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As we reported last Friday, Gisele Fetterman – wife of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) – landed herself in quite a bit of hot water after proudly announcing on the Twitter machine that she and their kids packed up and “ran away” to Canada and Buffalo for a vacation not long after her husband checked himself into Walter Reed Army Medical Center to get treated for depression.
It was the second time in two weeks he had been hospitalized, with the first one being after he reportedly felt “lightheaded” while at a Senate Democrat retreat. During his first hospital stay, he was said to have been monitored for a “seizure.”
To reiterate a point I previously made, Mrs. Fetterman’s tweets were just further confirmation in the eyes of many of her apparent need to be the center of all the attention (and co-Senator) despite the fact that it’s her husband who is the actual elected figure.
Not surprisingly, the Democrat apologists in the mainstream media have rushed to Mrs. Fetterman’s defense, in particular, the Washington Post, where one reporter tweeted and then deleted (without explanation) a tweet praising Gisele Fetterman for her supposed “grace and clarity”:
Washington Post reporter deleted this tweet for some reason. 🤔 https://t.co/IifrcRYANx pic.twitter.com/Z41SfYYedN
— Sister Toldjah 🌻 (@sistertoldjah) February 27, 2023
The latest WaPo effort to rescue Gisele Fetterman, however, is undoubtedly the most appalling. On the “Perspectives” page Thursday, columnist Monica Hesse not only trotted out the “woman card” to explain the attacks from conservatives on Mrs. Fetterman (and First Lady Jill Biden), but she also equated Fetterman’s alleged plight to that of rape victims who are blamed for their assaults:
I started my twice-a-decade rereading of “The Handmaid’s Tale” a few nights ago, and one scene that sticks out every time I pick up the book is when the miserable Janine is made to recount her sexual assault, then to assume responsibility for it. Her fault, her fault, Janine’s fellow trainees chant, surrounding her and pointing. This is the magic trick of Gilead’s worldview; this is the magic trick of a lot of conservative worldviews. Men are the ones in charge of what happens, but the women are the ones to blame.
[…]
The attacks on Gisele, in particular, are dizzying in scope and ambition: It was her fault that her husband ran for Senate. It was her fault that he won. It was her fault that her children were not dressed more formally for their father’s swearing-in. John Fetterman, according to one line of grotesque and specious Twitter speculation, struggled with depression because his wife wouldn’t stop seeking the spotlight. But then it was also Gisele’s fault when, to avoid the spotlight brought on by his hospitalization, she decided to take their children to Niagara Falls.
Naturally, Gisele Fetterman picked up the ball and ran with it, embracing being put in the same category as victims of sexual assaults simply because she’s been legitmately criticized for routinely coming off as the callous, fame-seeking spouse of a stroke victim:
In the worst moments of our lives, women are told it's their fault. In case you need to hear it today: It's. Not. Your. Fault.
I will keep living and fighting with love. We all need more of it. 💘💘 https://t.co/oFALKdvDAB
— Gisele Barreto Fetterman (@giselefetterman) March 2, 2023
This is grotesquely offensive to the point of being breathtaking. Think about it.
For starters, I suspect there are a lot of rape victims out there would would rather be the wife of a sitting U.S. Senator who gets to head out for pleasure trips at a moment’s notice instead of having to relive their assault over and over again.
Also, on one hand, according to the media and Democrats, we’re supposed to view the female spouses of political figures and candidates as the “wind beneath their wings,” as their inspiration and biggest supporters and defenders (as long as they are Democrats, of course).
Because that’s the way stories about these women are framed, the standard operating procedure for the Usual Suspects is that credit should be given where it is allegedly due, to suggest in so many words that “this man wouldn’t be where he was today if he did not have his wife/significant other by his side to shoulder the burden.”
But yet when things go off the rails in these situations and/or the female spouses behave badly, as has been the situation with the Fettermans on more than one occasion, any criticism leveled at the female spouse is predictably blamed on “sexism,” as though such women should be shielded from criticism because they are delicate flowers who are innocently just standing by their man.
Where was the Washington Post when actual sexist attacks were being lobbed by Democrats and their enablers at then-First Lady Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump, Hope Hicks, and other women in the Trump administration?
Well, Monica Heese was doing the important work of taking swipes at Melania Trump’s fashion choices, but that’s about it.
It’s BS and a maddening double standard to boot, and it’s high time the WaPos and Fettermans of the world were called out on it.
They can’t have it both ways. Either women are equal partners in these types of relationships and are deserving of praise AND criticism when it’s warranted or they’re not. These people need to pick a lane and stick with it. Because quite frankly their partisan slip is showing, and it’s not a good look. Like at all.
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