A year ago, Democratic Senator John Fetterman suffered a stroke. Concerns about his health have persisted as he labors through Senate hearings, due to speech and cognitive difficulties.
Gaslighting Everyone
The Pennsylvania senator’s team continually attacks critics for bringing attention to the issue, claiming he is healthy apart from auditory processing issues.
In the meantime, they have subtly edited his comments to make him sound more cogent as he struggles to recuperate.
John Fetterman is incapable of speech or coherent thought. Good job, Pennsylvania. pic.twitter.com/aLQyaHBAsg
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 16, 2023
On Wednesday, Washington Post economics reporter Jeff Stein confessed to enhancing a misquote provided to him by Fetterman’s office, which substantially altered Fetterman’s actual remarks.
Stein received criticism for tweeting that Fetterman posed a query to former Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker. However, Fetterman’s remarks on Tuesday were much less explicit, leaving the masses speechless.
Although it is common for reporters to omit filler words such as “um” and “you know” when transcribing comments, the drastic modifications to Fetterman’s actual words in Stein’s tweet stunned observers.
Yesterday I tweeted this quote, provided to me by the Senator’s office, without checking it against the video. That was my fault. Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate pic.twitter.com/jkDYYr2EU2
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 17, 2023
Stein deleted his initial tweet. After deleting the controversial tweet, he even admitted that he received a quote from Fetterman’s office, but failed to confirm it with a video.
This Happens a Lot
Nonetheless, according to a Fox News Digital analysis of remarks posted on Fetterman’s congressional website (in comparison to the corresponding video of the hearings), this is not an isolated incident by any means.
According to the investigation’s findings, Fetterman’s office altered his statements multiple times when he returned to Capitol Hill in the middle of April, following an absence caused by depression.
After his return from treatment on April 19, Fetterman presided over his first hearing of a subcommittee since that time.
His opening words at the hearing attracted a lot of attention online. Also, his office published a link to his concluding statements without providing a transcription of them.
This article appeared in NewsHouse and has been published here with permission.
