POLITICAL BLOTTER

**bklynboy68** · 05.09.25, 07:07 PM

Leaks to media about Fetterman are a coordinated smear campaign, Hill colleagues say

GOP Sens. McCormick and Grassley joined Democratic Rep. Torres in defending Fetterman

May 9, 2025 7:16pm EDT

The media’s pile-on of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., reached the point where both Republicans and Democrats were lamenting the rhetorical blows landing on the hulking Pittsburgh-area lawmaker by Friday.

"This is so blatantly coordinated," remarked media observer and Fox News contributor Joe Concha, who shared a link in his X post to a Politico report claiming an internal Democratic poll found Fetterman’s popularity faltering in his part of the Keystone State.

The report claimed Fetterman had now fallen below 50% in Democratic voter support in the Steel City, just a few miles west of Braddock, where he was previously mayor.

Fox News Digital cannot verify the veracity of the poll's findings.

"I know a hit piece when I see one," added Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.

"The only reason for the coordinated campaign against Senator John Fetterman is his unapologetic pro-Israel politics," wrote Torres, a Bronx Democrat who also bucks his party on Israel, but is also considered a high-profile progressive.

"Let’s call it what it is. As someone who has struggled with depression my whole adult life, I can tell you that if you truly care about someone’s mental health, leaking hit pieces against them is a strange way of showing it."

Swing-state Pennsylvania has a history of politically opposed senators forging close relationships — such as Republican Pat Toomey and Democrat Bob Casey Jr. for many years.

That trend continued Friday when Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., stuck up for Fetterman, saying in a statement that "it’s time to put politics aside and stop these vicious, personal attacks against Senator Fetterman, his wife, and his health."

"While we have many differences, we are both committed to working together to achieve results for the people of Pennsylvania and make their lives better," McCormick wrote.

The Republican called the Democrat "authentic, decent, principled and a fighter," and ripped the "disgraceful smears" he has seen in recent times.

Philadelphia radio host Nick Kayal remarked on X that he’s seen more reports critical of Fetterman’s health in four days than were seen in the press about former President Joe Biden in four years.

"Wonder why," he asked rhetorically.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, added that "the media ought to lay off Senator Fetterman."

A former UPenn student who spoke out on national media against the anti-Semitic protests on campus also came to Fetterman’s defense, slamming the "hit pieces" as of late.

"If you’re a Democrat and oppose the woke mob, you’re enemy #1 of the legacy media," wrote Eyal Yakoby, who also posted a previous photo he took with Fetterman.

Conservative former Pittsburgh news anchor and radio host Wendy Bell remarked on X that the Fetterman attacks are "so weird."

"The New York Magazine hit piece on John Fetterman didn’t hit enough to stick the landing. Now it’s the AP’s turn. This is journalism? No, this is propaganda," Bell wrote.

"The Code Red has been issued on Fetterman," Concha followed up in another X post.

"And of course, our wonderful media follows that order as if Col. Jessup ordered it himself," he said, referring to Jack Nicholson’s crooked Marine Corps officer character in 1992's "A Few Good Men."

Later on Friday, more Republicans came to Fetterman's defense, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.

"John Fetterman and I have our differences, but he’s a decent and genuine guy," Cotton wrote.

"The radical left is smearing him with dishonest, vicious attacks because he’s pro-Israel and they only want reliable anti-Israel politicians. Disgraceful."

Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., also pushed back on the media, calling Fetterman a "tremendous friend and colleague."

"It’s a complete disgrace what agenda-driven members of the media and his own party are doing to attack him, all because he dares to be an independent thinker and voice. Proud to stand with John," she wrote.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lea...eagues-say.amp

**The Rover** · 05.14.25, 01:21 AM

Judge Dugan

**Number 47** · 05.15.25, 04:11 AM

The Smearing of John Fetterman

The senator turns out to be rather moderate, so the left claims he is mentally unfit.

Adam Jentleson sent an email to the medical director of the traumatic-brain-injury and neuropsychiatry unit at Walter Reed hospital in May 2024. Sen. John Fetterman, for whom Mr. Jentleson was chief of staff, had been released from the facility in May 2023 following six weeks of inpatient care for what his doctors diagnosed as clinical depression. A year earlier, in May 2022, Mr. Fetterman had suffered a stroke while running for the Senate seat he eventually won. Healthwise, it had been a difficult two years for the Pennsylvania Democrat, who had become known for flouting the Senate dress code as much as for his policy positions.

Mr. Jentleson, according to a report in New York magazine, was once “proud” of his boss for seeking professional help. He later became so “alarmed” by Mr. Fetterman’s behavior that he quit his job. According to the 1,600-word email Mr. Jentleson sent to Mr. Fetterman’s doctor, the senator was suffering from “conspiratorial thinking” and “megalomania” while experiencing “high highs and low lows.” In “long, rambling, repetitive and self-centered monologues,” Mr. Fetterman was “lying in ways that are painfully, awkwardly obvious to everyone in the room.” Mr. Jentleson also said the senator was “preoccupied” with Twitter and driving “recklessly.”

Some of these symptoms sound like the job description of a U.S. senator. Revealingly, in a story that cites a bevy of ex-staffers (all anonymously) expressing their alarm about the mental state of their former boss, writer Ben Terris reserves his own judgment until the end. “I didn’t find any indication that the stroke had left him cognitively impaired,” he writes. So what is this 7,000-word work of breathless journalism really about?

Mr. Fetterman does indeed suffer from a debilitating illness: sudden onset political moderation. The first indication appeared in October 2023, when he repudiated demands that Israel desist from responding militarily to the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. “We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children,” Mr. Fetterman tweeted 11 days after the group’s barbaric assault that left some 1,200 people dead and 250 in captivity. According to Mr. Terris, this steadfast support for the Jewish state “surprised” Mr. Fetterman’s progressive “base.”

Further symptoms manifested. “I am not a progressive,” Mr. Fetterman said in December 2023. That same month, as Congress debated a border-security deal, he remarked: “I hope Democrats can understand that it isn’t xenophobic to be concerned about the border.” Mr. Fetterman was the first Democratic senator to accept an invitation to meet with Donald Trump after the 2024 election, stating, “I’m the senator for all Pennsylvanians—not just Democrats in Pennsylvania.” Other signs of illness included Mr. Fetterman’s calls for his Senate colleagues to eject their corrupt colleague Bob Menendez, taunting anti-Israel protesters by waving an Israeli flag on the roof of his home, and conversing with progressive bêtes noires Joe Rogan and Bill Maher.

Conflating Mr. Fetterman’s political evolution with his allegedly declining mental health (dressed up as concern for his well-being) is extremely cynical in light of the debate that ensued after he suffered a stroke during the 2022 Senate campaign. Mr. Fetterman took three months off to recuperate, and when he participated in a debate, his performance was disastrous—forgetting words, pausing for long periods and speaking awkwardly. In his opening statement he said, “Goodnight, everybody.” At the time, progressives castigated anyone who questioned Mr. Fetterman’s fitness for office as an “ableist.” Now, when he’s clearly improved, they claim he’s unfit to serve.

Attributing Mr. Fetterman’s political maturation to mental illness is shameful considering the courage it has taken him to speak publicly about his depression. For elected officials especially, it can be difficult to broach such a personal subject. Mr. Fetterman should be commended for discussing it openly. He’s doing for mental health what former First Lady Betty Ford did for addiction, raising awareness about a problem suffered by millions in shame and silence. He is encouraging people to seek professional help. How quickly progressives, usually so careful not to stigmatize people for their mental health, do an about-face when the target of such accusations espouses political views opposing theirs.

What’s afflicting Mr. Fetterman is a more acute version of what struck Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, Democrats from red states who tried to reach across the political divide. In an era of increasing ideological polarization, consensus-seeking moderates aren’t positive examples to emulate, but sell-outs to be destroyed. In the case of the senior senator from Pennsylvania, progressives are confusing the disease with the cure. It isn’t John Fetterman who’s unwell. It’s the people around him.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-smea...acity-9204cc88