(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Two days after an MSNBC report on Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate candidate, John Fetterman, acknowledged concerns about the stroke-victim’s lingering cognitive impairment, the far-left hosts of The View rushed to Fetterman’s defense.
The woman-centered daytime TV talk show, known for its dubious hot-takes on important issues, also piled onto the left-wing media attacks against journalist Dasha Burns for allegedly violating journalistic ethics by admitting that Fetterman still had trouble speaking properly and understanding what was being said to him.
MSNBC's Dasha Burns: Fetterman has "a hard time understanding what he's hearing…still has some problems, some challenges with speech… it did seem that he had a hard time understanding our conversations." pic.twitter.com/HNl6LYdfoX
— Kevin Tober (@KevinTober94) October 11, 2022
After playing a portion of the interview, co-host Whoopi Goldberg claimed that voters do not need to know a candidate’s medical history and they should wait until after the election before they get to see his records, the Media Research Center reported.
Whoopi defends Fetterman's refusal to release his medical records and suggests they should wait until January, 2 months after the election. pic.twitter.com/CJK9LGsApD
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2022
None of the hosts of the show mentioned all of the times they requested the medial records of former President Donald Trump.
Co-host Sonny Hostin also suggested that it was unethical for Burns to address the small talk from before the interview, saying that it was an “off the record conversation.”
Sunny attacks NBC's Dasha Burns, says it was "inappropriate" for her to admit that Fetterman is struggling.
"Maybe she's bad at small talk! Maybe it's her!" Whoopi chides.
Sunny claims Burns broke journalistic ethics and defends Fetterman saying she too requires closed captions. pic.twitter.com/yaknFJ0fqe— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 13, 2022
The comment appeared to show a shallow and limited grasp of journalism ethics, however, in which convention dictates that anything is on the record unless there is a specific agreement to keep it sequestered. It is unclear that Burns made any such agreement.
Notwithstanding any “off the record” agreement, Burns’s general observations about Fetterman’s condition would not be considered privileged information by most journalism standards.
Hostin also defended Fetterman’s need for close captioning, saying she uses it herself.
Sunny: I use “Sunny” because America is too racist to pronounce “Asunción”
Also Sunny: I use closed captioning too because I can’t understand all these accents sometimes.
— David Ryan (Leave/Me/Alone) (@skepticpatriot) October 13, 2022
“I watch all my series closed captioned because I can’t sometimes understand accents that people are using and I don’t understand things,” she said.
After this statement, she clarified that she does not “have a cognitive disorder” but did not provide her medical records to prove it.
Fetterman’s mental degeneration has been a touchy topic around an already contentious Senate race between him and GOP candidate Mehmet Oz, himself a daytime television celebrity doctor.
The hoodie-clad Fetterman has made several confused statements that, coupled with his hesitation to release his medical records, have made many doubtful of his ability to be an effective senator.
Democrat John Fetterman: “The Eagles are so much better … than the Eagles!” pic.twitter.com/fHhwsVxdhA
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 26, 2022
