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John Fetterman has been under attack by Republicans and the media for debating his opponent after having a stroke. Some said it was "painful to watch."
On MSNBC, Lawrence O'Donnell put these people to shame. The empathy for Fetterman and historical grounding was truly beautiful:
When he made his first public speeches after the stroke, Winston Churchill worried that he wouldn't be able to stay standing through the speeches, but he did. And no one -- no one except his doctors and family and very closest staff knew that Winston Churchill had a stroke...
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once fell to the floor of his private railroad car, clutching his chest in agony...Roosevelt lost the ability to walk or even stand up at the age of 39 when he was struck with polio. He had been a political rising star in New York and many expected him to retire...But Franklin Roosevelt recovered to the point where he won two elections for Governor of New York, and then won four presidential elections in a row. And he did all of that in a wheelchair.
But Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill had the good fortune to serve as the highest elected officials in their countries long before television news could cover their every move...Franklin Delano Roosevelt believed that it would be painful to watch him being lifted in and out of a car by Secret Service agents, so he never allowed cameras to capture that...
Painful to watch quickly became an oft repeated phrase on Twitter last night during the Pennsylvania Senate campaign debate, because Democratic candidate John Fetterman suffered a stroke this spring and has not fully recovered 100% of his verbal fluency...The "painful to watch" reviews last night seemed oddly disconnected to this country's own experience with illness in elected office, including the experience of two members of the United States Senate who had strokes this year...
The Senate is a deliberative body. Senators never have to make quick, irreversible decisions. They can take their time and think about each vote they cast in the Senate. And they usually cast their votes in accordance with the positions they have taken in their campaigns...How painful was it to watch a physician [Dr. Oz] who used to fully support every woman's right to make their own reproductive choices say last night, in the hope of winning Donald Trump's voters in Pennsylvania, that what he called "local political leaders" should be making that choice for women. How painful was that to watch?
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- The PCCC Team (@BoldProgressive)
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