Libs Demand: Stop Brain-Shaming Fetterman

This is a good boy, this is a nice boy

Last night, Pennsylvania senate candidate and Mel Brooks character John Fetterman was interviewed by NBC News. One of the conditions of the interview was that Fetterman needed a closed-captioning device in front of him so he could follow the spoken conversation in real time. Seriously. He couldn’t understand what the interviewer was saying to him. He can’t process auditory information.

NBC’s Dasha Burns tried to prepare viewers for what was to come:

Townhall.com @townhallcom

MSNBC: John Fetterman "has a hard time understanding what he's hearing...he still has some problems, some challenges with speech...he had a hard time understanding our conversations."

Here’s a bit of the interview:

NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt @NBCNightlyNews

Pennsylvania Lt. Governor and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman sat down with @DashaBurns in an exclusive interview using closed captioning. Fetterman discussed his recovery after suffering a stroke in the primaries and his race against Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“Being on in front of thousands and thousands of people and having interviews and getting around all across Pennsylvania, that gives everybody and the voters decide if they think that it’s really the issue.” Ah, okay.

Is someone going to follow Senator Fetterman around with a giant Mac monitor so he can understand what people are saying to him? And will it also transcribe the words coming out of his mouth into what he actually means to say?

This is really bad. So, of course, the journos are scrambling to circle the wagons. Must protect the Democrat!

Kara Swisher @karaswisher

Sorry to say but I talked to @JohnFetterman for over an hour without stop or any aides and this is just nonsense. Maybe this reporter is just bad at small talk. https://t.co/CX9B7qWUaS

Josh Kraushaar @JoshKraushaar

NBC News’ Dasha Burns: “In small talk before my interview [with Fetterman], it wasn’t clear he understood what I was saying.” #PASEN

Cameron Cawthorne @Cam_Cawthorne

🤔🤔🤔

And Fetterman’s wife, who seems to be some sort of co-candidate, is all too glad to muddy the waters:

Gisele Barreto Fetterman @giselefetterman

@LindseyBoylan Truly appalling. Have these “journalists” never heard of the ADA? Close to 15% of the US population identify as hard of hearing and may need accommodations. Really curious to learn how they feel about wheelchairs and glasses …

Wait. Fetterman is hard of hearing? Why weren’t we informed of this until now?

If he can carry on a conversation without the assistive tech, as Kara Swisher claims, why did he need the assistive tech for the NBC interview? Either he needs closed captioning to understand what people are saying to him or he doesn’t. Which is it?

We’re expected to believe that 1) Fetterman doesn’t need any help following a spoken conversation, and 2) We shouldn’t ask why he needs help following a spoken conversation. He’s not disabled, and we should stop shaming him for his disability. He’s okay, and if you notice he’s not okay, you’re “ableist.”

Come on, guys. Pull the other one, it plays “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”