774 Comments

I have this happen with migraines - loss of speech comprehension basically, but I can read. I just can't recognize words. It's a bit scary. I am not passing judgment on his abilities because I don't know anything about that, but I do know that this kind of thing is more common than you might think - cruise reddit for people with Central Auditory Processing Disorder, or even just people who don't have hearing problems but rely on closed-captioning in everything they watch on TV. It's a thing.

Expand full comment

The worst part of this is all the ridiculous "ableist" rhetoric. I'm a middle aged, slightly plump white female in glasses who is an orthopaedic surgeon. If I wanted to have a walk on tryout for the Baltimore Ravens football team, and was refused, would I be able to sue them for "ableism"? Let's face it, not everyone can do everything. I do something many told me I could not, but it's not really pushing the envelope, just stretching preconceptions.

This is what we saw in the debate - John Fetterman had a stroke that impairs his ability to communicate. Per his campaign, he is supposedly recovering, but we have no medical records available, such as neuropsychiatric testing, to support that assertion. He has suffered brain damage which impairs his ability to understand and produce speech. This is as much a handicap in the Senate as my age and physical abilities would be in the NFL.

Even with the support of technology, he could not produce intelligible replies. This is not a case like Steven Hawking, who with the aid of technology, produced some of the most brilliant thinking of our generation, and was able to articulate it himself. Fetterman cannot listen, process, and reply with any reliability. If elected, he will be a puppet. The real question is, whose?

Expand full comment

“too many journalists in the legacy media have simply revealed—once again—why they cannot be trusted. From Russiagate to the lab leak theory to the riots in the summer of 2020 to the effect of school closures during the pandemic, reporters seem increasingly incapable of reporting honestly…”

My first response to this article is that this no longer surprises anyone. And my second is-I wonder how different the last few years could have looked if we had actually had honest and trustworthy media. Thank you for this thoughtful article. I am reminded once again how much I appreciate Common Sense and substack.

Expand full comment

Two clowns going at it on TV.

Why would anyone in his right mind watch this circus anyway?

I wouldn't vote for any of this idiots. Go and do something useful on Election Day, like reading a good book, bingewatching The Big Bang Theory or invite Your significant other to the movies and dinner after.

If that's the best the US has to offer to send to the senate this country is hopelessly screwed and might as well rejoin GB as a colony voluntarily. Having Charles as a king can't be worse than being governed by utter idiots like Fetterman and Oz or Biden and Trump for that matter.

Expand full comment

I have seen this before , Here in Cook county IL, The democrat's want the ability to appoint not if but when Fetterman steps down if he wins

In Cook we actually elected a person A vegetative state we later found out

" echo the issues Cook County voters faced in 2008, when then-County Board President John Stroger suffered a major stroke the week before the March primary and the severity of his condition was shrouded in secrecy until long after the balloting."

Expand full comment

Would these same journalists defending a cognitively disabled man running for the senate pay to see a man in a wheel cheer play outfield for their favourite baseball team?

Expand full comment

Having had a stroke and been thru the impact it had on my cognitive side of my mind - like losing my exec role, forced to retire (comfortably), and much more - the media that supports this guy is nuts. Their is no way no way he can do this type of a job after a major stroke - especially if it was in the cognitive side (left)...The right side of my brain - the creative is great - DT's is over reactive and too close to his vocabulary. Elon's creative side is spot on in todays packed out world...SINK IN BABY SINK IN.....

Expand full comment

Woo get after it man!

Expand full comment

Apparently, the Philadelphia Inquirer called the debate for Fetterman. I say "apparently" because I was told of this by a relative who lives in PA. I couldn't fully verify because the articles are behind paywalls, and I have a moral objection to paying for such drivel.

Expand full comment

What does it say about a society that tolerates as its leaders people like Fetterman (unfit), Biden (decrepit), Pelosi (same), McConnell (same), and Trump (a crazy old bully)? It says we have no respect for ourselves or our nation.

Expand full comment

I agree with everything said in this article but Do Not lump The Lab Leak theory with bad Journalism. In fact the liberal media did not go there for quite a long time bc. they hate blaming China bc. Trump got there first.

Expand full comment

This should have been posted without comment. We come to our own conclusions on the evidence. The only folk looking really, really, bad here are the folk staging it and facilitating it. This is yet another example of the facile and insulting fashion in which the US media presents and conducts political debates. No favour was done the American voter here.

On the OP; the columnist manages to come over as an ableist bigot of very partisan politics. Why 'Common Sense' wants to push guff like this I've no idea. It doesn't reflect well on this platform's so-called "journalism". If I were the editor of a responsible and neutral media organisation I wouldn't employ the clowns here: 'Common Sense' appears to be absent the journalistic ethic I or anyone else would want from a news organisation.

Expand full comment

The cruelty is with the people around this poor man, that includes Fetterman’s wife. She is clearly guilty of abuse of the disabled in her grotesque grasp at power, and so are the ghouls on his team.

Expand full comment

This is just one more thing that will make me vote anything but democrat. The media has spoken about how terrible the republican candidates are and how unqualified they are, all the while we have a president who is painful to watch and now Fetterman. Pretty soon the democrats will be supporting anyone with an IQ of 70 or an obvious mental defect as perfectly capable of serving as an elected official.

Expand full comment

I think we are among a growing number who are frustrated by the overtly biased news we are spoon fed by the mainstream media every day. Left or right, it makes no difference, "news reporting" is largely aimed at influencing potential voters. Perhaps it is the inevitable result of the consolidation of news reporting into media conglomerates or maybe their universal access to every home and office for the 24/7 news cycle; that and most people have neither the time nor inclination to dig deeper than the headlines. And that is precisely the value of Common Sense. Amen.

Expand full comment

It is so sad that these are the best two candidates the parties that rule our country could produce for the Pennsylvania senate.

Expand full comment