How Much Will John Fetterman’s Rocky Night Matter?

Playbook: “A casual voter tuning in Tuesday night might have known Fetterman had suffered a stroke, but that voter would have to have been following the race pretty closely to know that his struggles with speech reflected a common “auditory processing disorder,” in his doctor’s words, and not a deeper neurological infirmity.”

“It’s obvious that Rep. Dan Crenshaw is sightless in one eye or that Sen. Tammy Duckworth lost her legs. Nobody questions whether those injuries have an impact on their ability to serve in Congress.”

“But Fetterman’s disability is different. It prevents him from performing adequately in a candidate ritual — the campaign debate — that has long been associated, correctly or not, with electability and effectiveness in Congress. The plain fact is that Fetterman was not capable of debating Oz. He could have skipped the debate, as some Democrats suggested he should have after it was over, but the Fetterman campaign gambled that the media would educate voters about his auditory issues and then referee any attacks on him with charges of ableism.”