…
Similar choices, of course, are still being weaponized against working women: If you show up for every coulda-been-an-email meeting, you’re neglecting your children; if you don’t, why are they paying you? And if the endless balancing act stresses you to breaking, well…
Fetterman post stroke is really heartbreaking imho.
He wasn't amazing before hand, but the stroke has clearly changed him dramatically— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) May 24, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Counter-argument from Drew Magary, at SFGate:
… Back in 2022, Fetterman was the oafishly lovable lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania whose Senate run in the midterms stood to help Democrats keep their tenuous majority. Even better, Fetterman’s brusqueness, along with his fondness for casual wear, gave the Democratic National Committee hope that it had, at long last, found its long-prized “leader who can appeal to both centrists and to Republican-leaning pickup truck owners.” He was the rising political star of the moment, and perhaps a dark horse future presidential candidate.
Three years later, Fetterman has become the demon child of Joe Manchin and Donald Trump…
A quick refresher: Fetterman suffered a stroke in the lead-up to the 2022 midterms, the aftereffects of which were on clear display in his only televised debate with Oz. Fetterman slurred his words, couldn’t process questions in the moment they were asked, and found himself unable to finish his thoughts coherently…[I]magine having to watch it when you yourself are a traumatic brain injury survivor.
I am one such survivor. One night in 2018, I was enjoying some beer and pizza with my friends when BOOM! I had a sudden, catastrophic brain hemorrhage. When I came out of a medically induced coma two weeks later, I found myself living inside of a new body: 30 pounds lighter, deaf in one ear, unable to stand up. My mind had undergone a refurb as well: easily confused, prone to hallucinations and easily enraged. The only reason I’m able to write this post today is because I had the time, the resources and the support I needed to recover. I had to spend months rehabbing both my body and brain back into fighting shape. I had to get outfitted with hearing aids to make up for my sensory losses. I had to find the right meds to treat the permanent brain damage I had suffered, and then I had to stay on those meds. And I had to go see a therapist to help me talk my way through dealing with the resulting adjustment disorder my injury caused.
As you might have guessed, this process took years, and is in fact still ongoing. Talk to anyone who’s ever had a stroke and they’ll tell you a similar tale. Recovering from one of these injuries is a long road, if you recover at all. Judging by Terris’ expose and by a score of other reports that have followed in its wake, John Fetterman has had little to no interest in walking that road:
“Two aides told me they frequently heard him talk about how he felt so great that he didn’t ‘need’ medication. One person told me Fetterman said he ‘didn’t like the way’ his medication ‘made’ him feel — made, past tense.”
There was a point in my recovery where I thought I was “OK” enough to stop taking one of my meds, so I did so without consulting my doctors or my therapist. I got worse almost instantly, but luckily had the presence of mind to sense it. I went back on those meds and have stayed on them ever since. I wasn’t a good patient throughout all of my rehabilitation, but, more often than not, I was a willing one. That willingness eventually paid off. Sticking to my recovery plan helped me feel better and, as a bonus, it gave me an understanding of what life might be like for other TBI sufferers out there, Fetterman included.
That’s why I defended Fetterman to friends after that 2022 debate performance. I didn’t like people judging the man based solely on his newfound disability, because that felt like a slight against both him and the TBI survivor community. I also didn’t want f—king Dr. Oz to win that election, so I rationalized Fetterman’s performance away using my newfound empathy. I figured he was gutting out a tough situation as best he could and that, like me, he’d put as much effort as he could into recovering from his stroke while handling his legislative duties…
No two traumatic brain injuries are alike, and I can’t know the extent of Fetterman’s brain damage because I’m not his doctor and because I’m prevented from seeing his CAT scans due to HIPAA laws — which currently remain in place until Oz, now in charge of Medicare for the second Trump administration, throws them into a bonfire. So it’s not necessarily fair of me to present my own TBI as an apples-to-apples comparison with Fetterman’s. I also understand that millions of my fellow Americans are bad patients: the inevitable result of a health care system that is both predatory and often unworthy of our trust.
But this man, unlike most of us, is a sitting U.S. senator. A senator who won’t take his meds, won’t operate within the limits of his physical and mental health, and appears to have no interest in ever getting better when the people who work for him and the people who love him are begging him to try. Other TBI survivors are free to bail on recovering, but this man is a public servant whose actions resonate out of the Keystone State and across the entire country. John Fetterman is duty bound to be a good patient; he and his colleagues take an oath of office that necessitates it. If he cared about the people he serves — or hell, just about himself — he would step down from office so that he can try, in good faith, to get his life, and his worldview, back together as best he can. Instead, he simply sits there and rots, forcing all of us to rot alongside him. So needy. So hostile.
trollhattan
IOW 50 Republicans.
Magary is a treasure. Was before, somehow is again, today.
Baud
IIRC. the concern about his health was based on more than his absences.
Scout211
Drew Magary is such a good writer. He writes about his brain injury occasionally in his essays and all that he went through to get back to himself. He wrote a memoir of his recovery, The Night the Lights Went out, that is always on my TBR list but I haven’t read it yet.
I hope that Senator Fetterman gets the help he needs but it does sound like the help he needs conflicts with his personality and how he deals with life in general.
It’s not up to me to decide what he should do about his role as a Senator but I hope he finds a way to help himself recover and continue his healing.
Ohio Mom
I admit I was charmed by Fetterman at first too, and now I am torn between feeling disappointed in him and feeling like a chump. How easily I was fooled.
This situation reminds me of the discussion the other day about elderly and /or very sick Senators who won’t step aside. He’s in that group and apparently there is no one who is able to diplomatically get these people to step aside for the good of the party and the country.
Another Scott
I’m reminded that Biden used to take the train home all the time because he was broke and because he wanted to be with his family. It’s farther to Braddock, PA (near Pittsburgh), but it’s possible.
I have some sympathy for the workload of being a Senator (or Representative) – it really is a lot of work if you take the job seriously. But it’s part of the job. If he’s not willing to do the work, then he really should think about moving on to doing something else with his life. Saying, in effect, “I’m fine, the haters are being so unfair. I can do the job, I just hate the job.” isn’t much of a defense for his behavior.
I’m thankful he defeated the GQPer. Kudos to him for that.
FWIW.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Melancholy Jaques
This is the crux of the biscuit. Same with the age issue we were arguing about a day or two ago. If you’re up to it, by all means carry on, but if you don’t have an A game, let some one else give it a go.
Raoul Paste
At first, I felt disappointed in him, but the factor of his illness changes things. And I’m sorry to say that what’s best for the country is more important than what’s best for him.
The needs of the many, etc. Still, I hope for a win-win here
Ohio Mom
Stopping your medicine because you are feeling better is a phenomenon that must have a name.
I learned that lesson decades ago when I was convinced I didn’t need my asthma medicine anymore. It only took until I reached the end of half-life of whatever I was taking to realize my mistake.
But I can see it is more complicated with meds that work on your brain because not taking them is going to interfer with thinking clearly.
mapanghimagsik
If I’m unstable to do my job, my company will make attempts to find a role for me, but I’m the end will let me go.
I can’t run around, not do my job and say i hate it as a reason. We’ll I can, but I won’t be in that position long.
I disagree with my company and management on several things, but not about doing my job on that, I’m in agreement
trollhattan
@Scout211:
My hope, a dim one, is his wife can break through and convince him to do the right thing, for himself, for the country.
What little I’ve seen of her she’s very sharp and direct, and I expect if anybody can get through to the senator, it’s her.
wonkie
Sadly, he needs a primary challenger.
schrodingers_cat
My concern is if he steps down can we retain the seat.
Ohio Mom
Now I am wondering what the process for replacing a Senator mid-way through their term is in Pennsylvania and if there are good candidates to take Fetterman’s place. Because if there is a risk we’d end up with a Republican, maybe we are fine as we are.
ETA: I see schrodingers_cat other first
schrodingers_cat
@Ohio Mom: Yep.
Princess
I’m pissed off about Fetterman and I hope he’ll resign.
But I also think the NYT is running this story to either a)get Dems so angry about Fetterman he switches to the GOP or b) encourage a vigorous primary against him dividing the party and allowing a Goper to win the seat.
The NYT is a worse enemy to us than Fetterman. Probably worse than even Trump because he’ll be gone one day anc it will still be here.
Melancholy Jaques
@Ohio Mom:
In Pennsylvania, as in most states, the governor appoints a replacement who serves until the next general election when there is a special election to fill out the term if is not expired.
Betty Cracker
If he has to be “shamed” into doing his fucking job, he should resign and find another job. PA has a Dem governor to appoint a successor until an election can be held.
This has nothing to do with Fetterman’s stroke or mental health struggles, which I thought he was brave to share. It’s about not showing up for hearings and votes despite insisting he’s fine and then saying he was “shamed” into returning. It’s the fucking job! Do it or quit.
Doc Sardonic
@Ohio Mom: Unfortunately, the only way that you are diplomatically get a politician, earning a 6 figure income with benefits that we the hoi polloi can only dream of, add in the fact that you don’t even have to show up to get paid. The only three ways that is going to happen is get caught and convicted in criminal activity, odds of which are similar to hitting the lottery, the voters deciding they have enjoyed enough of your public service, or in a pine box. Actually, after further consideration one way …. The pine box.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: Deleting comment because you just said pretty much what I was typing. That “shamed into” part really set me off.
Jesse
I’m glad he beat Oz in 2022.
But he needs to go. I don’t regret supporting him, even after his stroke.But things have changed and he needs to go. It’s ok for our support of someone to change over time.
I’ll go further and say that, even if he were fine, skipping out on large chunks of the job and openly dissing the role of a junior senator, is itself borderline disqualifying. Even in normal times. And now, we need to be a disciplined, hard-working opposition.
Suzanne
@Melancholy Jaques:
Agree.
I remember a lot of the discussions here around that time, how many of us wanted to show support for him, that disability doesn’t mean someone can’t do the job. We were all motivated by the right things — even when I disagree with commenters here, the vast majority of the jackals are salt-of-the-earth great people.
He’s obviously not up to the job, and he doesn’t want to do it. That’s okay, but it’s time to go then.
Melancholy Jaques
I could be wrong, but I feel like if he were a Republican, this wouldn’t be a news story and certainly not in the FTFNYT.
They Call Me Noni
I’m in the “it’s your job and if you can’t, or won’t, do it you need to go”. His constituents need and deserve to have their Senator show up no matter how assinine he might find the process.
Suzanne
@Raoul Paste:
Yes this. Representing constituents isn’t an equal-opportunity gig. It requires the best out of people.
Another Scott
@Princess: +1
Nobody is indispensable, and there are several historical examples of senators being propped up to various extents by their staff.
FTFNYT loves this stuff, because it fits perfectly in their Democrats in Disarray trope.
Made me look. GovTrack.US – Senate votes missed in 118th Congress – Fetterman is 4th, behind Tim Scott (118th Congress ended in January) on most missed votes.
Ultimately, he and the voters of Pennsylvania will decide. If he wants to keep the job, he needs better message discipline and to at least make a showing of doing the work for the people of PA (even if he hates it). Being in the minority means losing his seat (were it to happen) would make getting the majority back incrementally more difficult, but he and the voters will decide…
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Dan B
I’m glad that my Senators, Patty Murray especially, have noticed that the GOP are at war with the rule of law. Despite her husband’s poor health she’s organizing to fight back. I doubt she’ll enlist Fetterman and glad that Schiff is right there with her.
Scout211
@Ohio Mom: It’s the same as in California, like what we went through with DiFi. The Governor would appoint a temporary replacement and the next statewide election would be for the rest of Fetterman’s term. That would be at the mid-term election next year.
Ballotpedia.org
schrodingers_cat
We are in survival mode. I am not going to attack Democrats for not being perfect. NYT is not my friend neither is the most of the mainstream media. There are many more pressing problems than Fetterman right now. As I don’t live in PA I am not going to waste my time or limited resources on this proble
Bernie Sanders is not really a Democrat and he and his movement shoulders some of the blame for the pickle we are in right now. So I reserve the right to criticize this leap year Democrat, who is trying to undermine us even now.
lowtechcyclist
@Raoul Paste:
The thing is, they’re not in conflict. What’s best for both Fetterman and the country is that he step down. Gov. Shapiro would appoint another Dem to take his place in the Senate until November 2026, and Fetterman would be free to choose his own path to recovery (or non-recovery) without any pressure from the rest of the world.
I wish the best for him and his family, but he’s really not doing himself any favors by hanging onto his Senate seat when the job is clearly making his life more difficult.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jesse:
Exactly.
JoyceH
New subject – do you guys think it’s true that Barron Trump applied to Harvard and got rejected? I’m seeing that around and it would explain so much.
lowtechcyclist
@Another Scott:
The voters of Pennsylvania don’t get a say until November 2028. I guess that’s ‘ultimately’ but it seems like way too long to wait, given the circumstances.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: And he gets $174,000 per year to do it, plus generous expenses and the best health care possible in the US.
Suzanne
@Gin & Tonic: I’m sure most of us would like to get $174K a year and not show up to most of our work obligations.
Princess
@Melancholy Jaques: Amen. Grassleyhas been visibly out of it since 2020 at least and there are no stories about him.
Too many congress people treat congress as a retirement home or a rehab centre. My criticism is not age based — Elizabeth Warren has been one of the most vocal and effect senators since January.
Gin & Tonic
@JoyceH: It would be irresponsible not to speculate. But that’s all it is, speculation. DJT and Barron will never tell, and Harvard Admissions can’t.
Baud
The insistence that elected officials work hard at the job is making me rethink Baud! 20XX!
Suzanne
@Baud: At least Fetterman demonstrates that you don’t need to wear pants.
zhena gogolia
@JoyceH: OMG THAT HAS TO BE TRUE THAT EXPLAINS EVERY FUCKING THING
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Run as a stealth R candidate. NYT will be writing op-eds as to why pants are bad.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Possible, but one of their stated goals is to destroy universities, so they are taking aim at the oldest and the most prestigious university. Our Oxford.
NotoriousJRT
@lowtechcyclist: This pretty much captures my take on Fetterman. I supported, even liked, him as a candidate, and Oz was execrable. Yet, since his arrival in the Senate, his behavior (and, yes, IMO his dress) has seemed to hold contempt for the body. How much of that is him and how much his health challenges? Only those close to him before and after can know. But, his own words express great unhappiness and even resentment about a job he asked the voters of PA to give him. It sounds like he is not up to the bargain made. I think he should resign for the good of all involved.
Professor Bigfoot
@Melancholy Jaques: They can’t be arsed to notice that the Republican President is currently completely unintelligible.
It’s long been IOKIYAR, but damn, they’re shoving it in our faces now, aren’t they?
JaneE
I saw both my mother and grandmother have pretty profound mental/personality changes after sudden life threatening events. Recovery takes years and even then some of the personality changes were permanent. IMO none of the changes were for the better.
Not making excuses for Fetterman but he might not be able to think clearly enough to realize how his behavior is harming everyone. Or he may have changed to the point that he doesn’t care about some things that used to matter.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I would like to get paid to not do my job too.
They Call Me Noni
@Gin & Tonic: And from the sounds of it he’s not really taking full advantage of the primo health care if he’s not taking his meds.
Parfigliano
The stroke is a lame excuse. The guy has always been an asshole.
Professor Bigfoot
@Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937: Mafiosi refer to those as “no-show/no-work” jobs.
janesays
@Melancholy Jaques: Correct. If he were to step down now, Gov. Shapiro would appoint a replacement, and then the seat would be contested next November during the midterms for the remainder of Fetterman’s current term, and then whoever wins next year would have to run again in 2028 for a full six year term.
janesays
@lowtechcyclist: If he steps down now, they would get a say in 2026.
schrodingers_cat
@Parfigliano: I am so old that I remember when he was a darling for his social media posts among more-progressive-than-thou BS (of VT) fans.
MazeDancer
@Betty Cracker:
Exactly. All jobs have shit you don’t like. The bigger the job, the bigger the shit.
If he goes last in questioning, he feels like there is nothing to ask??? Playing clean-up hitter is a good spot. Get to be creative and take risks.
Not taking his meds???
Grow-up. Get outta there.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
As much as we are all humans, we often do this living business a lot different. Now add TV cameras and newspaper reporters all vying for your attention and it ain’t the same. I worked in professional sports full time for a decade and often got asked questions about something. Saying I don’t know does not work, one has to say at the very least, “I’ll find out and get back to you.” if you didn’t have an answer, and no, you couldn’t just brush it off, you had to do the work then or be obviously called into a much bigger, more pressing issue. Now if you knew the answer you had to know how to present it so that it wasn’t taken out of context. The hours didn’t bother me, flying every week for 8 months a year didn’t bother me (all that much…) but dealing with people that didn’t want to know something they really did know but needed to be told and having everything to go their way could get rather annoying. And while the pay was OK and the expense account was OK, being home one, maybe two days a week for 8 months a year was a tad annoying. My point is that while most of us try to be delightful all day, day in and day out, it can get to be a bit much. During that decade I had people that would come up to me and be complete and utter assholes, not very often but it did happen. And I had to just let it go, with one prevision. I knew that this person might just do this again but they would be stupid and do it in front of others. And they usually did. It never worked out well for them. My take is that some humans are just pompous assholes and that they will often make a bigger mistake in being a pompous arrogant asshole and do it with witnesses watching and listening. Always a hoot to be able to not just take them down but to get them banned for some time or get them fined. Banning was better because I didn’t get to keep the fine. And to find out that I was on a not insignificant list of people who felt exactly the same and occasionally clapped for me doing my job.
chemiclord
See, I knew of Fetterman as “the dude who chased down a black jogger with a shotgun,” so I’ve never been particularly charmed by his shtick. If he “appealed” to white-collar Republican voters, it was because they could sense he hated the same people they did.
As a result, I have no problems with telling him to do his job, or get the fuck out and let someone else do it. He was a piece of shit before his stroke, and he’s only gotten worse since. He is the very picture of the lesson we desperately need to learn:
STOP ELECTING PEOPLE BASED SOLELY ON THEIR VIBES!
lowtechcyclist
@janesays:
True. I was more thinking about when they’d get a say about Fetterman, and that wouldn’t be until 2028, if ever.
bbleh
@zhena gogolia: @JoyceH: ahhhh THAT’s it. I figured Columbia was because they’re big in NY and NY real estate and he felt like they dissed him at some point (probably did and with good reason), but re Harvard I thought maybe it was an old grudge from HIM being rejected. But Barron would make more sense, because it’s recent.
Re Fetterman, he’s my Senator, and I’ve been politely urging him to step aside (in coordination with Shapiro) for months. It’s one thing to make reasonable accommodation for someone who can still do a job, but it’s quite another to allow someone to continue in a job who simply can’t do it. I wouldn’t expect someone with similar difficulties to continue as, say, a teacher, or someone with comparable physical difficulties to continue as a firefighter. It’s unfair to everyone, them included.
Ruckus
@JaneE:
Some truth to this but my question is he really unable to do the job? And if so, shouldn’t the state handle this? We may have the same personality for our entire lives, especially after we are done growing. But normal humans do not always remain the same person they were. I didn’t grow from 5-6 years old till after I was 12. A prime time for most kids to grow. And I got crap from a few male “humans” about not being anywhere near normal height. I learned to stand my ground and not take their crap, and had a better shot at landing a first strike in a very painful place for most males. And when I did start growing again all that patience and knowledge worked out very well for me and has for decades. I knew that bullies were everywhere and most often they never pick on someone their equal in any way. Because they understand what they are doing and think it’s normal. And it may be normal for them because some humans do double duty as pompous arrogant assholes. And it very often does not work out well for them in the long run. None of them treated me the same way after I grew, which taught me that some humans either didn’t understand the concept of growing up or are just pompous, arrogant assholes. I was and still am convinced that some humans are always going to be pompous arrogant assholes. It’s who and what they are.
bbleh
@Ruckus: The state is powerless in the matter, per the Constitution, because it’s a Federal office. They set the procedures *IF* an official resigns, but they can’t “recall” him or force him to step aside.
WaterGirl
I gotta say, this seems harsh, no matter who is being referred to.
ouch!
Glory b
@schrodingers_cat: Exactly.
schrodingers_cat
@Glory b: You get me! Thanks.
AxelFoley
@chemiclord:
This. All this.
I’ve side eyed this muthafucka since the jogger incident, and even before his health issues he never did anything to change my perception of him.
He needs to get the fuck out if he doesn’t ant to do his job.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
As a Disabled person with Depression myself, I am not amused. Like many others said, he gets the best healthcare available and he’s basically ignoring it. What is this thing about not taking your meds? WTF? That’s enraging to me. WTH does he think he is? That he’s better than the highly trained experts trying to get him healthy? Or does he simply not care?
As for his lackadaisical attitude to his extremely well compensated job, oh you arsehole! Did I mention I’m Disabled? Yet pre-Covid and now Measles, I did a number of temp jobs, picking up work when and where I could. I was proud of my work, even when I, inevitably, got sick. And that was low paying gig work. If Fetterman can’t be arsed to do the job he fought for, fck him. Resign and give it to someone who is willing to do it.
prostratedragon
@bbleh: Raised my eyebrow (the left one) when I heard B. went to NYU. Explained Columbia to me, along with the size of the CU real edtate portfolio. As if there aren’t numpty-thousand others who got into neither place but will somehow manage successful lives.
Ruckus
@bbleh:
He can be removed by expulsion, by the senate.
I’m not looking to see if this has ever been done but the senate or the house can remove a sitting member by expulsion if there are enough votes. And it takes a lot. But I’d bet there wouldn’t be enough votes in the current house or senate to do this unless there was an extremely strong reason. Being in less than great heath is very unlikely to be enough of a reason. Having the number of members of either side of congress being rather close to equal very likely means it won’t happen.
Gloria DryGarden
Except, santos did get expelled, but that was for crimes and lies, wasn’t it?
not the same as being ill.
id rather not see depression get stigmatized. And yet, these folks do get paid to do a job…
Elie
@NotoriousJRT:
I think he ought to resign. He can’t help his behavior entirely. His brain is damaged. I suspect his frontal and or temporal lobes were involved and you can see he has poor executive function. There is no cure. People with this sort of damage do not learn or cooperate very well. It is a 100% medical tragedy and I wish him and his family all the best. He must step down however
Ruckus
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
It’s likely not that easy. Very likely.
Ruckus
@Gloria DryGarden:
Depending on exactly what is going on with him it may far more than depression. It looks like more than depression to this ex mental health counselor. To me it seems a lot more than just depression.
Barry
@Princess: “The NYT is a worse enemy to us than Fetterman. Probably worse than even Trump because he’ll be gone one day anc it will still be here.”
In the end, the NYT likes fascism, until and unless the owners feel that they themselves could suffer.
At which point they will still bend the knee, but from fear.
JB
Fetterman’s words about his illness was a PERFECT REGURGITATION of the words that are spoken to 60M Untreated/Undertreated 🇺🇲’s who live w/Chronic Intractable Pain!
But it’s been OK to treat these citizens as being broke depressed drug seekers, to deny them the FDA Approved Opiate medications that WORK, & force them into NON-FDA approved but cleared procedures which rarely work, ever since Trump made his Public Health Emergency declaration w/its accompanying Opioid Commission in 2017 & its Congressional codification known as The SUPPORT Act in 2018.
Unfortunately, no one gives a damn about these suffering Americans until they become members in the Chronic Pain club. Funny how all the “Mental Health” supporters can conveniently ignore the fact that 85% of ALL suicides are compromised of untreated/undertreated #ChronicPainPatients! {Oct. 2020 DEA report to the CDC Injury & Prevention board}
This direct interjection into their healthcare, state governments decided that every American who received opiate pain meds must be treated as if he/she was a criminal parolee; forced to sign a contract to receive humane pain care, forced to pay for mandatory monthly Dr. Appointments & a drug tests, all while being told they must stop using the safest pain medications that has provided them with some aspect of life quality & to become guinea pigs for off-label pharmaceutical experimentation or to undergo non-FDA approved pharmaceuticals or surgically implanted devices.
Fetterman has ignored what these citizens have had & continue to endure. Sec. Kennedy has also & continues to ignored our plight; I guess 100 Disabled Pain Patients Suicides every fucking day is good business. So are the 125 Illegal drug OD deaths & the hundreds of others dying from the ramifications of untreated pain; Heart Attacks & Strokes due uncontrollable hypertension, Liver & Kidney disease due the overuse of OTC NSAIDS, Tylenol/Motrin, but all of these side effects are very profitable…oh I almost forgot to mention, the federal government provides financial incentives to those Drs & Institutions who are willing to torture their patients, 🇺🇲 citizens, for the “Benefit of Medical Science” & their personal profit!
During his 2020 campaign, Trump touted his ability to cut pain scripts in half, ignoring the 350% increase in illegal drug OD deaths, but now, as if patients weren’t seeking pain relief from the streets, it’s all due to the illegal Fentanyl being brought into our country. However, make no mistake about it, the GOP isn’t alone. The DNC & every other party has capitalized of this 🇺🇲 GENOCIDE – this is the primary why Harris, whose step daughter is a #ChronicPainPatient, lost to the man who emulated Hitler’s T-4 Plan & who keeps it running.
Fetterman is doing what 99.9% can’t do & it’s all because he’s an elected official. In fact, he’s pulling a Biden; Joe should have resigned after his debate, but he wanted the money &/or power or both for as long as possible. If Joe would have gone, Harris would have been our 47th president & completely destroyed $100M of Trump’s 45-47 marketing; plus it would have eliminated all the “No Primary” bullshit.
Given that PA has a democratic governor, there is no political reason for Fetterman to hang onto his seat. These people are required to work 122 days/yr – 976hrs, which less than 1040hrs/yr citizens must work to receive Medicaid/SNAP under the GOP’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Peace to you all!