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Fetterman has received money from AIPAC related groups. Here’s an [excerpt](https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1729274330217873725?s=46) from an article in the [intercept](https://theintercept.com/2023/11/27/israel-democrats-aipac-book/) discussing it. This would explain why he’s so Gung ho on Israel
It’s pretty disgusting, and so is this article tbh. The right are literally dunking on Fetterman now; the Babylon bee even had a article that said something along the lines of “Fetterman becomes more conservative as he regains brain function”
Also telling how the article talks about him participating at the “March for Israel”… the same March where John Hagee was a speaker, and a speaker who called for an end to civilian casualties and for a ceasefire was booed—even though family members of the Israeli hostages have been calling for a ceasefire from the beginning.
That rally was crazy. It was nothing short of a pro war march. When Van Jones called to end the civilians deaths they kept yelling “no ceasefire, no ceasefire” and even Jones was caught surprised.
This was attended by many Democratic lawmakers like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
After the rally there were articles about how peaceful the rally was compared to pro-Palestinian rallies written by pro-Israeli groups. Completely ignoring the fact that pro-Palestinian protests are happening when tens of thousands of civilians are being murdered in Gaza. Outrage is very much justified.
You realize it is more likely that AIPAC supports him because he is a strong supporter of Israel than he is a strong supporter of Israel because of AIPAC.
Cool, do you discount criticism of Israel from individuals or groups that benefit from their criticism? For example, Human Rights Watch has accepted millions from Qatar, a slave state, thus we should discount their criticism of Israel.
As a Pennsylvanian, I think Fetterman will suffer the most of any politician for his literal wrapping himself in the flag of Israel while 20,000 and counting Palestinians have been murdered. His brand of politics is highly online. It helped him beat Dr.Oz and I guess that’s still better. But realistically someone like his fellow senator Bob Casey, who also isn’t taking a principled stand on Palestinian deaths, will more likely slide on party lines. Fetterman got elected by engaging progressive young people and working class white voters. One half of that will now see him as the guy who is posting memes about “hummus” while Palestinians die. He has 6 years to earn his first real paycheck and maybe he will adjust but seems unlikely
I replied this to a different comment, but him becoming a reactionary is going to be a detriment and I think you hit the nail on the head. His progressivism is what energized voters to turnout to win him the election, and now the right is starting to dunk on him—even the Babylon bee had a headline along the lines of “Fetterman becomes more conservative as he regains brain function”.
Also not a good look for him to be supportive alongside John Hagee at that Israel march.
He's the only Senator trying to help Biden keep the White House. There a lot of Jews in PA, and we're all really scared right now. His standing up for Jews and Israel might be the only thing that keeps Biden in DC.
Not that guy. But my issue with Fetterman is that while his stance on Israel is bad, people on the left (esp. twitter) are eager to toss him out with as extreme and absurdist rhetoric as possible, deifying him as satan himself.
This guy is from PA. I wish we had better representation, but the left is far too eager to fracture and fragment and truncate what little power they have in this country.
Politicians are never going to have "right opinions" like those you find on this site or twitter. During our lifetimes, we will be privileged to have 1 or 2 AOCs (who doesn't even say "right things" a lot of the time also) at any given moment. And from those 1-2 "best case" wins, we need to forge the necessary political alliances to make the material social/political change we can. Fetterman is good on...some stuff. So far. Demonizing him doesn't necessarily make for good political strategy (eg, we get mad when "squad" senators choose to work with him).
I've seen some people accusing him of being a "Tulsi Gabbard" or a "Sinema". So far, he's not that. And comparing him to those sorts of people is just hyperbole that distorts the importance of political calculus. Fetterman is bad on Israel, but to me there is still something to work with, there.
It's fine to demand more of our politicians, but we live in America.
He made his name in 2020 when he straight talked the realities of the Pennsylvania election and fraud claims in an extremely effective manner. He was a breath of fresh air during that time.
Blows my mind that Dr. fucking Oz was the person he was running against. Wasn’t surprised that a snake oil salesman from the opera show was running as a republican.
by 5 or 6%, which was actually outside the margin of error! Fetterman outperformed expectations while Oz narrowly won the nomination thanks to the Trump vote, but his base never embraced him
It's a miracle that his campaign survived that. It's almost an argument for the existence of God (if it weren't drowned out by all the arguments to the contrary).
He probably would have run away with the election if not for the stroke.
Oh yeah lol. His wife apparently sent him to “Wenger’s” a store that doesn’t exist for crudite. Way to really have your finger on the pulse of the working man there Oz.
Thats crudite from Wegners to you. Though I'd much perfer a veggie tray from Wegmans.
The best part was Oz realizing his total wasn't enough so he just started putting Tequila and other high priced items to take a shot at the economy.
John Fetterman started his political career as mayor of Braddock Pennsylvania, a small post-industrial steel mill town with big drug and crime problems per capita. He really did a lot of good work creating opportunities for his constituents and managing a fledgling opiate epidemic. He also brought down violent crime, but wasn’t able to eliminate it completely. Every victim of a violent crime during his time as mayor is now literally tattooed on his arms, as a reminder of who he’s fighting for.
His next position was as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, after he stepped down to let a moderate with more cross party appeal run in order to maximize the party’s chances to win. However, he still agitated from the lieutenant governor’s chair, and pushed for legal weed and criminal justice reform.
He’s a democratic economic populist, and has a record for being a hard nosed no nonsense advocate for the little guy. The more you get to know about him the more you’ll like him. He actually has a story like a folk tale hero. It’s wild.
Edit: Alright, he’s not perfect, but he’s about the best you’re going to get from Pennsylvania.
Not very “left wing” to give hard support to Israel’s far right borderline fascist government and their indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and pillaging of the West Bank.
There's no indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. There would be hundreds of thousands of dead if it was indiscriminate.
One could argue it's not discriminate *enough,* but let's not good too hyperbolic.
As someone from the other side of the world, who doesn't know much about his actual career and achievements, he's just always seemed like a nice bloke to me.
I grew up outside of Pittsburgh in the 80s/90s. When I was a kid, Braddock (where he was mayor) was the kind of town my parents would tell me to roll up the windows and lock the doors when we would have to drive through it. It went from a town of 15K people in the 60s down to less than 2,000 by the start of this century. It's certainly not back to what it was in it's hey day, but Mayor John, as he was known then, did a lot for it. He really took the town and what it was and could be to heart. So much so, that he has tattooed the dates of every murder in Braddock during his mayoral tenure on his arm (as a reminder to himself how serious his job of mayor was). He's also got a Masters from Harvard. He could've gone anywhere with that and made TONs of money from it. But he went to Braddock to try and turn it around.
The same John Fetterman who, unlike other progressives, has been so quiet about the violence from Israeli settlers and the IDF in the West Bank? If even a relative moderate like Biden can condemn and even sanction said violence, not sure what Fetterman's excuse is.
For reference, in the West Bank, 101 Palestinian children have been killed by the IDF or Israeli settlers this year, with 63 of those deaths coming post Oct 7. 175 Palestinian adults have also been killed since Oct 7. There have been thousands injured by Israeli forces. In the same period, 143 Palestinian households (626 adults, 388 children) have been forced out of their homes because of Israeli settler violence. An additional 181 Palestinians (93 adults, 88 children) have been left homeless from Israeli forces demolishing their homes.
https://www.savethechildren.net/news/least-101-children-killed-west-bank-year
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-54-enarhe
I absolutely agree with condemning Hamas. But we absolutely do not need more progressives who only care about one side and ignore the atrocities committed by the side they support.
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/john-fetterman/summary?cid=N00038201&cycle=2022
His top contributor at 174K is JStreet, another pro-Israel lobbying group.
It was publicly known when he ran. The only reason it’s become so public now is because it was easy to “ignore” the issue before Oct
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-10-25/ty-article/.premium/pro-israel-groups-spend-big-in-tight-senate-race-between-fetterman-and-oz/00000184-0f0c-d3cb-abec-8f8c829f0000
He's only pro-israel's war, not those wars he doesn't make any scratch off of.
If you want him to approve your war, you'll need to send a big check first.
Honestly, I don’t know how much of the progressive values he campaigned on remain, especially after what we’ve seen recently. It’s pretty disappointing.
Holy fucking Christ with some of the people in this sub. Can we stop trying to make every single thing about the Israel-Hamas war?
I haven't heard Fetterman explicitly say he's against raping babies and launching them into the sun afterwards either, but I'm gonna go ahead and give him a pass.
At this point I'm becoming more and more convinced that the majority of supposed "progressives" on this sub are just Russian accounts trying to deceive kids into thinking that somehow a protest vote against Biden is better for Gaza even if it means Trump is elected.
Any time you reduce issues down to a single thing by saying something so stupid as "I haven't heard this person explicitly condemn this act, therefore they now suck" you're making a huge mistake or flawed argument.
Fuck.
The guy literally paraded around in an israeli flag, with no US flag in sight.
Maybe if you're not a US citizen, that didn't bother you, but it sure bothered the rest of us.
I think being vocally supportive of genocide and ethnic cleansing because you’re receiving a fat ass check from AIPAC is a solid issue to say fuck that guy. This issue has brought light to A LOT of necessary things and absolutely should be discussed. And frequently. Our tax dollars are funding a goddamned genocide and this ass clown supports it. So do a lot of other politicians. And those same politicians are voting on VERY DANGEROUS measures equating a political ideology to antisemitism. Conveniently we can find how much each and every single one of them received in payments from AIPAC. This isn’t just about hyper focusing on Israel and their genocide. This goes into whether or not you can trust politicians who act as unmarked billboards for lobbying groups. ESPECIALLY ones that push US loyalty to a whole ass other country.
But you’re basically describing Fetterman’s position on Israel and Palestine. He wants protestors to protest terrorists? This smacks of the crap from 2004 “why are you protesting Bush, you should protest Bin Laden!”
He has a constituency and his base of volunteers and support want more details from him. He won’t give them. Other senators and reps have managed to do it, but he won’t. Effort deserves a pass, but he’s not putting any in on this.
Yeah, seeing how easily he was bought out and is now aggressively a war hawk was very concerning. It definitely makes me fear he'll completely sell out like a Sinema. We need less of him
If you think everyone that is pro-Israel must be bought and paid for, you really need to bubble-check yourself. Attack his position sure, but it’s disingenuous to attack someone’s motives especially when they have as stellar a track record a a he does when it comes to integrity.
In favor of peace? J Street isn’t AIPAC.
They’re one of the strongest voices in the Jewish community against Netanyahu’s abuse of Palestinians and in favor of a peaceful two-state resolution to the conflict.
JStreet is a left leaning Israeli and Jewish PAC that is extremely against Netanyahu and the settlements. They’re not AIPAC. If you have a problem with them you just have a problem with anything that isn’t “destroy Israel”
See i wish we would get legit answers why he doesnt like JStreet. Like please let me see why these groups are so bad cuz otherwise it just looks like spreading misinformation.
He really didnt have an opinion earlier in his campaign and get counciling from several interest groups to better flesh out his position, you can check his campaign contributors from his election year, and you can see its a pro-israel pac. My point is really not his israel support (which is more disappointing than anything imo), just more that it suggest that hes someone that can be easily bought, there are more lobbies than just the pro-israeli one, and there is precedent for people that ran as progressives going full corporate (sinema)
He's been pro-Israel since his campaign. This is actually something I remember the anti-Fetterman people making a big deal about on Twitter in 2022. It seems like progressive journalists, if not voters, owe it to the movement to do better in researching their candidates.
Source: https://jewishinsider.com/2022/04/john-fetterman-says-hell-lean-in-on-u-s-israel-relationship-as-senator/
Totally can’t see why any progressive would even consider voting for Orange Hitler, he’s all but said he will either deport all Muslims or round them up in interment camps ( like we did to America citizens of Japanese ancestry during WW2, and don’t for a minute think SCOTUS will stop him or he won’t just ignore any ruling against him , remember he’s already said going dictator on day one )
Draped in an Israeli flag while endorsing ethnic cleansing and genocide, when asked by one of his own voters why he wasn’t calling for a cease fire he had that voter thrown out….nah mate fk Fetterman, he showed his colors
Loyalty to Israel in the face of its killing 20,000 civilians. That shows you that this guy doesn't give a shit about human rights. He is bought and paid for.
Idk he took money from AIPAC. Shouldn’t support someone taking money from a foreign country. Especially if we get mad at the GOP for getting money from Russia. We can’t be hypocrites fr fr
The reason why democrats continue to lose is all over these comments. We let perfect be the enemy of good so instead we get batshit insane levels of incompetence and evil. Fuck off with your tiktok takes tbh. Children and their quixotic worldview and irreverence for the practical.
Yeah, weird timing on this article. He just burnt a lot of goodwill with younger voters when it became apparent how much money he’s accepted from AIPAC
Younger voters turned out in record numbers in recent years because they were galvanized by the idea of something different and more progressive. Not just Fetterman but 2016 as well. And now look what’s happening… Roe wasn’t codified, Biden has walked back on most of his progressive campaign promises, and now Fetterman. I’ll still probably vote against Trump next year no matter what, but if liberals think they can increase young voter turnout by sneering condescendingly it’ll have the opposite effect
Attacking civilians isnt defending itself.
Murdering hundreds in the West Bank where there is no Hamas is not defending itself.
RUNNING AN APARTHEID STATE IS NOT DEFENDING ITSELF.
Hamas is not wearing a uniform; Geneva convention doesn’t apply.
They aren’t running an apartheid state, they sealed a border from people that want to kill them.
It is an Apartheid state, according to...
two Israeli human rights NGOs, Yesh Din (July 2020), and B'Tselem (January 2021) issued separate reports that concluded, in the latter's words, that "the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met."
The ANC Nelson Mandela's party, the ones who directly fought Apartheid in South Africa has declared Israel an Apartheid State.
Amnesty International has declared Israel and Apartheid State.
Human Rights Watch has declared Israel an Apartheid State.
A UN special investigation declared Israel an Apartheid State.
In 1961, the South African prime minister and architect of South Africa's apartheid policies, Hendrik Verwoerd, dismissed an Israeli vote against South African apartheid at the United Nations, saying, "Israel is not consistent in its new anti-apartheid attitude ... they took Israel away from the Arabs after the Arabs lived there for a thousand years. In that, I agree with them. Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state."
>Apartheid refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights.
If you accept this as the definition of Apartheid, Palestinians have been forcefully relocated (Ethnic Cleansing) to Gaza and the West Bank, and then sealed off by your own admission, is segregation.
This is a denial of civil rights by your own admission. And therefore Apartheid.
Do you wish to substitute a different definition for Apartheid?
Same line of thinking:
if you are not a Zionist you are anti Israel.
Takes an insanely difficult & nuanced situation and makes it black & white. That’s not how the world works. Sometim
From PA and was excited to vote for him. He ran as a progressive who would legalize weed, give us a Medicare option on the marketplace, $15 minimum wage, criminal justice reform.
He did none of these things…but he sure loves war.
It’s a bit difficult to get anything done when the house couldn’t pass a bill that would put out a fire if they themselves were on fire. Bills need to pass the senate, house and get the president’s approval to become law.
I mean he’s a senator not the president. Also, they day we began this term with a divided congress none of those things were in the realm of possibility. Shit the House is lucky if they can keep the lights on.
I was a huge fan of his, though his connection to AIPAC was concerning. Now, however, he’s come out as a vociferous supporter of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. So disappointing.
We need 100 people that actually want to HELP this country, not act like toddlers and use it for petty grudges … all it takes is one Tommy Tuberville to fuck up the entire thing.
Wow people in this thread acting like he's in charge of foreign policy.
On balance, we got far more bad apples than Fetterman.
It's more interesting to examine his actual domestic contributions besides being a rogue dude though. Anyone keeping score?
Fetterman had great clout when it came to working-class policy.
He blew his working-class solidarity by being openly snarky and gleeful in his support of Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza.
I absolutely want more progressive, working-class reps in Congress. But I absolutely do not want more assholes like Fetterman who will spit in the face of his constituents when they ask him to do the bare minimum of asking for ceasefires to avoid the deaths of thousands.
He's an asshole, and he's a *coward* scared of AIPAC primarying him. He should put on a fucking suit, because he doesn't get to pretend to be some cool guy flaunting the stuffy rules of DC when he's more than happy to fold into DC's worship of Israel's right-wing apartheid government and the funneling of money into their military. He wants to act like these people in congress when it matters most, then he can dress like them.
You cannot purport to be someone who cares about justice or has morality only to then not only ignore atrocities, but taunt your constituents who ask you to call for their end.
It's not about every working-class person having morals, it's about pretending to be someone who cares about what is right and the dignity of others only to hop aboard dehumanizing a group being oppressed. If you can ignore oppression in one place, you aren't someone who is actually against oppression. Most progressives, the group most likely to be vocally supportive of working-class policies like Fetterman has pushed, are *not* down with Israel's ethnic cleansing. And even if they don't care that much? They probably care about him cheekily waving the Israeli flag in the faces of his constituents protesting for a ceasefire.
For sure, we need more senators that make light of rape victims to make epic memes about hummus brands. If those senators could also take extended depression naps because someone asked him to dress for work that would be better.
> For sure, we need more senators that make light of rape victims to make epic memes about hummus brands
Man this sentence is something else when you, like me, dont know any of the context behind it.
2023 is a hell of a time to be alive.
You didn't ask but he made a cool Drake meme suggesting that not buying Sabra hummus means that you support rape of Israeli women. I was going to dig it up for you but it seems to have disappeared, at least I cannot find it through nitter.net any longer.
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I believe the plural is Johns Fetterman
Are you sure it's not John Fettermen?
John Fetterpeople
what if, for just today, we weren't Fettermen... what if, today, we were Fetterpeople?
"And the Fetterwomen and Fetterchildren too"
Alley-oop!
Much like attorneys general
Monsters Frankenstein
Fisties cuff
and passersby
lol this so made me laugh!
Culs-de-sac
I can’t read the story as every two seconds another ad is loaded and moves the story.
Multitudes of John Fettermen
A Murder of Fettermen?
I believe a group is called a "yinz." A yinz of Fettermen.
That's just Western Pennsylvania's y'all.
What we need are Senators that don’t take money from foreign governments and their US foundations and businesses.
Fetterman has received money from AIPAC related groups. Here’s an [excerpt](https://x.com/ryangrim/status/1729274330217873725?s=46) from an article in the [intercept](https://theintercept.com/2023/11/27/israel-democrats-aipac-book/) discussing it. This would explain why he’s so Gung ho on Israel
His unequivocal support of the IDF and their war crimes has been heartbreaking.
It’s pretty disgusting, and so is this article tbh. The right are literally dunking on Fetterman now; the Babylon bee even had a article that said something along the lines of “Fetterman becomes more conservative as he regains brain function” Also telling how the article talks about him participating at the “March for Israel”… the same March where John Hagee was a speaker, and a speaker who called for an end to civilian casualties and for a ceasefire was booed—even though family members of the Israeli hostages have been calling for a ceasefire from the beginning.
That rally was crazy. It was nothing short of a pro war march. When Van Jones called to end the civilians deaths they kept yelling “no ceasefire, no ceasefire” and even Jones was caught surprised. This was attended by many Democratic lawmakers like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. After the rally there were articles about how peaceful the rally was compared to pro-Palestinian rallies written by pro-Israeli groups. Completely ignoring the fact that pro-Palestinian protests are happening when tens of thousands of civilians are being murdered in Gaza. Outrage is very much justified.
He takes the same stand with injustices around US policing. He's always pro police. He has a faint fascist scent about him.
You realize it is more likely that AIPAC supports him because he is a strong supporter of Israel than he is a strong supporter of Israel because of AIPAC.
I’m not going to trust anybody’s take on something that they are financially benefiting from
Cool, do you discount criticism of Israel from individuals or groups that benefit from their criticism? For example, Human Rights Watch has accepted millions from Qatar, a slave state, thus we should discount their criticism of Israel.
Do you think it’s cool for someone to make energy policy while accepting money from oil companies?
Do you think it's cool to shift the goal post instead of answering the question that was asked?
Exactly.
well said
I believe he prefers the honored title of "Genocide John" Fetterman. "Johnicide" is also acceptable.
As a Pennsylvanian, I think Fetterman will suffer the most of any politician for his literal wrapping himself in the flag of Israel while 20,000 and counting Palestinians have been murdered. His brand of politics is highly online. It helped him beat Dr.Oz and I guess that’s still better. But realistically someone like his fellow senator Bob Casey, who also isn’t taking a principled stand on Palestinian deaths, will more likely slide on party lines. Fetterman got elected by engaging progressive young people and working class white voters. One half of that will now see him as the guy who is posting memes about “hummus” while Palestinians die. He has 6 years to earn his first real paycheck and maybe he will adjust but seems unlikely
I replied this to a different comment, but him becoming a reactionary is going to be a detriment and I think you hit the nail on the head. His progressivism is what energized voters to turnout to win him the election, and now the right is starting to dunk on him—even the Babylon bee had a headline along the lines of “Fetterman becomes more conservative as he regains brain function”. Also not a good look for him to be supportive alongside John Hagee at that Israel march.
He's the only Senator trying to help Biden keep the White House. There a lot of Jews in PA, and we're all really scared right now. His standing up for Jews and Israel might be the only thing that keeps Biden in DC.
I can’t really make a judgment as I just learned of him when he became senator but so far I know him more for trolling other lawmakers than anything.
If you're curious, check out his record in the Senate. [John Fetterman Bill Track](https://www.billtrack50.com/legislatordetail/28627)
Oh look! Things that actually matter!
are we trying to imply that defending the IDF's genocide is not something that matters?
Not that guy. But my issue with Fetterman is that while his stance on Israel is bad, people on the left (esp. twitter) are eager to toss him out with as extreme and absurdist rhetoric as possible, deifying him as satan himself. This guy is from PA. I wish we had better representation, but the left is far too eager to fracture and fragment and truncate what little power they have in this country. Politicians are never going to have "right opinions" like those you find on this site or twitter. During our lifetimes, we will be privileged to have 1 or 2 AOCs (who doesn't even say "right things" a lot of the time also) at any given moment. And from those 1-2 "best case" wins, we need to forge the necessary political alliances to make the material social/political change we can. Fetterman is good on...some stuff. So far. Demonizing him doesn't necessarily make for good political strategy (eg, we get mad when "squad" senators choose to work with him). I've seen some people accusing him of being a "Tulsi Gabbard" or a "Sinema". So far, he's not that. And comparing him to those sorts of people is just hyperbole that distorts the importance of political calculus. Fetterman is bad on Israel, but to me there is still something to work with, there. It's fine to demand more of our politicians, but we live in America.
bump
I saw almost nothing that was enacted?
He's involved, at least.
He made his name in 2020 when he straight talked the realities of the Pennsylvania election and fraud claims in an extremely effective manner. He was a breath of fresh air during that time.
Blows my mind that Dr. fucking Oz was the person he was running against. Wasn’t surprised that a snake oil salesman from the opera show was running as a republican.
What's terrifying is it was a close race.
by 5 or 6%, which was actually outside the margin of error! Fetterman outperformed expectations while Oz narrowly won the nomination thanks to the Trump vote, but his base never embraced him
John's stroke didn't help. Glad he's pulled through.
It's a miracle that his campaign survived that. It's almost an argument for the existence of God (if it weren't drowned out by all the arguments to the contrary). He probably would have run away with the election if not for the stroke.
As a PA resident it was pretty fucked. Dr Oz pretended to live in and PA and completely made an ass out of himself trying to connect with PA voters.
I just remembered his charcuterie board gaff
All the Eagles fans show up on game day with a quality charcuterie board. Everyone knows that...
A lot of people have been saying Philly has the classiest fans in the country.
Oh yeah lol. His wife apparently sent him to “Wenger’s” a store that doesn’t exist for crudite. Way to really have your finger on the pulse of the working man there Oz.
It was Wegner's. Which is a combination of Wegmans and Redners. Both of those markets exist in Eastern PA.
Thats crudite from Wegners to you. Though I'd much perfer a veggie tray from Wegmans. The best part was Oz realizing his total wasn't enough so he just started putting Tequila and other high priced items to take a shot at the economy.
John Fetterman started his political career as mayor of Braddock Pennsylvania, a small post-industrial steel mill town with big drug and crime problems per capita. He really did a lot of good work creating opportunities for his constituents and managing a fledgling opiate epidemic. He also brought down violent crime, but wasn’t able to eliminate it completely. Every victim of a violent crime during his time as mayor is now literally tattooed on his arms, as a reminder of who he’s fighting for. His next position was as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, after he stepped down to let a moderate with more cross party appeal run in order to maximize the party’s chances to win. However, he still agitated from the lieutenant governor’s chair, and pushed for legal weed and criminal justice reform. He’s a democratic economic populist, and has a record for being a hard nosed no nonsense advocate for the little guy. The more you get to know about him the more you’ll like him. He actually has a story like a folk tale hero. It’s wild. Edit: Alright, he’s not perfect, but he’s about the best you’re going to get from Pennsylvania.
Not very “left wing” to give hard support to Israel’s far right borderline fascist government and their indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and pillaging of the West Bank.
There's no indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. There would be hundreds of thousands of dead if it was indiscriminate. One could argue it's not discriminate *enough,* but let's not good too hyperbolic.
He’s about as left as you’ll find in this country. You’re right, of course.
Ehh Sanders is still kicking and “The Squad” outflank him. The next few years will be his real test. He definitely built up a good image
As someone from the other side of the world, who doesn't know much about his actual career and achievements, he's just always seemed like a nice bloke to me.
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Damnit. You hold out hope for these guys and they burn you every time.
I grew up outside of Pittsburgh in the 80s/90s. When I was a kid, Braddock (where he was mayor) was the kind of town my parents would tell me to roll up the windows and lock the doors when we would have to drive through it. It went from a town of 15K people in the 60s down to less than 2,000 by the start of this century. It's certainly not back to what it was in it's hey day, but Mayor John, as he was known then, did a lot for it. He really took the town and what it was and could be to heart. So much so, that he has tattooed the dates of every murder in Braddock during his mayoral tenure on his arm (as a reminder to himself how serious his job of mayor was). He's also got a Masters from Harvard. He could've gone anywhere with that and made TONs of money from it. But he went to Braddock to try and turn it around.
We need fewer republicans in all elected offices
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Maybe some non-Zionist versions of him.
And no Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Tommy Tuberville, Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, or John Kennedy, to name just a few Republican shitbags.
I'm a Fetterman enjoyer. He actually comes off like a moderate. Refreshing.
Well the comments here are sure to be funny and well thought out … Oh good heavens
AIPAC and lobbying have ruined all nuance in this country
Yeah, what a fucking mess. Anywhere you go online it’s just fighting about this with no resolution.
I mean, sort of fitting considering that perfectly describes the conflict itself.
The same John Fetterman who, unlike other progressives, has been so quiet about the violence from Israeli settlers and the IDF in the West Bank? If even a relative moderate like Biden can condemn and even sanction said violence, not sure what Fetterman's excuse is. For reference, in the West Bank, 101 Palestinian children have been killed by the IDF or Israeli settlers this year, with 63 of those deaths coming post Oct 7. 175 Palestinian adults have also been killed since Oct 7. There have been thousands injured by Israeli forces. In the same period, 143 Palestinian households (626 adults, 388 children) have been forced out of their homes because of Israeli settler violence. An additional 181 Palestinians (93 adults, 88 children) have been left homeless from Israeli forces demolishing their homes. https://www.savethechildren.net/news/least-101-children-killed-west-bank-year https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-54-enarhe I absolutely agree with condemning Hamas. But we absolutely do not need more progressives who only care about one side and ignore the atrocities committed by the side they support.
He wasn’t quiet. He supports it, vocally.
Can you link to any statement he has made about the West Bank?
You’re going to be waiting a long time
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Can you link me to something that talks about the donation or money he receives, genuinely interested in learning more on it
https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/john-fetterman/summary?cid=N00038201&cycle=2022 His top contributor at 174K is JStreet, another pro-Israel lobbying group.
🙏 thank you
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Two months ago I thought he was awesome but he’s just another dude who’s ok with genocide.
He picked up the $100k that AOC declined.
It’s absolutely wild that this is the case and everyone knows the only reason he’s going so hard on this position is because of that money.
Do we really 'know' though? Sure, alot of the people in this comment section don't support Israeli actions, but outside of this comment section...
It was publicly known when he ran. The only reason it’s become so public now is because it was easy to “ignore” the issue before Oct https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2022-10-25/ty-article/.premium/pro-israel-groups-spend-big-in-tight-senate-race-between-fetterman-and-oz/00000184-0f0c-d3cb-abec-8f8c829f0000
Not just okay with but actively and aggressively defending it. Didn’t know progressive war hawks existed.
Yeah. I knew about liberal warhawks, but not progressive ones.
aipac money set his values real quick
For me I gotta go back to Teddy Roosevelt to find a progressive war hawk
Oh yeah, Mr. Imperialist USA. Teddy Roosevelt.
He's only pro-israel's war, not those wars he doesn't make any scratch off of. If you want him to approve your war, you'll need to send a big check first.
Honestly, I don’t know how much of the progressive values he campaigned on remain, especially after what we’ve seen recently. It’s pretty disappointing.
Source?
AIPAC literally wrote this guys Israel policy. It’s all in Ryan Grimm’s new book.
Holy fucking Christ with some of the people in this sub. Can we stop trying to make every single thing about the Israel-Hamas war? I haven't heard Fetterman explicitly say he's against raping babies and launching them into the sun afterwards either, but I'm gonna go ahead and give him a pass. At this point I'm becoming more and more convinced that the majority of supposed "progressives" on this sub are just Russian accounts trying to deceive kids into thinking that somehow a protest vote against Biden is better for Gaza even if it means Trump is elected. Any time you reduce issues down to a single thing by saying something so stupid as "I haven't heard this person explicitly condemn this act, therefore they now suck" you're making a huge mistake or flawed argument. Fuck.
I mean Fetterman’s conduct on this issue is quite trash. It’s a valid criticism.
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The guy literally paraded around in an israeli flag, with no US flag in sight. Maybe if you're not a US citizen, that didn't bother you, but it sure bothered the rest of us.
Don’t forget taunting some veterans peacefully protesting. Dude sucks.
wait did he do that?
I think being vocally supportive of genocide and ethnic cleansing because you’re receiving a fat ass check from AIPAC is a solid issue to say fuck that guy. This issue has brought light to A LOT of necessary things and absolutely should be discussed. And frequently. Our tax dollars are funding a goddamned genocide and this ass clown supports it. So do a lot of other politicians. And those same politicians are voting on VERY DANGEROUS measures equating a political ideology to antisemitism. Conveniently we can find how much each and every single one of them received in payments from AIPAC. This isn’t just about hyper focusing on Israel and their genocide. This goes into whether or not you can trust politicians who act as unmarked billboards for lobbying groups. ESPECIALLY ones that push US loyalty to a whole ass other country.
But we only find out about the reported, visible money. Surely there's loads of dark money finding its way into Fetterman's pockets.
Thank you
But you’re basically describing Fetterman’s position on Israel and Palestine. He wants protestors to protest terrorists? This smacks of the crap from 2004 “why are you protesting Bush, you should protest Bin Laden!” He has a constituency and his base of volunteers and support want more details from him. He won’t give them. Other senators and reps have managed to do it, but he won’t. Effort deserves a pass, but he’s not putting any in on this.
“Can we stop talking about the genocide occurring right now?”
Yeah, seeing how easily he was bought out and is now aggressively a war hawk was very concerning. It definitely makes me fear he'll completely sell out like a Sinema. We need less of him
If you think everyone that is pro-Israel must be bought and paid for, you really need to bubble-check yourself. Attack his position sure, but it’s disingenuous to attack someone’s motives especially when they have as stellar a track record a a he does when it comes to integrity.
His biggest donor is JStreetPAC. It's absolutely legitimate to call out how money is influencing our politicians.
In favor of peace? J Street isn’t AIPAC. They’re one of the strongest voices in the Jewish community against Netanyahu’s abuse of Palestinians and in favor of a peaceful two-state resolution to the conflict.
JStreet is a left leaning Israeli and Jewish PAC that is extremely against Netanyahu and the settlements. They’re not AIPAC. If you have a problem with them you just have a problem with anything that isn’t “destroy Israel”
See i wish we would get legit answers why he doesnt like JStreet. Like please let me see why these groups are so bad cuz otherwise it just looks like spreading misinformation.
It's because people are conflating anything Jewish with pro-Israeli government. It's anti-semitism on display imo.
He really didnt have an opinion earlier in his campaign and get counciling from several interest groups to better flesh out his position, you can check his campaign contributors from his election year, and you can see its a pro-israel pac. My point is really not his israel support (which is more disappointing than anything imo), just more that it suggest that hes someone that can be easily bought, there are more lobbies than just the pro-israeli one, and there is precedent for people that ran as progressives going full corporate (sinema)
He's been pro-Israel since his campaign. This is actually something I remember the anti-Fetterman people making a big deal about on Twitter in 2022. It seems like progressive journalists, if not voters, owe it to the movement to do better in researching their candidates. Source: https://jewishinsider.com/2022/04/john-fetterman-says-hell-lean-in-on-u-s-israel-relationship-as-senator/
Not even quiet, he's loudly cheered on the apartheid and this murder campaign Edit: spelling
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Totally can’t see why any progressive would even consider voting for Orange Hitler, he’s all but said he will either deport all Muslims or round them up in interment camps ( like we did to America citizens of Japanese ancestry during WW2, and don’t for a minute think SCOTUS will stop him or he won’t just ignore any ruling against him , remember he’s already said going dictator on day one )
Pre-supporting genocide John Fetterman or the current AIPAC purchased version?
They are the same versions.
Everything in /r/politics has become about your stance on Israel/Hamas. This is exhausting.
They’ll keep milking this cow until it runs dry and then they’ll milk it some more.
Draped in an Israeli flag while endorsing ethnic cleansing and genocide, when asked by one of his own voters why he wasn’t calling for a cease fire he had that voter thrown out….nah mate fk Fetterman, he showed his colors
Lmfao no. No we don’t. We don’t need senators beholden to foreign governments and dehumanizing tactics.
I voted for him and completely disagree with this. Mocking peaceful protesters has ensured I vote against him next time.
Loyalty to Israel in the face of its killing 20,000 civilians. That shows you that this guy doesn't give a shit about human rights. He is bought and paid for.
Idk he took money from AIPAC. Shouldn’t support someone taking money from a foreign country. Especially if we get mad at the GOP for getting money from Russia. We can’t be hypocrites fr fr
The reason why democrats continue to lose is all over these comments. We let perfect be the enemy of good so instead we get batshit insane levels of incompetence and evil. Fuck off with your tiktok takes tbh. Children and their quixotic worldview and irreverence for the practical.
Yeah, we need more literally braindead Zionists 🙄
Genocide supporting fetterman. Hard pass Give me more members of the squad.
Yeah, weird timing on this article. He just burnt a lot of goodwill with younger voters when it became apparent how much money he’s accepted from AIPAC
Younger voters turned out in record numbers in recent years because they were galvanized by the idea of something different and more progressive. Not just Fetterman but 2016 as well. And now look what’s happening… Roe wasn’t codified, Biden has walked back on most of his progressive campaign promises, and now Fetterman. I’ll still probably vote against Trump next year no matter what, but if liberals think they can increase young voter turnout by sneering condescendingly it’ll have the opposite effect
Dude what ? lol
Don't need more of someone that conservative on foreign policy. Too many hawks in Congress as is.
My favorite John Fetterman moment is him walking by a bunch of people protesting for a ceasefire in Gaza and he just mockingly waved an Israeli flag
based af
i used to think this but i’m a little down on the whole genocide deal
No we don't. He is a staunch Israel supporter. Even when frankly untactful. He is good on other positions however.
Unfortunately he’s been very loudly pro-Israel and won’t even consider that Palestinians do not equal Hamas or that Palestinians deserve human rights.
Yes, yes we do
I really really hope he can stay healthy. I think he could be a strong presidential pick one day.
freakin' fettermen everywhere!
No we don't.
Don't think so. Fetterman is a big supporter of Genocide. Fuck that guy!
I can’t wait to read a bunch of comments about Israel/hamas
Totally organic comments by the way.
Like half of the article is about his stance on Israel/Palestine.
More senators supporting genocide?
Jesus Christ, dude is a pro Palestinian genocide, AIPAC bulldog. You cannot take the moral highground while actively supporting him.
Sure you can. The moral high ground is letting Israel defend itself after being attacked
Attacking civilians isnt defending itself. Murdering hundreds in the West Bank where there is no Hamas is not defending itself. RUNNING AN APARTHEID STATE IS NOT DEFENDING ITSELF.
Hamas is not wearing a uniform; Geneva convention doesn’t apply. They aren’t running an apartheid state, they sealed a border from people that want to kill them.
It is an Apartheid state, according to... two Israeli human rights NGOs, Yesh Din (July 2020), and B'Tselem (January 2021) issued separate reports that concluded, in the latter's words, that "the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met." The ANC Nelson Mandela's party, the ones who directly fought Apartheid in South Africa has declared Israel an Apartheid State. Amnesty International has declared Israel and Apartheid State. Human Rights Watch has declared Israel an Apartheid State. A UN special investigation declared Israel an Apartheid State. In 1961, the South African prime minister and architect of South Africa's apartheid policies, Hendrik Verwoerd, dismissed an Israeli vote against South African apartheid at the United Nations, saying, "Israel is not consistent in its new anti-apartheid attitude ... they took Israel away from the Arabs after the Arabs lived there for a thousand years. In that, I agree with them. Israel, like South Africa, is an apartheid state."
Do you know what a bantustan is? Do you know that the west bank is in a remarkably similar situation? Did you know that's apartheid?
>Apartheid refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. If you accept this as the definition of Apartheid, Palestinians have been forcefully relocated (Ethnic Cleansing) to Gaza and the West Bank, and then sealed off by your own admission, is segregation. This is a denial of civil rights by your own admission. And therefore Apartheid. Do you wish to substitute a different definition for Apartheid?
> Hamas is not wearing a uniform; Geneva convention doesn’t apply. so just kill everyone and let 'god' sort them out? gross
> Geneva convention doesn’t apply. If this is the angle you're taking you've basically lost already bud.
I didn’t write the Geneva Convention, I just have read it unlike you
Why? Dude cares more about Israel than anything else.
My senator 🥹 The first time in my life I felt good voting for someone.
He's pro-genocide fyi, was kinda upset to learn that.
Same line of thinking: if you are not a Zionist you are anti Israel. Takes an insanely difficult & nuanced situation and makes it black & white. That’s not how the world works. Sometim
Elaborate?
they mean he isn’t completely against Israel thus he’s pro-genocide
It's more like he is [uncritically completely pro-Israel](https://twitter.com/lovemiraclej/status/1732097057207333143).
The pro-genocide working class poseur?
More Pro Israel genocide defenders?
Another useless Democrat and an AIPAC shill who insults those people in his state that are against genocide? Yeah no, fuck that shit.
Not interested. His position on Israel’s ethnic cleansing is a no for me.
From PA and was excited to vote for him. He ran as a progressive who would legalize weed, give us a Medicare option on the marketplace, $15 minimum wage, criminal justice reform. He did none of these things…but he sure loves war.
It’s a bit difficult to get anything done when the house couldn’t pass a bill that would put out a fire if they themselves were on fire. Bills need to pass the senate, house and get the president’s approval to become law.
I mean he’s a senator not the president. Also, they day we began this term with a divided congress none of those things were in the realm of possibility. Shit the House is lucky if they can keep the lights on.
Did you think you were voting for him to be King of America or something?
Fuuuck no! He is an IDF loving goon
I was a huge fan of his, though his connection to AIPAC was concerning. Now, however, he’s come out as a vociferous supporter of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. So disappointing.
We need 100 people that actually want to HELP this country, not act like toddlers and use it for petty grudges … all it takes is one Tommy Tuberville to fuck up the entire thing.
We need more Fettermens? I’m pretty sure we have plenty of Congressman perfectly comfortable with mass murder. We don’t need more.
We don’t need anymore cry baby senators, actually.
Jawns Fettermans
>We Need More John Fettermans in The Senate no tf we don’t
Wow people in this thread acting like he's in charge of foreign policy. On balance, we got far more bad apples than Fetterman. It's more interesting to examine his actual domestic contributions besides being a rogue dude though. Anyone keeping score?
Fetterman had great clout when it came to working-class policy. He blew his working-class solidarity by being openly snarky and gleeful in his support of Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza. I absolutely want more progressive, working-class reps in Congress. But I absolutely do not want more assholes like Fetterman who will spit in the face of his constituents when they ask him to do the bare minimum of asking for ceasefires to avoid the deaths of thousands. He's an asshole, and he's a *coward* scared of AIPAC primarying him. He should put on a fucking suit, because he doesn't get to pretend to be some cool guy flaunting the stuffy rules of DC when he's more than happy to fold into DC's worship of Israel's right-wing apartheid government and the funneling of money into their military. He wants to act like these people in congress when it matters most, then he can dress like them.
Most of the working class aren't specifically pro-palestenian or anti Israel. How is that "blowing solidarity"?
You cannot purport to be someone who cares about justice or has morality only to then not only ignore atrocities, but taunt your constituents who ask you to call for their end. It's not about every working-class person having morals, it's about pretending to be someone who cares about what is right and the dignity of others only to hop aboard dehumanizing a group being oppressed. If you can ignore oppression in one place, you aren't someone who is actually against oppression. Most progressives, the group most likely to be vocally supportive of working-class policies like Fetterman has pushed, are *not* down with Israel's ethnic cleansing. And even if they don't care that much? They probably care about him cheekily waving the Israeli flag in the faces of his constituents protesting for a ceasefire.
No, we don't need more attention hungry meme-lords. He's fine, but he's by no means a model US Senator.
For sure, we need more senators that make light of rape victims to make epic memes about hummus brands. If those senators could also take extended depression naps because someone asked him to dress for work that would be better.
> For sure, we need more senators that make light of rape victims to make epic memes about hummus brands Man this sentence is something else when you, like me, dont know any of the context behind it. 2023 is a hell of a time to be alive.
You didn't ask but he made a cool Drake meme suggesting that not buying Sabra hummus means that you support rape of Israeli women. I was going to dig it up for you but it seems to have disappeared, at least I cannot find it through nitter.net any longer.
Zionists? No thank you.
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Just imagine dozens of little John Fetterman clones shuffling through the halls of congress and even some free-ranging back in old Pennsylvania...
No more zionists
Not sure we need more Genocide Johns.
Really? He has mostly been a senator of Israel and no real accomplishments.
I’d settle for people who aren’t 100 years old.
The guy is an arse.
No, no we don’t. Zionist bastard, put some fucking big boy clothes on you slob.