We thought we were getting another progressive. Instead we have Manchin 2.0, only worse.

how soon we forget!

He's not even a right leaning Dem anymore.

Poor, disables, aged, sick hungry. He is not doing right for that is for sure.

I was diagnosed with Serous Uterine Cancer in February of this year. I had surgery ... A total hysterectomy, months of chemo therapy and radiation treatments. If I didn't have Medicare, I would be looking at death.


We need Medicare For. All !!!! Do you hear me Mr. Fedderman?? Mr I said

... I hope you get primaried and a wonderful liberal takes your Senators seat !!!!

Last edited Sun Nov 16, 2025, 03:29 AM - Edit history (1)

The party needs to back one solid candidate so that there isn't a split field and he should be pretty easy to knock out. But, I could see the Republicans then backing him to run as an independent in the general to fuck things up.

His brain broke. This is not the same guy who won the election.

No rush, we’ve got until the end of 2028.

In the meantime, how do we convince Shapiro to run for Fetterman’s seat?

What does that say about republicans? lol

He’s a fucking halfwit and should and probably be primaried

he's a GD mess and then some. Just a shell of a man all the way around.

he is clearly damaged in some way

where is Oz now, and we are still stuck with Fetterman. Although in further hindsight, we could have had Conner Lamb instead of Fetterman in the primaries. That's on democrats. We knew who Lamb was, but wanted an unknown populist 'revolutionary'. We got one.

Last edited Sat Nov 15, 2025, 06:43 PM - Edit history (2)

As a member of Congress, Lamb sided with President Trump and Republicans frequently (far more often than Fetterman has as Senator, truthfully). He supported Trump’s border wall; opposed the HEROES Act, a 2020 Democratic COVID relief bill that was the precursor to the American Rescue Plan; and rejected a measure that sought to prevent President Trump from using the military against Black Lives Matter protesters. People unhappy with Fetterman would not be any happier with Lamb.

For the record, according to the ultra right wing Institute For Legislative Analysis, Fetterman has voted with Trump only about 5 to 6% of the time.

https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2025/10/how-much-do-pa-members-of-congress-align-with-trump-policies-trumpscore-vote-report-has-answers.html

Though my issues relate mostly to his propensity to make stupid statements in public including criticizing the Democratic Party over some really dumb things. But ultimately, I'm most concerned about Representatives and Senators votes. And to this point, Fetterman's only made 2 real consequential votes - for the 2 CRs this year. I disagree with him on both votes but I think they are defensible as he made a pledge to never cast a vote which could result in a shutdown and he's kept that pledge. And while I disagree with those votes, I believe even if he voted against the CRs, some other Democrat would have taken his place in voting for them. Beyond those 2 votes, he could have voted the opposite way of his actual vote on every single piece of legislation and/or nominee and nothing would have changed.

I'd prefer a better candidate in 2028 , but in the meantime, Fetterman's record is nowhere near as bad as people here accuse him of and Conor Lamb would almost surely have had a worse voting record based on his actual voting record as a member of the House.

I had Tim Holden as my Congressional Rep for a number of years. He was a Democrat, but way too Conservative for my liking. He voted the wrong way many times as far as I was concerned. Yet I overall found him acceptable, because a real Progressive Democrat could likely not have won that District and I knew any actual Republican would be far worse. Now, I'm stuck with Scott Perry as my rep. Ooof. I long for a Tim Holden these days.

was my rep, too. Conservative, yes, but I fear not being able to elect a Democrat again in this very red district. We did have Rep. Matt Cartwright for a short while, but with redistricting, we're stuck with Dan Meuser. I--too--long for a Tim Holden.

Got a lot of local grief supporting John back then (thought he would be better...and still do compared to Lamb!) from people who just listen to the candidates and NEVER check their past!
Even knowing what Fettermen is today, and I think he's not a good Democrat, I still know he was and is more of a Democrat than Lamb.
When I asked Lamb questions, all I got was moderate shit, nothing that showed he would be different from Trump when you pulled back the curtain. Lamb made sure people knew of his military service rather than details of what he really would do for us. He also spent most of his campaigning in the more affluent and better-to-do areas.

what then is everybody bitchin' about?!

NOT.

They need to know what life is like for their constituants.

They need to understand what they voted for. This is how it's done, you eat your own dogfood.

..and scramble for Parts M, J, X, W or whatever - hope to get the right coverage, worry about the enrollment deadlines, then find physicians who say "we're not currently taking any of the coverage you have"

scrapping the Congressional pension and lamborghini health care package, and make them use medicaid and Social Security.

They would fix all this ASAP if that happened.

My mom always used to say what is good for the goose is good for the gander and I'm with that. I'm a working schmuck who did everything right but still has $10K in HEALTH CARE DEBT, a 19.2% premium INCREASE this year, and my Social Security is in danger because of these irresponsible Republican tax cuts for billionaire parasites and corporations.

The response I received was, 'But He voted to approve Biden's judicial picks!'

He's a DINOcrat and needs to go!

Not reliable!

A happy thought, IMHO.

The smearing of Connor Lamb in favor of this guy was just unnecessary and way over the top.

See, with this stat staring me in the face...



I can see that the majority of Congress can get MUCH better insurance than what the ACA can offer. And, if they can have both, that means they pay for little or nothing while we who are left with plans that have deductibles that are larger than a year's income... well, they are still able to get way better healthcare than the vast majority of the population.

so I expect they would opt for the highest tier in their exchange (D.C. one).

In order to get the ACA passed (and I watched many of the hearings from the various Committees in both the House and Senate and monitored their markups and eventual Joint Conference Committee markups in order to have ONE bill to vote on in both chambers), the caveat was as a supposed "punishment" to members (since a pile of people were "running away from the ACA" which is why Democrats lost 64 seats in the House in 2010)... and to get enough votes to pass it, they added the requirement that their own members (and staff) use the ACA for coverage.

However, my question stands.

Can they get other insurance in addition to what is mandated?

and pay them directly and wouldn't need to use the insurance. But they are probably still getting some insurance premium deducted out of their paychecks, with the government (as their "employer" ) picking up a portion of that like is done with the FEHB plans (I am on a FEHB plan as a retired fed by the way).

My point is that they are still removed from the reality that we non-rich have to deal with every day. That provision in the ACA about Congress is little more than a joke. They can afford to get way better insurance while we are still being given crumbs and told to like it. This is outside of the fact that they can get decent enough insurance through the ACA anyway. Two-tiered system, all the way down.

Time for a government hospital that has nothing to do with insurance, and that can offer those who are not Thiels or Soroses the ability to get the healthcare they need, not what they can afford. The fact that the rethug oligarchy wants wage slaves but not the cost of helping them in any way is idiotic, but it is also standard practices for this regime. The upsetting thing is that this situation is not new, and to think that this particular regime change is going to remove this or even fix some of it is to be out of touch.

Face it, there are two 'Americas' here, and most of us are not in the one that actually gets to do more than 'survive for our masters'. This is not new. Yet, we are only seeming to realize it as a problem and not a 'policy issue' now.

That is even more upsetting.

I wonder how much the stroke changed his political personality.

ask an actual Democrat from West Virginia what they think of that trade.

Fetterman is unfortunately representing (sort of, anyway) the voters of PA. Who voted for Trump in 2024.

I'm not thrilled with him but I think maybe it's PA's wingnut voters who need a talking to.

The vote to end the shutdown might be my least thing to be upset with Fetterman over. We weren't going to win on ACA and people were still going to lose it. Now the Republicans will own their votes to kill it in December. Meanwhile we got Epstein files back in the discussion. Oh and people who need those SNAP benefits will be getting them, and my neighbor who works for the government gets to pay his mortgage.

Given that:
They don't care if people die for lack of health care;
They've wanted to kill ACA since Obama signed it;
Trump would likely veto it, rather than admit defeat to the "radical left lunatics"

I think that assumption is on very shaky ground.

I am not motivated in any way shape or form to defend Fetterman. He's like a freakishly sized Manchin, with some weird marbles rattling in his skull.

In my judgement, extending the shutdown would NOT have coerced this fascist regime to give in to Democratic demands.

telling him exactly what’s mentioned in the OP!

Fetterman could teach us all a lesson . Mitch McConell was frequently heard to say politics is a team sport. May be less of us should be of that persuasion .I don't always like what anybody does. Fetterman has the courage to do what he thinks is right. He rarely if ever saisfies everyone. If near everybody is always dissatisfied it means you leader is doing a good job. Open your eyes and see where pandering to your constituents has gotten you.