Key Words: Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman says, ‘I got knocked down but I got back up’

Fetterman, currently Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, is in a heated race against Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz for the Senate seat, which could be a critical one in terms of determining which party will control the chamber.

Fetterman suffered a stroke five months ago and it has resulted in auditory processing issues. At Fetterman’s request, monitors were in place during the debate that showed what was being said through closed-captioning.

Still, Fetterman had problems. One example, as noted in a Wall Street Journal report: Fetterman began the event by saying “Good night, everybody” instead of “Good evening.”

Some political commentators have been quick to say that Fetterman’s performance raised serious questions. In National Review, a conservative-leaning publication, Jim Geraghty said, “The entire Jenga-block tower of the John Fetterman campaign came crashing down…as it became painfully, abundantly clear that the Democratic Senate candidate in Pennsylvania is still suffering severe effects of his stroke.”

But the situation has prompted some on social media to signal their support for the candidate. (And Fetterman’s tweet itself has received more than 28,000 “likes.”)

Among those who weighed in was actor and director Mark Ruffalo. He pointed to his own recovery from a brain tumor.

Others said that Fetterman’s Senate run spoke to the need to better understand the disabled community, with one commenter noting, “We need more disabled people in the halls of government, not fewer.”

Some have also noted that Fetterman’s comments hark back to the 1997 Chumbawamba hit, “Tubthumping.” The key lyric from the song: “I get knocked down, but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.”

As one Twitter commentator observed: “John Fetterman not having Chumbawamba open his rallies for the next couple of weeks is a lost opportunity.”

The only problem with that? Chumbawamba disbanded a decade ago.