{"id":1909534,"date":"2023-04-04T06:26:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T10:26:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hospitalized-or-not-democrats-have-a-plan-for-fetterman\/"},"modified":"2023-04-04T06:32:15","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T10:32:15","slug":"hospitalized-or-not-democrats-have-a-plan-for-fetterman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hospitalized-or-not-democrats-have-a-plan-for-fetterman\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitalized Or Not, Democrats Have A Plan For Fetterman"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhospitalized-or-not-democrats-have-a-plan-for-fetterman%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1909534&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>John Fetterman was sworn into the U.S. Senate 90 days ago Monday, though you\u2019d be forgiven for missing the anniversary: He spent more than half that time in the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>The initial outpouring of support when Fetterman checked himself in (for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/john-fetterman-hospitalized-feeling-lightheaded\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">second<\/a> time) was massive. The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2023\/02\/22\/john-fetterman-disclosure-mental-illness\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> \u201cwe need more brave politicians\u201d just like him. \u201cThe View\u2019s\u201d Sunny Hostin predicted his opponents would try to use this against him, but the decision was \u201cbrave and courageous.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-821267843\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-20aad241ee7d0c6eecbf6899891b13be fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-20aad241ee7d0c6eecbf6899891b13be\"><\/div>\n<p>The following Tuesday, Politico\u2019s Playbook newsletter reported that Sen. Katie Boyd Britt had sent Fetterman a cookie cake, Sen. Bernie Sanders had sent a fruit basket, and Sen. Tina Smith had \u201cdropped off doughnuts for Fetterman\u2019s staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next day, Playbook included a Philadelphia Inquirer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/politics\/pennsylvania\/john-fetterman-josh-shapiro-depression-hospitalization-20230222.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview<\/a> with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who said he hadn\u2019t heard any senior state party members ask for Fetterman to be replaced, but if he did he would \u201cdismiss it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For weeks after that: silence. A staff birthday was reported here, a stalled bill there; a Politico <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/02\/27\/senate-democrats-fetterman-00084671\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">piece<\/a> at the end of February explained how the Democrats\u2019 50-49 majority meant the vice president could sub in for Fetterman, and with a \u201cquieter Senate \u2026 and with no big thorny legislation on the horizon, his party is giving him ample patience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The senator \u201cis well on his way to recovery \u2026 and will be back soon,\u201d his chief of staff <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AJentleson\/status\/1632827745427128326?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tweeted<\/a> on March 6, nearly three weeks after he was admitted.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-99e307eb42ab311e55c31bacfbc9b536 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-99e307eb42ab311e55c31bacfbc9b536\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cJohn will be out soon,\u201d his communications director <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/politics\/pennsylvania\/john-fetterman-depression-hospital-return-soon-senate-pennsylvania-20230324.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> \u2014 a full four weeks after that.<\/p>\n<p>But with Sen. Dianne Feinstein also out for the entirety of March with shingles, even Vice President Kamala Harris couldn\u2019t break the tie, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/biden-struggling-nominees-senate-majority\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the president\u2019s agenda is suffering for it<\/a>. After The Washington Examiner (and then Politico) pointed this out last week, \u201ctwo people with direct knowledge of his plan\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2023\/03\/29\/fetterman-set-to-return-to-senate-00089519\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a>, \u201cFetterman plans to return to the Senate the week of April 17.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two days later, he was discharged with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/edokeefe\/status\/1641918359502483466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">doctors reporting<\/a> improvement in his sleep, diet, \u201cmotivation, self-attitude and engagement.\u201d A \u201cCBS Morning\u201d interview broadcast to coincide with his release was emotional: The senator was clearly happy to have felt improvements, welled up at the pain of entering the hospital on his kid\u2019s 14th birthday, and looked forward to being able to simply take his son to the dinner they had planned.<\/p>\n<p>Fetterman\u2019s progress is wonderful news, but what\u2019s the endgame? While he can reportedly summon the energy to get out of bed and re-engage with his family, can he do that while expending the energy needed for his demanding job? During the CBS interview, he agreed his life as a senator had been \u201crobotic.\u201d \u201cI just showed up,\u201d he shared, \u201cwhere my staff said.\u201d<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b1f76c9dea8f37c14ab5fc9843a46689 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b1f76c9dea8f37c14ab5fc9843a46689\"><\/div>\n<p>This admission didn\u2019t seem to faze \u201cCBS Morning\u201d host Jane Pauley, who closed out the stunted and emotional interview by asking Fetterman if he planned to run for president. A better question for a man who\u2019s spent half his term so far in the hospital \u2014 and who still needs to figure out if he can focus on his mental health, physical health, family, and job all at once \u2014 might have been if he intends to stay in office at all. The whisper in D.C. is he can resign, but not before Aug. 9.<\/p>\n<p>Aug. 9 is not a particularly auspicious day in world history, though it\u2019s had its moments. Julius Caesar, for example, defeated his great rival Pompey on this day 2,071 years ago. It also marks the ascension of Jerry Ford to the presidency and the death of Jerry Garcia 21 years later. On this day in history, Henry David Thoreau published his book about living in the woods, and the ill-fated foundations were begun for a bell tower in the Italian city of Pisa.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Aug. 9 will also mark the date when the citizens of Pennsylvania will be 90 days out from their Nov. 7 election, meaning the next morning, Fetterman can resign from office without incurring a Republican challenger this fall.<\/p>\n<p>Special elections to fill a vacant Senate seat, the law states, must \u201cbe held at the time of the next general or municipal election, occurring at least ninety (90) days after the happening of such vacancy.\u201d The law is designed so that opposing candidates have a chance to campaign, but if Fetterman resigns on Aug. 10, it means the election to replace him won\u2019t be held until November 2024. That\u2019s crucial to Democrats for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n<p>First: It\u2019s not a good time for Democrats to run another campaign. Pennsylvania leaders don\u2019t really want to talk about what\u2019s happening to Fetterman (notice the silence?) and are even less comfortable answering questions on who knew what and when. Those sorts of campaign-trail queries are best left to next year, when they can be dismissed as partisan attacks on old news about a tragic figure, as opposed to pertinent and current questions about an inhumane political machine and its lies about Fetterman\u2019s true physical and emotional well-being.<\/p>\n<p>The second reason also relates to time: Delaying the election until November 2024 gives Connor Lamb (or whichever Democrat the governor selects) more than a year to establish himself in Fetterman\u2019s seat before having to face a challenger.<\/p>\n<p>Finally: turnout. Democrats are confident they\u2019ll get higher engagement from their voters during a presidential year \u2014 and further, think a Republican such as former President Donald Trump or Gov. Ron DeSantis will help their guy hold onto the seat.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it\u2019s hard on the junior senator from Pennsylvania, who currently passes his days speaking to his chief of staff <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AJentleson\/status\/1632827745427128326?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in a purple room with crayon drawings on the walls<\/a>. But all in all, the conclusion is simple: Holding on for a little more than four months will mean Pennsylvania Democrats can run an \u201cincumbent\u201d while dodging questions on their cover-ups during a year they think will better favor their man. That Fetterman is emotionally (and likely mentally) unable to perform his duties barely figures in. That he\u2019s apparently suffering from severe depression is an afterthought. \u201cStop blaming\u201d his wife, one Inquirer columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/opinion\/jill-biden-gisele-fetterman-husbands-20230306.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demanded<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a wild play and seems hard to believe until you remember these are the same political partisans who pushed Fetterman over the finish line in the first place, despite clear-as-day signs he was not up to the job and \u2014 even worse \u2014 would suffer physically and emotionally if pushed too hard.<\/p>\n<p>The whole time, prominent members of the press covered for the fraud. When NBC reporter Dasha Burns scored the first on-camera interview with Fetterman since his stroke five months earlier, she noted that \u201cin small talk before the interview without captioning, it wasn\u2019t clear he was understanding our conversation.\u201d The reaction was swift and brutal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe View\u2019s\u201d Hostin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/the-view-hosts-slam-nbc-reporter-who-interviewed-fetterman-shes-not-neurosurgeon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">demanded to know<\/a> if Burns was a \u201cneurosurgeon, or a neurologist,\u201d implying only someone with 14-16 years of medical training was qualified to interview Fetterman. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg piled on, suggesting the professional interviewer was the one who was bad at small talk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs someone who has recently interviewed him: Fetterman\u2019s comprehension is not at all impaired,\u201d New York Magazine reporter Rebecca Traister <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rtraister\/status\/1580023598160678912\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">insisted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe this reporter is just bad at small talk,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/karaswisher\/status\/1579997457903423489?s=20&#038;t=ynxeK-YKx8ZqstYm1fjpbQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> Kara Swisher, a totally serious 60-year-old Vox reporter who also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/4008853\/recodes-kara-swisher-really-wants-to-run-for-mayor-im-the-liberal-lesbian-donald-trump-of-san-francisco-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">describes herself<\/a> as the \u201cliberal lesbian Donald Trump of San Francisco.\u201d \u201cSorry to say but I talked to John Fetterman for over an hour without stop or any aides and this is just nonsense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJournalist Kara Swisher,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/kara-swisher-john-fetterman-pennsylvania-b2201512.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Telegraph reported<\/a>, \u201cshuts down \u2018nonsense\u2019 claims that John Fetterman couldn\u2019t follow conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Far from taking Burns\u2019 side, her colleague Savannah Guthrie joined in, pointing out that \u201cother journalists who have also dealt with Fetterman came forward and said they had a different experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the only left-wing outlets to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2022\/10\/john-fetterman-stroke-nbc-interview-election-impact\/671747\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">defend<\/a> Burns\u2019 reporting was The Atlantic; NBC itself was silent.<\/p>\n<p>Still today \u2014 90 days into his term and absent for the majority of it \u2014 little has changed. That\u2019s not shocking: Reporters haven\u2019t been asking questions because by and large, they\u2019re complicit, just as so many of them were during the election.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a cost to this sort of vicious hunger for power, though, and not just for Fetterman, whose recovery is stinted and who\u2019s spent the majority of the year withdrawn and depressed. The voters were conned and were then deprived of a U.S. senator for nearly two months. They had better buckle up; while we\u2019ve moved a little down the track, this ride isn\u2019t letting passengers off anytime soon.<\/p>\n<div  class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-23572f197cf27ba271b1e27556e68827 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-23572f197cf27ba271b1e27556e68827\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">   Christopher Bedford is the executive editor of the upcoming Common Sense magazine, from the Common Sense Society. From December 2019 through October 2022, he was a senior editor at The Federalist.    He is vice chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, a board member at The Daily Caller News Foundation and National Journalism Center, and the author of &#8220;The Art of the Donald.&#8221; His work has been featured in The American Mind, National Review, the New York Post and the Daily Caller, where he led the Daily Caller News Foundation and spent eight years.    A frequent guest on Fox News and Fox Business, he was raised in Massachusetts and lives across the river from D.C. Follow him on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CBedfordDC\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/bernie-sanders\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Bernie Sanders<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/connor-lamb\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Connor Lamb<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dasha-burns\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Dasha Burns<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dianne-feinstein\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Dianne Feinstein<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Donald Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/fetterman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Fetterman<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/henry-david-thoreau\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Henry David Thoreau<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jerry-ford\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Jerry Ford<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/john-fetterman\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">John Fetterman<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/josh-shapiro\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Josh Shapiro<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/julius-caesar\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Julius Caesar<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Kamala Harris<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/kara-swisher\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Kara Swisher<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/katie-boyd-britt\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Katie Boyd Britt<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/politico\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">POlitico<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/rebecca-traister\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Rebecca Traister<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ron-desantis\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Ron DeSantis<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/savannah-guthrie\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Savannah Guthrie<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/sonny-hostin\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Sonny Hostin<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/the-telegraph\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">The Telegraph<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/the-view\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">The View<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/the-washington-post\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">The Washington Post<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/tina-smith\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Tina Smith<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Fetterman was sworn into the U.S. Senate 90 days ago Monday, though you\u2019d be forgiven for missing the anniversary: He spent more than half that time in the hospital. The initial outpouring of support when Fetterman checked himself in (for the second time) was massive. The Washington Post said \u201cwe need more brave politicians\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":574,"featured_media":1909535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[7446,3685,7921,4190,4025],"class_list":["post-1909534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-not","tag-democrats","tag-fetterman","tag-hospitalized","tag-plan"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/574"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1909535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}