By Montgomery J. Granger @mjgranger1
The Left’s Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn) has been on a roll since his release from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of clinical depression. In a recent interview with POLITICO, he came out strongly in favor of Israel in its war with Hamas:
“I grieve, and it’s awful the incredible civilian deaths and the suffering. It’s awful. War is hell, as they say. But only one side has used civilians as human shields. Only one side has broken the cease-fires. Only one side will systematically rape, torture, and mutilate Israeli women and girls in the most unspeakable, awful ways…. Without destroying Hamas, there will be no enduring peace and a stable, two-state solution.”
After being pestered three times in a row by the interviewer about whether or not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “should stay in power,” Fetterman finally said:
“I don’t have a vote in that. That’s for the Israeli citizens. They have much more at stake. But what I can say [is] I believe that an overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens would want a senator standing with them and their right to destroy Hamas [and not] somebody that would splinter or peel away when things continue and as more and more antisemitism continues to go across college campuses, across our nation.”
Yes, this is the same John Fetterman who barely flipped the only US Senate seat last cycle after a bizarre and near-tragic campaign that included a serious stroke and fashion faux pas galore.
Although still firmly in the fog of a Biden re-election, stating that he feels the President “will win Pennsylvania,” and therefore the general election in November, Fetterman has betrayed the progressives in his party with recent statements out of the right-wing playbook, “It isn’t xenophobic to talk about the border,” he said in a recent Fox News interview. He went on to encourage his fellow Democrats to talk about a solution to the “mess” at the border, which he said included as many illegal immigrants coming across as there are people in “the city of Pittsburgh.”
Fetterman even recently criticized Democrat Golden Boy, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and his apparent “non-campaign” for President, saying, in relation to Newsom’s recent debate with Florida Governor and GOP primary presidential candidate, “it seems kind of strange to challenge a candidate of a race that you’re not involved in.”
When asked about his apparent flip from a liberal to a conservative point of view on key issues, Fetterman posted on X (formerly Twitter), “I’m not a progressive, I’m just a regular Democrat.”
“Just a regular Democrat?” Are there really any of those left? Well, apparently so, at least one from Pennsylvania, a state recently described by Democrat strategist and Fetterman foil James Carville as “Pittsburgh on one side, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in the middle.”
Carville has been critical of President Biden due to the latter’s poll numbers and age. Fetterman, on the other hand, has come to Biden’s defense, showing party loyalty, by telling Carville to “Shut the f*** up,” on more than one occasion.
Will the new Fetterman have any company on the left side of politics? Will there be a groundswell of common-sense Democrats who reject the progressive ideas of the Squad et al.?
The man who recently wore a suit and tie for an interview, in lieu of sweats and a ski cap, may just have gotten the attention of future voters – but which ones? Will Fetterman’s revelations of conservative thought result in Democrat voter flips? Or will they cause some moderate Democrats to come back into the fold after rejecting the ultra-liberal Biden agenda? We may just find out in November.
NOTE: Montgomery J. Granger is a three-time mobilized retired US Army Major and author of “Saving Grace at Guantanamo Bay: A Memoir of a Citizen Warrior.”