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Regardless of whether voters think Fetterman's stroke is an issue, journalists decided it was [1]
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Date: 2022-10-12
His one glitch was stumbling over the word empathetic. Fetterman first said it perfectly, then offered "emphetic," before noting the switch was a function of the stroke and going back to empathetic.
"I always thought I was pretty empathetic," he said, pausing. "Ah, emphetic ... I think I was very, excuse me, empathetic—ya know, that's an example of the stroke—empathetic. I always thought I was very empathetic before having a stroke. But now, after having that stroke, I really understand much more kind of the challenges that Americans have day in and day out."
That was basically all in the way of Fetterman being choppy or "rough," unless people are simply holding against him the fact that he was simultaneously reading the questions.
In fact, cognitively, Fetterman sounded good, making observations that any decent campaigner would make about his GOP rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz.
"Dr. Oz likes to make fun of me that I might miss a word," Fetterman said. "But he's missed two words—and that is 'yes' or 'no' on a national abortion ban. If you're going to be our next senator, you have to give the answer."
But regardless of whether voters had issues with this interview, journalists were off to the races.
“Will Pennsylvanians be comfortable with someone representing them who had to conduct a TV interview this way?” posited CBS' Ed O'Keefe.
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta held up a brain model for viewers as he differentiated between the lobes Fetterman was using to process questions visually and orally.
Dasha Burns, the NBC reporter who landed the interview, told viewers that she "wasn't clear" Fetterman understood her as they engaged in "small talk" before the interview.
Journalist Kara Swisher, a podcaster and New York Times contributor, flatly rejected that characterization.
“Sorry to say but I talked to @JohnFetterman for over an hour without stop or any aides and this is just nonsense,” Swisher tweeted, suggesting that perhaps Burns' small talk skills were lacking.
After the reportorial uproar, Burns circled back on Wednesday with an update.
"I've spoken to stroke experts, they say these are side effects that do not indicate any sort of cognitive impairment—it's not that his decision making or problem solving or memory has been impacted,” she explained.
At this point, what voters do and don't make of empathetic versus emphetic is irrelevant. Journalists decided it was a story the masses needed to know about.
As for Fetterman, he's campaigning and prepping for his debate with Oz later this month on Oct. 25, during which he will use close captioning again. Then voters can see for themselves.
“I don’t think it’s going to have an impact,” Fetterman told NBC of his stroke. “I feel like I’m gonna get better and better — every day. And by January, I’m going [to] be, you know, much better. And Dr. Oz is still going to be a fraud.”
Seems pretty sound, actually.
x 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. pic.twitter.com/0fee1cKXgY — NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) October 11, 2022
After an eruption of even more scandals among Republican Senate candidates, FiveThirtyEight’s Nathaniel Rakich returns to The Downballot this week to discuss the effect these sorts of scandals can have on competitive races; whether Democrats stand a chance to keep the House; and the different ways pollsters create likely voter models.
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