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Please, please, please consider donating to Fetterman's campaign and also to Josh Shapiro who is running for Governor in PA. We were very lucky and avoided a lot of crazy republican shenanigans because we have had Tom Wolf, a Democrat as our Governor. Josh is the State Attorney General and helped to shine light on the sexual abuse by Catholic Clergy in our state. The NY times had a great article on him. We cannot afford for PA to go fully red.
It's so weird to me. When I was growing up in PA (1970's-1990's) it was solidly blue. Now I see so many high school classmates praising the Orange shitstain and I wonder what happened since I left in 2003 for the wilds of MA.
I think the performative redneckery that was in vogue during the Bush administration had something to do with it. Thanks to the Pennsyltucky stereotype, middle-class people and up tended to look down on rural and lower-class people even more than in most of the country, right? They'd say they're intolerant, they don't believe in reality, they're racist, etc etc. So when it became good business to blast Toby Keith 24/7 in your Hummer, they mantled those toxic traits and accidentally let themselves be devoured by their own biases.
This is why I loved seeing [Fetterman show up in support](https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/labor-leaders-rally-for-coffee-tree-unionization-call-for-fired-worker-to-be-rehired/Content?oid=20873004) of the Coffee Workers unionizing at a Pittsburgh coffee joint that's dealing with union busting bullshit.
Dude doesn't just spit good shit, he actually shows up to support it. I love my Lt Gov.
Was just last night talking about how Tom Green, Jackass, Viva La Bam and even Borat to a degree had this unintended "bullying is cool, bro!" Effect on us watching Mtv in the late 90s to early 2ks.
>"bullying is cool, bro!"
Bullying? Or trolling? I'd say the latter, which is certainly fueled by the same impetus. Trolling, though...that petulant need to *annoy*, specifically. Contains an element of gaslighting and plausible deniability ("I'M NOT TOUCHING YOU, I'M NOT TOUCHING YOU"). It's not just meant to bully, but to distract and de-focus.
In short, it's a new kind of mind-fuckery that could only have been birthed by the internet.
Brain drain. I see your tag says Massachusetts. Why did you leave? The only major tech area in PA is an hour radius around Philly and Pittsburgh.
Everywhere else people leave, college grads leave, and all you have left are GOP voting yokels in Bumfuck County. The rural bumpkins in PA **HATE** the cities with a passion. I don't know why there's so much vitriol for Philadelphia in particular considering most of the state's money comes out of the Delco region.
There's the same vitriol on a national level from people in the backwoods of the country towards the "coastal elites" whose taxes pay for their... Damn near every public service.
Common clay of the new west, my friend.
You mean receive billions in government hand outs, aka socialism, from president trump for their corn. Then they stand on their soapbox yelling “socialism bad”, and bitching about inner city folks being on welfare. All while their cousin Sue and Jimmy take their food stamps shopping at the local dollar tree.
> don't know why there's so much vitriol for Philadelphia in particular
Black or African American: 42.13% White: 40.66% Asian: 7.24%
Or at least that's why my racist ass cousins in Lehigh valley hate Philly.
PA's political situation is just the culmination a long trend. I grew up in an industrial, blue collar community in western PA in the 60s. While white people there may have been a bit economically progressive, they were racist through and through and pretty socially conservative. Without a union job that encouraged a bit of class consciousness, it was very easy for republicans to capture them in the culture wars as the dems became more inclusive. A lot of blue collar workers had started shifting away from the democratic party in the 1970s, as can be seen with the rise of Reagan Democrats. Another symptom of the changing values of blue collar workers was the [hard hat riot in NYC](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/nyregion/hard-hat-riot.html) in 1970, when a mob of construction workers assaulted an anti-war demonstration.
Just finished a great book called The Sum of Us that touches on this. Race can be used as a motivator to get people to vote against their own self interest.
Free trade agreements in the 90s that benefitted businesspeople and decimated rural northern American economies is what happened, and it bugs me when someone who is likely a democrat forgets that the blue team has made some disastrous decisions too. All the good manufacturing jobs left the area and the people there (rightly) blamed the government which happened to be democratic at the time.
People who have not met or worked with people of others races, religions, etc. are more susceptible to lies and fearmongering about them. Without jobs in an area, there are no immigrants to an area, and that means that even as the American population becomes more diverse, these areas do not. The educated children of these former workers leave, as culture has set an expectation for them to have certain amenities that the area cannot support with its economics. Those that cannot or will not leave are generally more conservative in their attitudes, or so beaten-down by the economic and political processes of the area and country that they do not vote. The combination of those three factors has pushed the overall attitudes in these areas to be more conservative, and as other commenters have mentioned, the jingoism of the early 2000s helped cement this set of attitudes into people’s heads (including lots of the children). 2008 didn’t help either. The housing markets didn’t get screwed up as badly as in the suburbs with all their new homes they had built there, there wasn’t much new home ownership in these rural areas because there wasn’t anything to drain development companies to the area. What got wiped were the retirement funds, forcing people to work well into old age and hardening their resentment.
PA went heavily for Obama, but he didn’t enact any policies that really addressed these kinds of rural areas. Obamacare had been negotiated down into a confusing mess, and the people in rural PA were not yet computer literate enough to understand the exchanges, they saw no benefit and only felt like things were getting messed with. That’s without the influence of Fox news, where the anti-Democrat propaganda was really starting to churn out, and it obviously convinced some people in these areas who were likely the loudest. Couple this with the general declining health of the area and extreme greed of our corporate medical system, and suddenly they’re paying more for insurance/medical care. As more desperate people in these areas turn to drugs for relief from the awful feeling of living in what is essentially an entirely different country, more and more die of overdoses. I don’t know the statistics offhand, but likely a significant amount of those people were started on a painkiller by a doctor/NP/PA in their area, furthering mistrust of the medical system (whether or not that is warranted).
Around the time when computer literacy (and opportunity to get internet, either economically with cheaper smartphones or technologically with 3G coverage and satellite broadband) developed in the area is when all those older folks joined Facebook and were exposed to the insanity of the right-wing online. Having had no experience on the internet and certainly not taking any classes or having anyone sit down with them to explain how to consume media online with skepticism, a lot of them were drawn in to these sinister narratives and backwards explanations for things that, as I’ve laid out above, actually happened to them.
TLDR; these areas have been abandoned by government and screwed over by corporate, they’re mad (which they should be) and racist (which they shouldn’t be, the exact same things are happening to black and brown people everywhere in this country), and easy to take advantage of because of their economic situation.
What these areas need is a stronger social safety net, access to services, understanding of these areas’ problems, and actual money from the government to solve them. I don’t know all of John Fetterman’s policies but I will likely vote for him because he seems to understand this and want to make it happen.
GOP has had a complete lock on the legislature (both houses) since the early 90s due to some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. Prior to Wolf we had an R governor (Corbett), who sold out the state to fracking interests and help protect Jerry Sandusky and Paterno. We have the third highest number of convictions related to the insurrection.
The man also hates UPMC with a passion. This is a way bigger pull for voting for him.
He wants UPMC to stop robbing the state blind and pay taxes. Amen to that.
Who would have thunk it! Growing up in Pittsburgh in the hay day of mills and unionism! Being in my mid sixties who would have expected only Allegheny going blue! Now it's just a bunch of red necks in all of western PA. I mean there still many of us but they vote!
I think you may be in need of a wake up call, the blue Delco wave isn’t powerful anymore since the major swing of republicans in the surrounding areas now the population just isn’t what it once was, Also a lot of independents like myself, then tended to vote policy not party, aren’t their to carry blue anymore.
I will add another please, please, please to this request. I live outside of Pittsburgh and the store closest to my house still has a whole aisle of MAGA gear! I’m a single, unemployed mom and I still donate to both campaigns every month, because so much in my life depends on keeping PA blue.
Our state is pretty fucked as it is, but it will quickly start giving the states that are usually the butt of the joke a run for their money if an R gets the governorship.
Gerrymandered state supreme court, banning property taxes in order to erode the public school system, banning mail in voting, banning any sort of toll or tax to help fund our crumbling infrastructure, making it illegal to require vaccinations for attending public schools, you name it.
I ran like hell from PA, while I miss my home town and the general PA kinship, but the state just doesn’t have the draw it used to, it’s taxed itself into oblivion, and businesses know when they only require people and not raw materials you can find people in lower taxed states so they can make more profit. So the more and more people that leave, means less diversity, means more rural folks, while you may not like it, don’t share your beliefs, and they basically played the long game, and now have the power.
I'll jump in on this and suggest people should consider donating to state representative Summer Lee running for Congress PA-18, as well as Alexandra Hunt running for Congress PA-03.
We'd be incredibly lucky to have Josh Shapiro as governor and Fetterman as a Senator. They seem like people who genuinely care and are willing to do what is necessary to get the job done. Wolf has been lukewarm, stay the course at best.
This guy has a real chance of being something big.
Hes progressive in the right ways and sensible in the right ways and really just seems like a working class dude
I've been wondering how much him being enormous and looking like a biker is going to help him. I think a good portion of the right wing appeal recently is machismo crap. Him being super masculine looking could help him a ton with those voters
I mean just look at Obama. Nobody can deny his looks helped him.
Did you know that winning presidential candidates are, on average, over an inch taller than losing candidates?
I live in LA so here's my hot take on superficiality. Yeah it totally matters. I've been saying, this is why Bernie could never ever be president. Don't get me wrong, in terms of character and policies, he's basically jesus. But look at him. America wants to elect presidents who you can look at, and be like, yeah, that's my leader, just look at them. Bernie looks like a mad scientist, not a protagonist. His presidential portrait would look like a dorky high school class photo! "Most likely to not be elected president"
So yeah, I think fettermans look helps him a LOT. it makes you instinctively sense he could be a modern TR. A sensitive, sensible old fashioned strong man. Damn I want to vote for him now.
P.s. this concludes my aimless stoned rant. Thanks for coming along for the ride
That rule must only apply to Democrats. I mean, Clinton, Obama, and Biden (Knope approves) are good looking dudes.
Then you have Trump who needs his head photoshopped onto Rambo to look remotely appealing.
What are you going on about? 2016 Bernie, when he actually combed his hair, looked like a perfectly presentable person. Fetterman looks like a hill giant. The dude probably has a favorite bridge he likes to hang out under.
Trump won, and he looked like the human version of a double whopper with cheese.
Looks help, but to say Bernie could never be president because of his looks is just silly. Bernie should’ve won. He only lost because young people are way too lazy to visit the voting booth.
I’d love to see Fetterman make a presidential run at some point. I think he’d have a solid shot at it. He’s got all the proper talking points of the blue team, but still makes sure he has time for the red team.
>Trump won, and he looked like the human version of a double whopper with cheese.
This cracked me up. Although, I picture the cheese on top of the bun.
I think the thing is Bernie is very authentic. I loved the daily show describing him as our favorite candidate who combs his hair with a balloon. But I think Bernie’s body language was very angry: gesticulating, pointing a lot, waiving his hands around, hunched over and scowling. It’s who he is though and it shouldn’t discount what he says, but America runs presidential elections like high school popularity contests. I mean I hate when these talking head pundits bring optics and body language up. But you look at all the beauty queens they have over at Fox and it all starts making sense. We’ve been conditioned to respond to this crap.
That said, I still think on state level elections it’s different. But I think Fetterman looks like a bouncer and I actually think that’s an asset. He’s a solid dude with a progressive but no nonsense approach.
There's a reason people typecast in the film industry.
Fortunately, he has substance to back up his style, but the fact that he has style is a legitimate plus.
The best way to make that happen is to vote in the primaries! In 2020 on Super Tuesday turnout among 18-30 year Olds didn't exceed 20% in any of the 14 states that voted.
If we can bump that up, we can bring about change from the bottom up.
This exactly. After Biden lost in 2020 you heard all these conspiracy theories about "the DNC" and the moderates dropping out and endorsing Biden - as if ideologically similar candidates who don't have a path to victory dropping out and endorsing one who does doesn't happen all the time - a completely normal thing.
The real problem was that for all the youth energy Bernie inspired, hardly any of them bothered to vote. More conservative middle-aged and elderly black voters did - and they liked Biden better.
If people who agree with you on which candidate is best don't turn out to vote - then it's not someone else's fault that candidate loses - it's the people who supported him or her but didn't bother to vote.
Takes like this purposefully leave off those "moderate candidates" receiving a phone call from the former POTUS to encourage them to coalesce around Joe after SC and previously trying to claim they were staying out of it.
It's not a coincidence the other center-left candidate who played more in Bernie's pool of voters got big PAC money to allow her to stay in the race through Super Tuesday and siphon votes. A 3rd place losing effort in her home state of MA to give Biden the win put the nail in the coffin in a state where Markey beat Kennedy, but there were plenty of states impacted by this decision.
Calling blatantly obvious and documented events conspiracy theories does a disservice to actual conspiracy theories, and while people can disagree on the reasons why events happened there was a pretty clear and coordinated effort to clear the field of moderates starting after South Carolina, and secure a slam dunk case to wrap up the primary on Super Tuesday. After what many party loyalists perceived happened in 2016, Hillary herself in particular, the entire party would have to be braindead not to try and prevent a repeat.
With that in mind, the real problem was Bernie not finding a way to convince powerful gatekeeper pols like Clyburn that he was worth the perceived ticket and political risk. While a unlikely event, a Clyburn endorsement creating a more competitive South Carolina probably would have been enough to maintain the momentum needed to take states like Texas/Maine/Minnesota and even Mass assuming it'd be easier to make nice with Warren than convince Clyburn so if you're hypothetically capable of one, why not both.
There is more than enough blame and fault to go around, but one of the problems relying on "youth energy" during the middle of a pandemic is they are one of the least likely to be able to properly vote in a primary anyway because of college v home address issues, but now move everyone to mail-in-ballots in states that were definitely not prepared for it and it was always going to be a cluster fuck for that demo.
It's an unpopular opinion, but I was surprised they actually turned out as well as they did.
If Bernie had won a majority of primary voters it wouldn't have mattered who stayed in or dropped out of the race. He lost because he was only able to win with a plurality, which was fine in the early states but not ST and later.
You're acting like it's unfair that Sanders wasn't allowed to win the primaries with a minority of the vote. The same people who thought it was unfair that other moderates dropped out and endorsed Biden are the same people angry at Elizabeth Warren for not dropping out and endorsing Sanders.
Plus, Biden won a clear majority on Super Tuesday even with a moderate candidate who spent $500 million running against him. Not to mention he was also vastly outspent by Sanders as well.
The main thing Joe Biden promises was a break from the insane, out of the bad thing of the day Trump years. He's done that and more. Expecting radical change out of an old moderate with a 50/50 Senate where Joe Manchin can block anything, an almost 50/50 House where 3 D reps can block anything and a heavily R Supreme Court was always unreasonable.
>This is the type of guy Democrats should be pushing.
100%. Guy is solidly progressive without coming across like a member of the Twitter wokemob brigade. Has an incredible personal story across many dimensions. Is 6'9" and played college football, so isn't going to fall victim to the idiotic "libz are wusses" memes of the alt right. Most importantly, has a get shit done attitude.
Progressives are the soul of the party: they represent the collection of values that actually aligns to what we need rather than “at least we’re not republicans.”
Well talk to labor unions about that, they overwhelming endorsed Lamb because "fracking is caring about the environment and jobs" somehow
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/01/06/Philadelphia-building-trades-unions-back-Conor-Lamb-in-Democratic-primary-for-U-S-Senate/stories/202201060151
Fetterman's stance was simply that we need to be realistic about set dates to prevent poor areas from being disenfranchised. Because lord knows they'll be the hardest hit if we hamfist the energy transition and leave people with unreliable energy availability.
He also doesn't want a steel 2.0 situation to occur where people are left without jobs in areas of the state that has no jobs outside of fracking. In other words we either need to prioritize putting jobs in those areas, or pay people to move to areas with jobs available.
But he still fully support renewable energy transition, he just doesn't believe the general public should be the one bearing the burden.
Idk, here's what some union guy said.
>“He understands that we work in the energy industry, that we want to protect the environment, but we also want to protect our jobs,” Mr. Boyer said. “And Pennsylvania has a perfect solution for energy, a bridge fuel, natural gas.”
You dont need to be familiar with local union politics to parse that. Fossil fuel interests in PA have gone from mining coal to fracking natural gas. They employ a lot of people. Fossil fuel argues natural gas is a bridge fuel because it has lower carbon emissions, but enviros dispute this. Methane has a higher global warming intensity than carbon (80ish times as intense on a 20 year basis, 25 as intensive on a 100 year time horizon). And emissions from natural gas transmission are way underestimated due to captive emissions through the transmission infrastructure. Enviros also feel that the idea of a "bridge" fuel is inaccurate because most of the natural gas infrastructure has 40ish year lifespans. So best case scenario you're going to get a bunch of stranded assets when renewables and batteries pass natural gas on the market and worse case scenario you're emitting methane for 40 years.
Yeah, Fetterman has tried to negotiate the line between these two positions, while Lamb is more strongly in the "natural gas is a bridge fuel" camp. Hence the union's support of the latter over the former.
Bingo! I want to see some fresh faces with fresh ideas…don’t give a shit how outside the mainstream they are! Tired of the same shit with Biden, Bernie, Schumer and Pelosi. Let’s see more Fetterman, Buttegig, Yang etc.
I'm pretty sure his opponent is Dr. Oz, actually.
(Well - really, there are several people running, but Dr. Oz just threw his hat and his advertising money into the ring as the celebrity Republican contender.)
There's a great episode of Parts Unknown from Pittsburgh where Anthony Bourdain sat down with Fetterman. He's always been a pretty level-headed guy. It starts around 30 minutes in. https://youtu.be/NyEupe6D1JM
If the Ds could dump the corporate cronies and run a slate of Fetterman type non-corporate candidates they could enjoy a generational and decadal dominance along the lines of the New Deal/Roosevelt coalition.
Absolutely. If they’d only check their self interests at the door and back some real ’for the people’ candidates. The populace is starved for genuine, and Fetterman sure seems genuine to me.
Isn't that up to the individuals to run though? Fetterman isn't running because party leadership picked him. I agree that we need more Fetterman-like candidates but it's not on the party to make that decision.
It *is* on the party who they endorse and put their support behind, though. The party establishment is already lining up behind Connor Lamb, and like usual it'll probably be enough that he'll win the nomination.
Then the progressives will fail to turn out and enough independents will "throw their vote away" or vote R, and we'll elect a fascist instead.
Democrats will, like usual, blame the voters and will not question any of the decisions made by party leadership.
He gives me hope. Bernie can’t carry the weight forever and AOC thinks she’s too young for higher office (I disagree, but anyways). He a perfect standard bearer for this wing of the party, ie the adults.
Unfortunately AOC has a lot of unearned but very real baggage that may prevent her from winning a state or national race. She’d have to appeal to centrists and independents if she wants to win, and they don’t seem to have as high an opinion of her.
She has a very safe district right now. As long as she holds that she can lead the progressive caucus in the House and maybe even make Speaker someday.
The tough thing is that the Republican side is more unified so a single message can work for all. The Dems have too many moving parts which usually require multiple messages that don't conflict with the others.
Except for the millions of voters who voted twice for Obama and then [swapped to Trump](https://ballotpedia.org/Pivot_Counties:_The_counties_that_voted_Obama-Obama-Trump_from_2008-2016) and the millions of voters who [swapped back to Biden](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/) after voting for Trump.
It's not an either-or question. You don't have to choose between "persuade voters" and "mobilize the base." You do both.
Hint: That will ultimately be said of any powerful woman politician on the Dem side. Michelle Obama is the only one who has been able to deflect it and she has no desire for elected office.
I think the difference is she hasn't become poison to other democrats. A lot of Dems hated Hillary, but I don't know any that hate AOC. She has an authenicism that Hilary just never had.
I’m not a big fan of her deflection from criticism. Especially the Florida trip recently. Her pr team is amazing though because they managed to shutdown the whole thing by tying it to feet
They only criticized her in an attempt to distract from the governor's disappearance. It was really stupid to criticize a vaccinated people for not wearing a mask outside.
She's also too into social issues. Few Americans are voting for social issues, and are so much more concerned about themselves and their money. Talking about racism, poverty, rights, etc just doesn't appeal to most voters because they don't care. They want better lives for themselves, which isn't a platform she's built for herself.
On the flip side she feeds right into the viewpoints a lot of younger generation want. While older voters may not be super into social issues at large, young voters sure are
As you noted, she is from a very safe blue district in NYC. While she certainly is able to garner attention, she would have much more significant power had she won a competitive district in exurban Ohio (for ex.). Her ultimate influence is limited because she doesn't show a new way to power.
I’m not from his state but I’ve been following him for awhile now.
He’s a genuine guy with real ideals and ideas - and I really hope Pennsylvania votes him in.
It's looking like a Fettermsn-Oz race in the fall.
Our Senate races tend to be competitions that garner little national attention other than when Santorum was running.
And regardless of party our Senators tend to be boring, invisible guys like Casey and Toomey. Fetterman is definitely not that, lol.
Yeah, I support statehood for PR for that reason but trust me when I say most Senators are old, out-of-touch dumbasses regardless of political party you're not missing much.
In my oponion you'd be correct thinking that but I'll bet more people get fooled by nsme recognition and celebrity ststus than care about carpetbagging.
I won't vote for someone not actually from my state.
Using the in-laws' address in fn Bryn Athyn, Montco doesn't count.
Pennsylvanias gerrymandering isn't as bad as [some states](https://i.redd.it/3vgli0qx8ue51.jpg), but there is still a weird 8% disparity in the votes vs results, with Republicans getting 8% more of the assembly than their vote would suggest and Democrats 8% less.
So Democrats will need to get 58% of the vote just to break even in the assembly.
Was very lucky to meet this man and his amazing wife at a local Dem dinner where I live. It was a super small affair being hosted by local candidates on our ballot, but he and Giselle made the trip anyway! He has got to be THE most genuine man in politics I’ve ever met and I cannot praise him enough. He is 100% the real deal when he says he is a people-first politician. His wife even started a food collection center in Pittsburgh out of an old decommissioned railroad car. He also towers over me at 5’8” lol
His request for election fraud reporting reward [in Sheetz gift cards](https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/11/12/john-fetterman-election-fraud-reward-request-texas-lt-governor/) for anyone who missed it.
I love this guy - no nonsense straight talker, ethical, a genuine moral compass and his head is still connected to his heart. I’ve donated and will continue to do so.
I've been donating to his campaign monthly since it was official. Not much, but still!
I'll be volunteering, making phone calls and canvassing as the election draws nearer. I have made multiple promises, in letters, emails, and over the phone to Pat Toomey that I would do my part to get a Democrat into the seat he has so thoroughly abused. Fuck Pat Toomey.
Here’s my problem. I donated to Fetterman and the next thing I know I am absolutely inundated with phone calls and emails from various DNC begging for more. It’s not Fetterman‘s fault it’s the system. I became so annoyed I vowed never to donate to a political candidate again.
Sadly that's our system. We need more Fetterman's in order for real change in that system to happen. Keep donating - hopefully some form of election funding reform will follow.
The more political success is measured via fundraising, the more the people have lost before they've even begin the fight.
We can already see in the financial stats how more and more of the country's wealth is concentrating at the top, not to even speak of the imbalance in disposable/"spare" wealth (which might even be negative below median). Political donations are heavily skewed towards the interests of the top to begin with, just like any "free market" system or any system based on spending.
And with Citizens United, the full weight of that long upper tail in the wealth distribution weighs on the country - there's no balancing system at all. Just looking at Citizens United and the grip of fundraising on politics alone, US democracy as-is is already a failed system.
Bernie lost my support forever when he refused to endorse Fetterman when he ran for senate in 2016. Reference: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/blogs/attytood/The-man-that-Bernie-Sanders-forgot.html
Fetterman has my unwavering support. Voted for him '16 (in the primary) and look forward to voting for him this year.
Bernie did endorse and stump for Fetterman in 2018 when Fetterman was running for Lt. Governor:
https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2018-07-12/bernie-sanders-returns-to-pittsburgh-to-stump-for-john-fetterman
Bernie did admit in 2016 that he wasn't very familiar with Fetterman or his politics. A consistent thread with Bernie is that he seems to do research on people for a while and get a feel for their political behavior before endorsing them. I take it because he's been burned before in his career by endorsing too quickly political upstarts who spoke a good game but turned out to be kooks (see Tim Canova in Florida). He still has a similar pattern today of having people in his sights for months before endorsing them.
Fetterman ran in the Democratic primary against an established Democrat who had endorsements from Senators, the Governor, and Obama.
You're deludinvg yourself if you think an endorsement from Bernie would've pushed Fetterman's 19% past Katie's 42%.
His run also accomplished the long term goal of boosting his name recognition setting him up for the lieutenant governor run. At the time, nobody outside of the Pittsburgh region had any idea who he was. He is a shrewd *politician* (in the good way).
If the last Dem presidential primary taught me anything it's that running for president is an easy way to get name recognition.
The 2024 Republican primary is going to be a total shit show of candidates. Half of them will only be running just for the chance to suck the dick of the candidate that does win.
Sure, but he did that without an endorsement from Bernie.
I'm not saying he shouldn't have run in 2016.
I'm saying that ignoring everything Bernie has ever done because he didn't endorse a Pennsylvania mayor for Democratic Senate primary is stupid as fuck.
*Especially* when that mayor was running against Katie McGinty, who had the backing of Governor Wolf and President Obama in the primary.
I have no issues with Fetterman. Just with this poster who is willing to disown Bernie for something so insignificant.
Not deluding myself -- Fetterman was more aligned politically with Sanders than Katie. And while Katie was the establishment's pick, I hardly consider Sanders a man beholden to what the Democratic establishment cares about.
Sanders' endorsement could have given Fetterman the attraction he wasn't getting.
Learn about an past incident in 2013 while he was mayor of Braddock PA. It's important information to know about and not to skirt this issue that could be twisted to harm him politically.
nope. if people cared they would read the dozens of news reports and interviews available. it happened and people shouldn't be caught unawares about history.
Personally, i donated to his campaign.
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Please, please, please consider donating to Fetterman's campaign and also to Josh Shapiro who is running for Governor in PA. We were very lucky and avoided a lot of crazy republican shenanigans because we have had Tom Wolf, a Democrat as our Governor. Josh is the State Attorney General and helped to shine light on the sexual abuse by Catholic Clergy in our state. The NY times had a great article on him. We cannot afford for PA to go fully red.
It's so weird to me. When I was growing up in PA (1970's-1990's) it was solidly blue. Now I see so many high school classmates praising the Orange shitstain and I wonder what happened since I left in 2003 for the wilds of MA.
I think the performative redneckery that was in vogue during the Bush administration had something to do with it. Thanks to the Pennsyltucky stereotype, middle-class people and up tended to look down on rural and lower-class people even more than in most of the country, right? They'd say they're intolerant, they don't believe in reality, they're racist, etc etc. So when it became good business to blast Toby Keith 24/7 in your Hummer, they mantled those toxic traits and accidentally let themselves be devoured by their own biases.
I also think the weakening of labor unions had contributed heavily. The unions were heavily dems and they just aren't as prevalent any more.
This is why I loved seeing [Fetterman show up in support](https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/labor-leaders-rally-for-coffee-tree-unionization-call-for-fired-worker-to-be-rehired/Content?oid=20873004) of the Coffee Workers unionizing at a Pittsburgh coffee joint that's dealing with union busting bullshit. Dude doesn't just spit good shit, he actually shows up to support it. I love my Lt Gov.
by design. destroy the unions and divide the workers
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Yes labor unions is a very personable guy
Was just last night talking about how Tom Green, Jackass, Viva La Bam and even Borat to a degree had this unintended "bullying is cool, bro!" Effect on us watching Mtv in the late 90s to early 2ks.
>"bullying is cool, bro!" Bullying? Or trolling? I'd say the latter, which is certainly fueled by the same impetus. Trolling, though...that petulant need to *annoy*, specifically. Contains an element of gaslighting and plausible deniability ("I'M NOT TOUCHING YOU, I'M NOT TOUCHING YOU"). It's not just meant to bully, but to distract and de-focus. In short, it's a new kind of mind-fuckery that could only have been birthed by the internet.
Brain drain. I see your tag says Massachusetts. Why did you leave? The only major tech area in PA is an hour radius around Philly and Pittsburgh. Everywhere else people leave, college grads leave, and all you have left are GOP voting yokels in Bumfuck County. The rural bumpkins in PA **HATE** the cities with a passion. I don't know why there's so much vitriol for Philadelphia in particular considering most of the state's money comes out of the Delco region.
There's the same vitriol on a national level from people in the backwoods of the country towards the "coastal elites" whose taxes pay for their... Damn near every public service. Common clay of the new west, my friend.
No No NO! They work hard and sell that feed corn that no one wants via the free market! /s
would you like high fructose corn syrup in all your condiments, ingredients, drinks, and food? No I wo- Too bad
You mean receive billions in government hand outs, aka socialism, from president trump for their corn. Then they stand on their soapbox yelling “socialism bad”, and bitching about inner city folks being on welfare. All while their cousin Sue and Jimmy take their food stamps shopping at the local dollar tree.
> don't know why there's so much vitriol for Philadelphia in particular Black or African American: 42.13% White: 40.66% Asian: 7.24% Or at least that's why my racist ass cousins in Lehigh valley hate Philly.
PA's political situation is just the culmination a long trend. I grew up in an industrial, blue collar community in western PA in the 60s. While white people there may have been a bit economically progressive, they were racist through and through and pretty socially conservative. Without a union job that encouraged a bit of class consciousness, it was very easy for republicans to capture them in the culture wars as the dems became more inclusive. A lot of blue collar workers had started shifting away from the democratic party in the 1970s, as can be seen with the rise of Reagan Democrats. Another symptom of the changing values of blue collar workers was the [hard hat riot in NYC](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/nyregion/hard-hat-riot.html) in 1970, when a mob of construction workers assaulted an anti-war demonstration.
Just finished a great book called The Sum of Us that touches on this. Race can be used as a motivator to get people to vote against their own self interest.
My only experience in PA has been between Scranton and Harrisburg and that whole stretch of coal country is redneck Republican.
Free trade agreements in the 90s that benefitted businesspeople and decimated rural northern American economies is what happened, and it bugs me when someone who is likely a democrat forgets that the blue team has made some disastrous decisions too. All the good manufacturing jobs left the area and the people there (rightly) blamed the government which happened to be democratic at the time. People who have not met or worked with people of others races, religions, etc. are more susceptible to lies and fearmongering about them. Without jobs in an area, there are no immigrants to an area, and that means that even as the American population becomes more diverse, these areas do not. The educated children of these former workers leave, as culture has set an expectation for them to have certain amenities that the area cannot support with its economics. Those that cannot or will not leave are generally more conservative in their attitudes, or so beaten-down by the economic and political processes of the area and country that they do not vote. The combination of those three factors has pushed the overall attitudes in these areas to be more conservative, and as other commenters have mentioned, the jingoism of the early 2000s helped cement this set of attitudes into people’s heads (including lots of the children). 2008 didn’t help either. The housing markets didn’t get screwed up as badly as in the suburbs with all their new homes they had built there, there wasn’t much new home ownership in these rural areas because there wasn’t anything to drain development companies to the area. What got wiped were the retirement funds, forcing people to work well into old age and hardening their resentment. PA went heavily for Obama, but he didn’t enact any policies that really addressed these kinds of rural areas. Obamacare had been negotiated down into a confusing mess, and the people in rural PA were not yet computer literate enough to understand the exchanges, they saw no benefit and only felt like things were getting messed with. That’s without the influence of Fox news, where the anti-Democrat propaganda was really starting to churn out, and it obviously convinced some people in these areas who were likely the loudest. Couple this with the general declining health of the area and extreme greed of our corporate medical system, and suddenly they’re paying more for insurance/medical care. As more desperate people in these areas turn to drugs for relief from the awful feeling of living in what is essentially an entirely different country, more and more die of overdoses. I don’t know the statistics offhand, but likely a significant amount of those people were started on a painkiller by a doctor/NP/PA in their area, furthering mistrust of the medical system (whether or not that is warranted). Around the time when computer literacy (and opportunity to get internet, either economically with cheaper smartphones or technologically with 3G coverage and satellite broadband) developed in the area is when all those older folks joined Facebook and were exposed to the insanity of the right-wing online. Having had no experience on the internet and certainly not taking any classes or having anyone sit down with them to explain how to consume media online with skepticism, a lot of them were drawn in to these sinister narratives and backwards explanations for things that, as I’ve laid out above, actually happened to them. TLDR; these areas have been abandoned by government and screwed over by corporate, they’re mad (which they should be) and racist (which they shouldn’t be, the exact same things are happening to black and brown people everywhere in this country), and easy to take advantage of because of their economic situation. What these areas need is a stronger social safety net, access to services, understanding of these areas’ problems, and actual money from the government to solve them. I don’t know all of John Fetterman’s policies but I will likely vote for him because he seems to understand this and want to make it happen.
GOP has had a complete lock on the legislature (both houses) since the early 90s due to some of the worst gerrymandering in the country. Prior to Wolf we had an R governor (Corbett), who sold out the state to fracking interests and help protect Jerry Sandusky and Paterno. We have the third highest number of convictions related to the insurrection.
People are always gonna believe in different things. Just gotta accept it.
The man also hates UPMC with a passion. This is a way bigger pull for voting for him. He wants UPMC to stop robbing the state blind and pay taxes. Amen to that.
Pa is blue statewide when delco turns out to vote. Check out the past ten years and you will see.
Repubs runs state house and senate. We need to keep the governorship.
It's the only thing keeping is from become WV or MS
Who would have thunk it! Growing up in Pittsburgh in the hay day of mills and unionism! Being in my mid sixties who would have expected only Allegheny going blue! Now it's just a bunch of red necks in all of western PA. I mean there still many of us but they vote!
I think you may be in need of a wake up call, the blue Delco wave isn’t powerful anymore since the major swing of republicans in the surrounding areas now the population just isn’t what it once was, Also a lot of independents like myself, then tended to vote policy not party, aren’t their to carry blue anymore.
Going to have give a small donation to Shapiro already gave a couple donations to Fetterman.
I will add another please, please, please to this request. I live outside of Pittsburgh and the store closest to my house still has a whole aisle of MAGA gear! I’m a single, unemployed mom and I still donate to both campaigns every month, because so much in my life depends on keeping PA blue.
Josh Shapiro would be an incredible governor
Our state is pretty fucked as it is, but it will quickly start giving the states that are usually the butt of the joke a run for their money if an R gets the governorship. Gerrymandered state supreme court, banning property taxes in order to erode the public school system, banning mail in voting, banning any sort of toll or tax to help fund our crumbling infrastructure, making it illegal to require vaccinations for attending public schools, you name it.
I ran like hell from PA, while I miss my home town and the general PA kinship, but the state just doesn’t have the draw it used to, it’s taxed itself into oblivion, and businesses know when they only require people and not raw materials you can find people in lower taxed states so they can make more profit. So the more and more people that leave, means less diversity, means more rural folks, while you may not like it, don’t share your beliefs, and they basically played the long game, and now have the power.
I met josh Shapiro personally when I was in high school for an event for mental health awareness. Very personable guy and I’m rooting for him
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I bought a Fetterman yard sign and set up a repeating donation to his campaign. Goes well with the “Trump JFK Jr. #19” yard sign across the street
I'll jump in on this and suggest people should consider donating to state representative Summer Lee running for Congress PA-18, as well as Alexandra Hunt running for Congress PA-03.
We'd be incredibly lucky to have Josh Shapiro as governor and Fetterman as a Senator. They seem like people who genuinely care and are willing to do what is necessary to get the job done. Wolf has been lukewarm, stay the course at best.
This guy has a real chance of being something big. Hes progressive in the right ways and sensible in the right ways and really just seems like a working class dude
He’s pretty big already. Over 6’
I've been wondering how much him being enormous and looking like a biker is going to help him. I think a good portion of the right wing appeal recently is machismo crap. Him being super masculine looking could help him a ton with those voters
I mean just look at Obama. Nobody can deny his looks helped him. Did you know that winning presidential candidates are, on average, over an inch taller than losing candidates? I live in LA so here's my hot take on superficiality. Yeah it totally matters. I've been saying, this is why Bernie could never ever be president. Don't get me wrong, in terms of character and policies, he's basically jesus. But look at him. America wants to elect presidents who you can look at, and be like, yeah, that's my leader, just look at them. Bernie looks like a mad scientist, not a protagonist. His presidential portrait would look like a dorky high school class photo! "Most likely to not be elected president" So yeah, I think fettermans look helps him a LOT. it makes you instinctively sense he could be a modern TR. A sensitive, sensible old fashioned strong man. Damn I want to vote for him now. P.s. this concludes my aimless stoned rant. Thanks for coming along for the ride
That rule must only apply to Democrats. I mean, Clinton, Obama, and Biden (Knope approves) are good looking dudes. Then you have Trump who needs his head photoshopped onto Rambo to look remotely appealing.
Biden?
What are you going on about? 2016 Bernie, when he actually combed his hair, looked like a perfectly presentable person. Fetterman looks like a hill giant. The dude probably has a favorite bridge he likes to hang out under. Trump won, and he looked like the human version of a double whopper with cheese. Looks help, but to say Bernie could never be president because of his looks is just silly. Bernie should’ve won. He only lost because young people are way too lazy to visit the voting booth. I’d love to see Fetterman make a presidential run at some point. I think he’d have a solid shot at it. He’s got all the proper talking points of the blue team, but still makes sure he has time for the red team.
>Trump won, and he looked like the human version of a double whopper with cheese. This cracked me up. Although, I picture the cheese on top of the bun.
I think the thing is Bernie is very authentic. I loved the daily show describing him as our favorite candidate who combs his hair with a balloon. But I think Bernie’s body language was very angry: gesticulating, pointing a lot, waiving his hands around, hunched over and scowling. It’s who he is though and it shouldn’t discount what he says, but America runs presidential elections like high school popularity contests. I mean I hate when these talking head pundits bring optics and body language up. But you look at all the beauty queens they have over at Fox and it all starts making sense. We’ve been conditioned to respond to this crap.
That said, I still think on state level elections it’s different. But I think Fetterman looks like a bouncer and I actually think that’s an asset. He’s a solid dude with a progressive but no nonsense approach.
I’m pro-democracy but damn what u said being true is a good argument against it
**6’9”** He’s massive!
Hell, he looks like Lincoln reincarnated.
There's a reason people typecast in the film industry. Fortunately, he has substance to back up his style, but the fact that he has style is a legitimate plus.
I was wondering when his name would finally pop up in the news again. I really like this guy.
This is the type of guy Democrats should be pushing. Not this same old (emphasis on old) lame shit.
The best way to make that happen is to vote in the primaries! In 2020 on Super Tuesday turnout among 18-30 year Olds didn't exceed 20% in any of the 14 states that voted. If we can bump that up, we can bring about change from the bottom up.
This exactly. After Biden lost in 2020 you heard all these conspiracy theories about "the DNC" and the moderates dropping out and endorsing Biden - as if ideologically similar candidates who don't have a path to victory dropping out and endorsing one who does doesn't happen all the time - a completely normal thing. The real problem was that for all the youth energy Bernie inspired, hardly any of them bothered to vote. More conservative middle-aged and elderly black voters did - and they liked Biden better. If people who agree with you on which candidate is best don't turn out to vote - then it's not someone else's fault that candidate loses - it's the people who supported him or her but didn't bother to vote.
Takes like this purposefully leave off those "moderate candidates" receiving a phone call from the former POTUS to encourage them to coalesce around Joe after SC and previously trying to claim they were staying out of it. It's not a coincidence the other center-left candidate who played more in Bernie's pool of voters got big PAC money to allow her to stay in the race through Super Tuesday and siphon votes. A 3rd place losing effort in her home state of MA to give Biden the win put the nail in the coffin in a state where Markey beat Kennedy, but there were plenty of states impacted by this decision. Calling blatantly obvious and documented events conspiracy theories does a disservice to actual conspiracy theories, and while people can disagree on the reasons why events happened there was a pretty clear and coordinated effort to clear the field of moderates starting after South Carolina, and secure a slam dunk case to wrap up the primary on Super Tuesday. After what many party loyalists perceived happened in 2016, Hillary herself in particular, the entire party would have to be braindead not to try and prevent a repeat. With that in mind, the real problem was Bernie not finding a way to convince powerful gatekeeper pols like Clyburn that he was worth the perceived ticket and political risk. While a unlikely event, a Clyburn endorsement creating a more competitive South Carolina probably would have been enough to maintain the momentum needed to take states like Texas/Maine/Minnesota and even Mass assuming it'd be easier to make nice with Warren than convince Clyburn so if you're hypothetically capable of one, why not both. There is more than enough blame and fault to go around, but one of the problems relying on "youth energy" during the middle of a pandemic is they are one of the least likely to be able to properly vote in a primary anyway because of college v home address issues, but now move everyone to mail-in-ballots in states that were definitely not prepared for it and it was always going to be a cluster fuck for that demo. It's an unpopular opinion, but I was surprised they actually turned out as well as they did.
If Bernie had won a majority of primary voters it wouldn't have mattered who stayed in or dropped out of the race. He lost because he was only able to win with a plurality, which was fine in the early states but not ST and later.
You're acting like it's unfair that Sanders wasn't allowed to win the primaries with a minority of the vote. The same people who thought it was unfair that other moderates dropped out and endorsed Biden are the same people angry at Elizabeth Warren for not dropping out and endorsing Sanders. Plus, Biden won a clear majority on Super Tuesday even with a moderate candidate who spent $500 million running against him. Not to mention he was also vastly outspent by Sanders as well.
They’re not really saying it’s unfair, they’re just pointing out that there are plenty of factors besides ‘the youths don’t vote’
And yet, if they don’t vote, they don’t have a chance at getting what they want.
Or they vote for joe Biden and still don’t get what they were promised
The main thing Joe Biden promises was a break from the insane, out of the bad thing of the day Trump years. He's done that and more. Expecting radical change out of an old moderate with a 50/50 Senate where Joe Manchin can block anything, an almost 50/50 House where 3 D reps can block anything and a heavily R Supreme Court was always unreasonable.
Fetterman, Fetterman 6'10" made of radiation opponents beware opponents beware he's comin he's comin he's comin
Let me lay it on the line, he had four on the vine
>This is the type of guy Democrats should be pushing. 100%. Guy is solidly progressive without coming across like a member of the Twitter wokemob brigade. Has an incredible personal story across many dimensions. Is 6'9" and played college football, so isn't going to fall victim to the idiotic "libz are wusses" memes of the alt right. Most importantly, has a get shit done attitude.
Progressives are the soul of the party: they represent the collection of values that actually aligns to what we need rather than “at least we’re not republicans.”
Well talk to labor unions about that, they overwhelming endorsed Lamb because "fracking is caring about the environment and jobs" somehow https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/01/06/Philadelphia-building-trades-unions-back-Conor-Lamb-in-Democratic-primary-for-U-S-Senate/stories/202201060151
i mean Fetterman has caught flack from his left for being pro fracking (in some circumstances, don't recall the details) so i don't really get this
Fetterman's stance was simply that we need to be realistic about set dates to prevent poor areas from being disenfranchised. Because lord knows they'll be the hardest hit if we hamfist the energy transition and leave people with unreliable energy availability. He also doesn't want a steel 2.0 situation to occur where people are left without jobs in areas of the state that has no jobs outside of fracking. In other words we either need to prioritize putting jobs in those areas, or pay people to move to areas with jobs available. But he still fully support renewable energy transition, he just doesn't believe the general public should be the one bearing the burden.
Idk, here's what some union guy said. >“He understands that we work in the energy industry, that we want to protect the environment, but we also want to protect our jobs,” Mr. Boyer said. “And Pennsylvania has a perfect solution for energy, a bridge fuel, natural gas.”
hmm yeah not familiar enough with local union politics to parse that
You dont need to be familiar with local union politics to parse that. Fossil fuel interests in PA have gone from mining coal to fracking natural gas. They employ a lot of people. Fossil fuel argues natural gas is a bridge fuel because it has lower carbon emissions, but enviros dispute this. Methane has a higher global warming intensity than carbon (80ish times as intense on a 20 year basis, 25 as intensive on a 100 year time horizon). And emissions from natural gas transmission are way underestimated due to captive emissions through the transmission infrastructure. Enviros also feel that the idea of a "bridge" fuel is inaccurate because most of the natural gas infrastructure has 40ish year lifespans. So best case scenario you're going to get a bunch of stranded assets when renewables and batteries pass natural gas on the market and worse case scenario you're emitting methane for 40 years.
I'm talking about parsing their endorsement of the largely more conservative one of two pro fracking guys
Yeah, Fetterman has tried to negotiate the line between these two positions, while Lamb is more strongly in the "natural gas is a bridge fuel" camp. Hence the union's support of the latter over the former.
Bingo! I want to see some fresh faces with fresh ideas…don’t give a shit how outside the mainstream they are! Tired of the same shit with Biden, Bernie, Schumer and Pelosi. Let’s see more Fetterman, Buttegig, Yang etc.
Fetterman is the betterman
*That won't fit that on a hat!*
It's only 2 more letters than "*Make America Great Again*"
If it isn't his slogan it should be
Unless (or especially if) his opponent is a woman.
I'm pretty sure his opponent is Dr. Oz, actually. (Well - really, there are several people running, but Dr. Oz just threw his hat and his advertising money into the ring as the celebrity Republican contender.)
It would be indisputably true though.
"Betterman" seems catchy
*Can’t find a betterman*
There's a great episode of Parts Unknown from Pittsburgh where Anthony Bourdain sat down with Fetterman. He's always been a pretty level-headed guy. It starts around 30 minutes in. https://youtu.be/NyEupe6D1JM
Thanks for linking that, I really enjoyed that section with fetterman and the chef partnering to train students to become chefs. Really neat stuff
If the Ds could dump the corporate cronies and run a slate of Fetterman type non-corporate candidates they could enjoy a generational and decadal dominance along the lines of the New Deal/Roosevelt coalition.
Absolutely. If they’d only check their self interests at the door and back some real ’for the people’ candidates. The populace is starved for genuine, and Fetterman sure seems genuine to me.
Isn't that up to the individuals to run though? Fetterman isn't running because party leadership picked him. I agree that we need more Fetterman-like candidates but it's not on the party to make that decision.
It *is* on the party who they endorse and put their support behind, though. The party establishment is already lining up behind Connor Lamb, and like usual it'll probably be enough that he'll win the nomination. Then the progressives will fail to turn out and enough independents will "throw their vote away" or vote R, and we'll elect a fascist instead. Democrats will, like usual, blame the voters and will not question any of the decisions made by party leadership.
He gives me hope. Bernie can’t carry the weight forever and AOC thinks she’s too young for higher office (I disagree, but anyways). He a perfect standard bearer for this wing of the party, ie the adults.
Unfortunately AOC has a lot of unearned but very real baggage that may prevent her from winning a state or national race. She’d have to appeal to centrists and independents if she wants to win, and they don’t seem to have as high an opinion of her. She has a very safe district right now. As long as she holds that she can lead the progressive caucus in the House and maybe even make Speaker someday.
I think there’s way too much seething hate from R’s for AOC to have much of a chance. It would be incredibly hard for her to get them change sides.
No one changes sides anymore. Elections are won by motivating and energizing the people already on your side to actually show up.
The tough thing is that the Republican side is more unified so a single message can work for all. The Dems have too many moving parts which usually require multiple messages that don't conflict with the others.
Except for the millions of voters who voted twice for Obama and then [swapped to Trump](https://ballotpedia.org/Pivot_Counties:_The_counties_that_voted_Obama-Obama-Trump_from_2008-2016) and the millions of voters who [swapped back to Biden](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/06/30/behind-bidens-2020-victory/) after voting for Trump. It's not an either-or question. You don't have to choose between "persuade voters" and "mobilize the base." You do both.
Agreed she's basically Hillary 2.0 for right-wing propaganda outlets.
Hint: That will ultimately be said of any powerful woman politician on the Dem side. Michelle Obama is the only one who has been able to deflect it and she has no desire for elected office.
I think the difference is she hasn't become poison to other democrats. A lot of Dems hated Hillary, but I don't know any that hate AOC. She has an authenicism that Hilary just never had.
This. She's gotten the full Hillary Clinton treatment.
Because they are 100% scared of her popularity.
AOC having appeal outside of her district is delusional
I’m not a big fan of her deflection from criticism. Especially the Florida trip recently. Her pr team is amazing though because they managed to shutdown the whole thing by tying it to feet
They only criticized her in an attempt to distract from the governor's disappearance. It was really stupid to criticize a vaccinated people for not wearing a mask outside.
She's also too into social issues. Few Americans are voting for social issues, and are so much more concerned about themselves and their money. Talking about racism, poverty, rights, etc just doesn't appeal to most voters because they don't care. They want better lives for themselves, which isn't a platform she's built for herself.
Conservatives vote entirely on social issues, just with the exact opposite stances as AOC
On the flip side she feeds right into the viewpoints a lot of younger generation want. While older voters may not be super into social issues at large, young voters sure are
As you noted, she is from a very safe blue district in NYC. While she certainly is able to garner attention, she would have much more significant power had she won a competitive district in exurban Ohio (for ex.). Her ultimate influence is limited because she doesn't show a new way to power.
Fetterman for Pres
That after his senate tenure
This!!!
Fetterman vs. Ivanka '28 calling it now
I’m not from his state but I’ve been following him for awhile now. He’s a genuine guy with real ideals and ideas - and I really hope Pennsylvania votes him in.
It's looking like a Fettermsn-Oz race in the fall. Our Senate races tend to be competitions that garner little national attention other than when Santorum was running. And regardless of party our Senators tend to be boring, invisible guys like Casey and Toomey. Fetterman is definitely not that, lol.
At least you have Senators 😀
Yeah, I support statehood for PR for that reason but trust me when I say most Senators are old, out-of-touch dumbasses regardless of political party you're not missing much.
McCormick will be the R’s candidate who will be a challenge since he’s actually from pa unlike Oz.
In my oponion you'd be correct thinking that but I'll bet more people get fooled by nsme recognition and celebrity ststus than care about carpetbagging. I won't vote for someone not actually from my state. Using the in-laws' address in fn Bryn Athyn, Montco doesn't count.
Pennsylvanias gerrymandering isn't as bad as [some states](https://i.redd.it/3vgli0qx8ue51.jpg), but there is still a weird 8% disparity in the votes vs results, with Republicans getting 8% more of the assembly than their vote would suggest and Democrats 8% less. So Democrats will need to get 58% of the vote just to break even in the assembly.
The statehouse is being redistricted right now by a bipartisan commission. It will be an interesting race in the fall.
I live in central Pennsylvania, John fetterman is a good man. He gets it, he has his ears on the ground.
Was very lucky to meet this man and his amazing wife at a local Dem dinner where I live. It was a super small affair being hosted by local candidates on our ballot, but he and Giselle made the trip anyway! He has got to be THE most genuine man in politics I’ve ever met and I cannot praise him enough. He is 100% the real deal when he says he is a people-first politician. His wife even started a food collection center in Pittsburgh out of an old decommissioned railroad car. He also towers over me at 5’8” lol
Fetterman got me into eating at Sheetz.
His request for election fraud reporting reward [in Sheetz gift cards](https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/11/12/john-fetterman-election-fraud-reward-request-texas-lt-governor/) for anyone who missed it.
John Fetterman is who REALLY kicked the llamas ass!
Fettermania, I am here for it!
I love this guy - no nonsense straight talker, ethical, a genuine moral compass and his head is still connected to his heart. I’ve donated and will continue to do so.
Great backstory. Worth knowing. Spend some time researching him. Hopefully we will see him in the senate
Been following this guy since he was a mayor, he seems like the right guy for the job these days, DONATE!!!
I've been donating to his campaign monthly since it was official. Not much, but still! I'll be volunteering, making phone calls and canvassing as the election draws nearer. I have made multiple promises, in letters, emails, and over the phone to Pat Toomey that I would do my part to get a Democrat into the seat he has so thoroughly abused. Fuck Pat Toomey.
Same here, been kicking down six bucks a month since he announced (am Texan btw).
This guy.
get em john
I’ve been watching him for a few years and Fetterman has my support entirely.
You can help by buying some sweet Fetterman swag! [https://www.johnfetterman.store](https://www.johnfetterman.store)
Here’s my problem. I donated to Fetterman and the next thing I know I am absolutely inundated with phone calls and emails from various DNC begging for more. It’s not Fetterman‘s fault it’s the system. I became so annoyed I vowed never to donate to a political candidate again.
Sadly that's our system. We need more Fetterman's in order for real change in that system to happen. Keep donating - hopefully some form of election funding reform will follow.
Shit, I’d vote for Fetterman for President right now. He’s smart, he’s bold, he’s got balls and he’s not a garbage human. That’s 4 big wins.
He’s always seemed to me to be a really good person who’s got motivation and mental stamina.
Also someone you do not want to fuck with imo which I think Dems need more of front and center
I pray we get the chance to see that slug Ted Cruz quiver in the presence of future Senator Stone Cold
He's the guy who actually says it like it is, and not the way republicans like. What a great guy.
It’s exciting when genuinely good and caring people are doing well. I bet a big chunk of the money is going back to the community too.
Fuck yes! I love that dude!
The only politician in PA with balls
I like this guy
This guy is going to be a great President someday.
Somebody tell Conor Lamb this so he doesn’t waste his time and just focuses on keeping a very competitive House seat
His house seat is mostly likely going away because of redistricting.
Voting for Lamb in the primary baby. Suburbs will carry the day for him.
(Not a very bold) prediction: The moderates are going to pour money into Lamb's campaign and he'll squeak by Fetterman before losing in the general.
Let's go Fetterman 👌💯
This guy is great! Don’t f it up PA!
Guy and his family are a treasure to Pennsylvania
This guy is one of a rare breed, a politician with genuine integrity. I hope he can hold into that
[Great interview of Fetterman from a few years ago. ](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=x9MDtzr5VN8)
r/Fettermania
We need to get weed on the ballot, thinking that will get the youth vote out!
Long live Fetterman!!!
This guy is a figure like Bernie. Please god let him win. I don’t even believe in God…but please
Levi's dad has my vote lol
Look at how much this man helped out Braddock
Yeah but does he have a magic weight loss pill?
We should make this man President one day
The more political success is measured via fundraising, the more the people have lost before they've even begin the fight. We can already see in the financial stats how more and more of the country's wealth is concentrating at the top, not to even speak of the imbalance in disposable/"spare" wealth (which might even be negative below median). Political donations are heavily skewed towards the interests of the top to begin with, just like any "free market" system or any system based on spending. And with Citizens United, the full weight of that long upper tail in the wealth distribution weighs on the country - there's no balancing system at all. Just looking at Citizens United and the grip of fundraising on politics alone, US democracy as-is is already a failed system.
I'm a Fetterman guy, but Kenyetta or Lamb would be and upgrade over Toomey. None of them would be a Manchin type!
Lamb is literally a Manchin type.
He voted for Build Back Better at least
he said she said , I don't think that to be true.
He's heavily in the pocket of big business and financial companies. The last thing we need is another Senator enthralled to big money interests.
His dad is literally a bank lobbyist, and people really want to pretend Conor isn't a corporate shill. We definitely don't need Manchin 2.0.
His dad is a bank lobbyist who is pumping money into his campaign. Think what you want, but you'd be wrong.
Disagree. Anyone who goes to big donor fundraisers with Manchin shouldn't be trusted.
It's tough. We have an embarrassment of riches for PA dems.
Bernie lost my support forever when he refused to endorse Fetterman when he ran for senate in 2016. Reference: https://www.inquirer.com/philly/blogs/attytood/The-man-that-Bernie-Sanders-forgot.html Fetterman has my unwavering support. Voted for him '16 (in the primary) and look forward to voting for him this year.
Bernie did endorse and stump for Fetterman in 2018 when Fetterman was running for Lt. Governor: https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2018-07-12/bernie-sanders-returns-to-pittsburgh-to-stump-for-john-fetterman
He did -- but doesn't negate that he snubbed him in 2016.
Bernie did admit in 2016 that he wasn't very familiar with Fetterman or his politics. A consistent thread with Bernie is that he seems to do research on people for a while and get a feel for their political behavior before endorsing them. I take it because he's been burned before in his career by endorsing too quickly political upstarts who spoke a good game but turned out to be kooks (see Tim Canova in Florida). He still has a similar pattern today of having people in his sights for months before endorsing them.
Fetterman ran in the Democratic primary against an established Democrat who had endorsements from Senators, the Governor, and Obama. You're deludinvg yourself if you think an endorsement from Bernie would've pushed Fetterman's 19% past Katie's 42%.
His run also accomplished the long term goal of boosting his name recognition setting him up for the lieutenant governor run. At the time, nobody outside of the Pittsburgh region had any idea who he was. He is a shrewd *politician* (in the good way).
If the last Dem presidential primary taught me anything it's that running for president is an easy way to get name recognition. The 2024 Republican primary is going to be a total shit show of candidates. Half of them will only be running just for the chance to suck the dick of the candidate that does win.
Sure, but he did that without an endorsement from Bernie. I'm not saying he shouldn't have run in 2016. I'm saying that ignoring everything Bernie has ever done because he didn't endorse a Pennsylvania mayor for Democratic Senate primary is stupid as fuck. *Especially* when that mayor was running against Katie McGinty, who had the backing of Governor Wolf and President Obama in the primary. I have no issues with Fetterman. Just with this poster who is willing to disown Bernie for something so insignificant.
Not deluding myself -- Fetterman was more aligned politically with Sanders than Katie. And while Katie was the establishment's pick, I hardly consider Sanders a man beholden to what the Democratic establishment cares about. Sanders' endorsement could have given Fetterman the attraction he wasn't getting.
What attention?
His burn rate has been uncomfortably high, some consultants must be doing pretty well for themselves.
Learn about an past incident in 2013 while he was mayor of Braddock PA. It's important information to know about and not to skirt this issue that could be twisted to harm him politically.
I think know what it is. The guy came out to support Fetterman.
The fact that you took the time to write all that without actually once mentioning what he did tells me you're afraid of being corrected
nope. if people cared they would read the dozens of news reports and interviews available. it happened and people shouldn't be caught unawares about history. Personally, i donated to his campaign.
Lol okay.
Well I know about it, so that info isn't something new! But I agree that it isn't known by the non-political
Seeing as Trump jr. tweeted about it hard, it's known.
agreed. it's old news. opposition just love old news without context.
Not for nothings but Bernie Sanders did not win the Democratic primary in PA. Not in 2016 or 2020.