On Tuesday, Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman opened up about the challenges he experienced after suffering a stroke earlier this year.
In the first post-stroke sit-down interview in May, MSNBC correspondent Dasha Burns announced that campaign demands required Fetterman to use closed captioning (CC) technology to transcribe the interview. Barnes noted that it would have been difficult to chat with the senator candidate before the interview without the help of CC software. It looked like
An MSNBC correspondent asked Mr. Fetterman, currently serving as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, if he could trust voters’ ability to perform the job if elected. Fetterman paused, read his CC on the computer, and then replied, “Of course.”
Fetterman confided that he had trouble understanding spoken language after his stroke and explained the need for CC.
“The auditory processing of hearing someone talking, but sometimes [it won’t] Tell them exactly what they are saying. We use captions,” he said.
“I’ve always thought of myself as very empathetic. ‘Emphasis. I think I was very–I’m sorry,'” Fetterman corrected himself again. is an example of.”
Dasha Burns of MSNBC: Fetterman says, “I’m having trouble understanding what I’m listening to…I still have some problems and I’m having trouble with the way I speak…he understands our conversations. It seemed like he was struggling with pic.twitter.com/HNl6LYdfoX
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) October 11, 2022
“You say you’re on your way to full recovery. But now voters really have to take your word for it,” Barnes continued. “We asked for your medical records. We had a conversation with someone on your medical team and asked them to interview your doctor.
“We feel very transparent in a lot of ways, when our primary doctor had already put out a letter saying I could serve and run,” Fetterman replied. .
Burns countered, saying the letter in question was dated in May and may not have provided insight into the senator’s current health.
“I’ve been in front of thousands of people, been interviewed, walked all over Pennsylvania,” he replied. When Fetterman finished saying it was enough evidence to “determine whether voters think it really matters,” he appeared to be struggling.
The Senate candidate has been criticized for fending off an offer to debate Republican Senate challenger and former talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fetterman told Politico in a statement in September that he had agreed to discuss his opponent.
“We’re definitely going to discuss Dr. Oz. It really was always going to be that way,” Fetterman said. , we’ll be able to work it out,” the outlet reported.
According to Politico, Fetterman has scheduled the Oz debate on Oct. 25. By his consent to Oz’s debate, the moderator stated that Fetterman would use his CC software, that the debate practice should not include actual debate questions, and that he would spend the debate over a period of time rather than an hour. He should explain to the audience that he should extend to 90 minutes.
Both candidates are looking to fill Sen. Pat Toomey’s seat after Republican Senator Pat Toomey previously announced that he would not be seeking re-election this year.