Congrats to all Pennsylvanians!

[CartBone69]

Trump's endorsement of OZ also helped Fetterman score the win. OZ should have never been nominated.

This right here, we can thank the voters that put Oz up against Fetterman.

[JenniferG]

This right here, we can thank the voters that put Oz up against Fetterman.

With mail in voting we could have run George Washington and he still would have lost to a retard.

[ShadeRabbit]

Congratulations to all my Pennsylvanian friends, with the swearing in of John "Lurch" Fetterman as a U.S. Senator, you have the great distinction of having as your man in Washington the second highly mentally diminished politician in the nation's capital. I don't know how you folks pulled this off, but you did.

Fetterman checks himself into hospital 'to receive treatment for clinical depression'

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman checked himself into a Washington D.C. hospital Wednesday night to be treated for clinical depression, according to his office, less than a week after checking out.

Adam Jentleson, Fetterman's chief of staff, released a statement Thursday.

"Last night, Senator John Fetterman checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive treatment for clinical depression. While John has experienced depression off and on throughout his life, it only became severe in recent weeks," Jentleson wrote.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fet...cal-depression

[TSimonetti]

This right here, we can thank the voters that put Oz up against Fetterman.

And we can thank Sean Parnell for self-destructing at the worst possible time.

[ImminentDanger]

I wonder if he's still voting in the Senate? If not, that might be a bright spot to the situation.

Fetterman to remain hospitalized for depression for 'a few weeks,' aide says
by Virginia Aabram - February 17, 2023
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...eeks-aide-says

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) will likely remain in inpatient care for "a few weeks" following his hospitalization for clinical depression, according to a senior aide.

The freshman senator, who is continuing to recover from a debilitating stroke in May, checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Wednesday for treatment. His bout of depression surprised staff and the senator himself, according to NBC News.

Fetterman has continued auditory processing problems from the stroke, which the aide said has obscured what the senator is going through.

It's difficult to tell if he's *not hearing you, or is he sort of crippled by his depression and social anxiety," the aide told NBC.

After his hospitalization for depression, many people expressed support for his decision to seek help and to be public about his need for mental health treatment.

His wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, said she was proud of him for asking for help.

"After what he*s been through in the past year, there*s probably no one who wanted to talk about his own health less than John. I*m so proud of him for asking for help and getting the care he needs," she said in a Thursday tweet.

*Millions of Americans, like John, struggle with depression each day. I am looking forward to seeing him return to the Senate soon. Sending love and support to John, Gisele, and their family,* Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) tweeted Thursday.

This is the second time Fetterman has been hospitalized since he assumed office at the beginning of January. He was admitted earlier this month for tests after feeling lightheaded. Doctors ruled out another stroke and seizures.

Questions about Fetterman's health have dogged him since the stroke, which occurred days before his victory in the Democratic Senate primary. He faced fierce competition from Republican Mehmet Oz, who questioned Fetterman's ability to serve in office on the campaign trail.

Fetterman draws praise for getting help for depression
By Mary Clare Jalonick - AP - February 17, 2023
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...ng-help-for-d/

WASHINGTON* When Patrick Kennedy was in Congress, he would sneak in his treatments for substance abuse over the holidays, in between congressional work periods. And he refused mental health treatment recommended by his doctors, worried he would be recognized in that wing of the hospital.

Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat and the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, was eventually forced to reveal his struggles when he crashed his car outside the Capitol after taking a combination of prescription drugs in May 2006. He talked openly about his mental health and substance abuse for the first time, and something surprising happened - he became more popular with his constituency, winning reelection by a bigger margin than he had two years earlier.

On Thursday, the office of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat who was elected to the Senate after a bruising campaign during which he suffered a stroke, announced he had checked himself into the hospital for clinical depression. The statement said Fetterman had experienced depression on and off in his life, but it had only become severe in recent weeks.

Fetterman's public struggle is extraordinary in a building where few talk about their own mental health, even while members of both parties have legislation to expand aid for it. Kennedy and a handful of others who have been open about their own problems, or those in their family, say they hope Fetterman's honesty - and his decisive action to get help - will foster more openness among lawmakers and their constituents in the wake of a global pandemic that has had far-reaching effects.

"This is a moment for us to tear down the stigma of depression and anxiety," said Kennedy, who retired in 2010 and has become a leading voice on mental illness. "Sen. Fetterman may do more for people just by admitting that he's getting help for depression than any bill he ends up sponsoring."

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murphy, tweeted praise for Fetterman, saying he hopes his "courage will serve as an example for others."

Fetterman's Senate colleagues were immediately supportive.

"In every single city and town and rural community there is someone struggling with mental health," said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat who shared her own stories about periods of depression on the Senate floor four years ago. "If they see somebody else, like John, saying, *OK, I need to get medical care,' that can be important to people."

South Dakota's John Thune, the Senate's No. 2 Republican, said he thinks politicians have become more comfortable discussing the issue since the pandemic.

"The more open, transparent people can be, the better our understanding is," Thune said.

Fetterman's hospitalization comes after a rough year in which the 53 year-old suffered a stroke just ahead of the May primary election and spent much of the summer off the campaign trail, recovering. He has said the stroke nearly killed him. He also underwent surgery to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator to manage two heart conditions, atrial fibrillation and cardiomyopathy. He entered the Senate in January, where he has had to adjust to life in Washington and the daily grind of a federal lawmaker.

"It's unreal what @JohnFetterman has been through in the last year," tweeted Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. "A stroke, a recovery, a bruising campaign, a transition to the Senate. I'm so proud of him for taking his health seriously. He's going to be a great Senator for a long time, and I'm pulling for him today."

Texas Sen. John Cornyn said the Senate "can be arduous. So I'm sure if somebody is not up to 100% then it's especially tough, so I wish him well."

Post-stroke depression is common, doctors say. And that could be even more difficult when dealing with it publicly, like Fetterman is.

"Having a stroke in and of itself is devastating and having to recover from a stroke in the public eye only adds to the level of stress as one recovers," said Dr. Bruce Ovbiagele, associate dean and professor of neurology at the University of California-San Francisco.

Dr. Eric Lenze, head of the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, said he thinks it's "interesting and heroic" for a major political figure to acknowledge depression, "instead of saying they're hospitalized for exhaustion or trying to hide it."

While many members are still loath to talk about themselves or their own hardships, some have been more forthcoming about mental illness in recent years. Pennsylvania Rep. Susan Wild declared from the House floor in 2019 that suicide is a "national emergency" and told the story of her partner, who had recently taken his own life. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who was elected in 2020, has said he dropped out of college and at times thought of suicide after struggling with depression, substance abuse and grief after the loss of a friend. Smith said she found that ever since she told her own story of periods of depression as a college student and young mother, people still come up to her to talk about it.

Some lawmakers have also been open about their fear and anxiety after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, when many of them ran for their lives, and the months afterward when tensions between the two parties became even worse. Democratic Reps. Dan Kildee of Michigan and Annie Kuster of New Hampshire both talked about dealing with post-traumatic stress during that time.

The Jan. 6 attack was another inflection point amid the global pandemic.

"We're living in a time of extraordinary stress and crisis," said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who lost his son to suicide just a few days before the insurrection and has since written a book about his experience. "We've come through a plague, we've had tremendous mental and emotional health problems."

Raskin, who was recently diagnosed with cancer, says there may have been a time when political leaders had to pretend that hardships didn't touch their own families, "but I don't think we are living in that time."

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, who has been in the Senate for almost three decades, credits returning veterans from the Iraq war and other conflicts "who have convinced us that this is simple medical, mental health care that many people need from time to time. There isn't a single family that isn't touched by it."

Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, praised Fetterman for being honest. "This is a challenge, unimaginable challenge, that he's faced in life," Durbin said.

Kennedy says that when he returned from his recovery in the mid-2000s, many of his colleagues sought his help and advice privately. And he has continued to talk to some members in the decade since he retired.

He predicted Fetterman could find a "whole new world of connection with his constituency" when he returns to the Senate, and could help people understand the brain science behind depression.

"This is a very teachable moment here," Kennedy said.

Always remember that Democrats vote like lemmings - They'll vote for an empty box if the party says so.
I wonder how many criminals they have elected AFTER they were convicted.

The Republicans are not much better - They'll demand Brightly Colored Fluff in the, otherwise, empty box.

...

[ImminentDanger]

I wonder if he's still voting in the Senate? If not, that might be a bright spot to the situation.

Fettered by Fetterman: Sidelined senator presents Democrats with major problem
by Cami Mondeaux - March 01, 2023
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...hold-on-senate

Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) Senate win last year gave Democrats an outright majority in the upper chamber after two years of nominal 50-50 control.

Democrats had lost the House in the midterm elections, meaning reconciliation bills such as the Inflation Reduction Act would no longer be possible in the 118th Congress. But the pickup allowed Democrats to scrap a power-sharing agreement with Republicans and run Senate committees on their terms.

The win even buoyed hopes that stalled Biden nominations would now have the votes to pass.

But just months into the new session, Democrats are without that 51st vote after Fetterman checked into Walter Reed Medical Center to be treated for depression on Feb. 16.

It’s unclear how long Fetterman, who suffered a stroke on the campaign trail and continues to have audio processing problems, will be away. Still, his absence underscores how tenuous the Democrats' majority remains despite the midterm win. Fetterman's health problems have brought Vice President Kamala Harris back into the Senate limelight, reprising her role as a tiebreaker on a handful of votes on judicial nominations Tuesday and Wednesday.

Her appearance in the Senate chamber is reminiscent of the 117th Congress when Harris cast 27 tiebreaking votes in the 50-50 chamber. She has already cast 29 as of Wednesday and is just two shy of tying the record for a vice president.

Fetterman’s absence also buoys Republican odds of sending legislation to Biden's desk, something unheard of when Democrats controlled the lower chamber.

...

[DavidH]

Fetter-neck might already be dead for we know. No one has seen or heard a word from him in the last three weeks or something. Nothing! And his democrat party of slavery *handlers* are staying tight lipped. Regardless, even if he is just in the hospital, this POS is going to end up eating a bullet. Ahhh, check that. He*ll dope himself to death. His fragile, F*cked up mind can*t handle the position. At some point we*ll hear about the wife having multiple affairs. (Being a democrat whore like most of them!) Yeah, another winner for Dems.