It’s always beneficial to have someone who can substitute for you at work, especially if you can’t perform your duties particularly well.
Such is the case with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. The newly elected Democrat has assured his constituents that, despite suffering a stroke shortly before last year’s primary, he is fully capable of carrying out his duties. Long hospitalization for depression treatment seemed to cast doubt on this, as have his cognitive difficulties since then.
However, you wouldn’t know it by reading transcripts of his remarks. According to Fox News, the senator’s office has edited many of Fetterman’s statements to make him appear more coherent than he actually is.
“The issue exploded on Wednesday when Jeff Stein, a Washington Post economics reporter, admitted to amplifying a misquote Fetterman’s office provided to him, which had significantly altered Fetterman’s actual statements,” Fox News reported.
“Stein received backlash for tweeting that Fetterman had asked Silicon Valley Bank ex-CEO Greg Becker, ‘Shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank? Republicans seem to be more preoccupied with SNAP requirements for hungry people than protecting taxpayers that have to bail out these banks.’”
“That was my fault,” Stein wrote. “Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet once some of the words in the quote were inaccurate.”
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
Fetterman’s exact remarks were, um, not that:
🔥🔥🔥🔥 Senator John Fetterman asks Silicon Valley if they should have work requirements:
“Republicans want a work requirement for SNAP, for hungry families…Shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank?”
🔥Thank you, Senator! 🔥pic.twitter.com/NejbucJtcR
— Peter Morley (@morethanmySLE) May 16, 2023
“The Republicans want to give a work requirement for SNAP,” Fetterman said in reality.
“You know, for a uh, uh, uh, a hungry family has to have these, this kind of penalties, or these some kinds of word — working uh, require — Shouldn’t you have a working requirement, after we sail your bank, billions of your bank? Because you seem we were preoccupied, uh when, then SNAP requirements for works, for hungry people, but not about protecting the tax, the tax papers, you know, that will bail them out of whatever does about a bank to crash it.”
While it is common for reporters to omit filler words such as ‘um’ and ‘you know’ when transcribing comments, the extreme changes to Fetterman’s actual words in the quote Stein tweeted stunned observers, according to Fox News.
In addition, additional footage of Fetterman from the Silicon Valley Bank hearing did not depict a man in peak condition.
John Fetterman participates in a Senate Banking Committee hearing with the former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. pic.twitter.com/uKILMfuilN
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 16, 2023
Fox News noted that this was not a one-time event from Fetterman’s office.
His office transcribed his remarks from an April 26 hearing as follows: “I’m really enthusiastic about Whole-Home Repairs. In Pennsylvania, one of my colleagues, Senator Nikil Saval, shepherded the bill. Together, he and the Republicans created one of the nation’s earliest programs of this type.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
“I come from a community here, in Braddock, Pennsylvania, where your home can go bad really quickly. And I’m really excited that we can take something like that, which is happening in Pennsylvania, and take it federal.” CONTINUE READING…
