How can questions of Fetterman's health not remind you of this guy?

[kentuck]

...and the hypocrisy of the Republicans?

He was only 93 at the time. He hung around until he was 100.
================================================

https://www.newsweek.com/strom-thurmond-home-hill-or-over-it-178342

(snip)

STROM THURMOND HAS DRIFTED OFF. The senior senator from South Carolina is posing for a photo in the foyer of his Capitol Hill office building, and though he addresses the camera with an expert smile, his mind is clearly elsewhere. "Here, Senator," suggests his press secretary, Chris Cimko, maneuvering a young female staffer into his line of sight. "Why don't you look over here?" Thurmond brightens. "Well now," he croons, "a pretty young lady like yourself -- that is something to smile about." Cimko presses a Strom Thurmond signature key chain into the senator's palm. He hands it to the photographer and ceremoniously recites his standard line: "You know, I'm president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, third in line for the presidency." With that, Cimko directs her boss down the hall and begins the slow walk to the elevator. "We have to get back to the office now, Senator," she says, enunciating each syllable. "Back to the office," he says. "That's fine."

[FBaggins]

1. He was a multi-term incumbent

Chuck Grassley is another example.

It’s different when you’re running for senate for the first time

It also helps to be in a deep red state. Feinstein was
probably too old last time around too… and had no trouble winning.

[brooklynite]

2. South Carolina wasn't a battleground State and Thurmond was already a Senator.

[kentuck]

4. I think the voters will figure it out.

I recall several years ago when a dead man won an election. Voters can do strange things, sometimes for strange reasons. I do not believe they will withhold their vote because of this medical condition.

Just my opinion.

[tulipsandroses]

3. Those questions just show how people think about people with a disability overall

We know he does not have cognitive problems. It’s a communication problem. He can perform his job just fine with assisted devices. It’s the same attitude towards everyday people with a disability. Their intelligence and cognitive abilities are often questioned.

[2naSalit]

13. +1

[gab13by13]

5. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,

no Fetterman does not remind me of Strom Thurmond.

This has to stop.

[apcalc]

7. Agree totally. Fetterman's Dr says he is fine.

Good enough for me.
Oz is unacceptable. Period.

[liberalla]

6. Huh? That's ridiculous. I see no similarities between the two.

[sop]

8. Why is it that Ga. GOP voters can proudly admit they're voting for the likes of Herschel Walker,

all the while ignoring the man's many troubling mental issues just so the Republican party can reach a Senate majority, but Pennsylvania Democratic voters can't make the same political calculation?

[kentuck]

9. Just to clarify....

I think this debate won the race for the Democrats.

Because the majority of the people in PA are compassionate and sensible.

Fetterman showed his courage by debating the poseur.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Rewind to 1993 and a previous occupant of this actual seat here in PA

Sen. Specter has brain tumor removed


Published Jun. 15, 1993 | Updated Oct. 9, 2005

Sen. Arlen Specter, best known for his tough questioning of Anita Hill and proposing the single-bullet theory in the Kennedy assassination, underwent surgery Monday to remove a brain tumor. Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania who performed the 2-hour operation on the Republican U.S. senator said all signs indicate the growth was benign.

"The senator is awake and talking and appears in good spirits and neurologically normal," said Specter's son Shanin. Shanin Specter said the growth apparently was a meningioma, a slow-growing, hard tumor that's rarely cancerous.

The 2-inch tumor was attached to the skull behind the senator's forehead, below the hairline on the left side, which is less threatening than a growth actually on the brain, his son said.

Although doctors did not know how long Specter had the tumor, they did say "a lesion of this form could have been there for up to 20 years," Shanin Specter said.

(snip)

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/06/15/sen-specter-has-brain-tumor-removed/

He had several health issues over many years, like many in the Senate, but checks off some of the boxes demanded in this thread -

Republican - check
Early in career (this was beginning of 3rd term) - semi-check
"Battleground state" - check

[jimfields33]

11. In 2009, he became a democratic senator and gave us the senate.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Oh I know and with Al Franken finally getting his election status resolved

we now had the magic 60 votes to get the first part of the ACA through (after Ted Kennedy passed away but had a (D) replacement in until the special election in MA brought in the carpet-bagger Scott Brown).

Specter was a Democrat in his younger days and when he ran for D.A. here in Philly in the '60s, he decided to switch parties and become a Republican to have a better chance at winning that position against "the machine" here, and he did... And the rest is history.

His wife Joan was on City Council here for many years.

[Deep State Witch]

14. This.

How many geriatric or medically compromised Senators are currently serving?

Grassley and DiFi are in their late 80's. DiFi is starting to slip. I mean, she's still smarter than anyone on the R side of the Senate, but she needs to consider ending her career in public service at the end of her term.

McConnell had some weird thing going on with his arm back in December.

Leahy fractured his hip and underwent hip replacement earlier this year.

Hirono beat Stage 4 kidney cancer.

Lujan is recovering from a stroke this past January.

Big John will do just fine.