In the land of Democrats, not speaking in complete sentences for an hour is considered a championship-worthy effort. Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz faced off Tuesday during Pennsylvania’s only U.S. Senate election debate, which was brutal. It only lasted an hour, but the final 15 minutes showed the lengths Democrats would go to keep power in Washington. Fetterman is not well, but Democrats probably thought they could skate by due to his then-double-digit lead over Oz during the summer. Oz regrouped and attacked Fetterman’s radical public safety record, including releasing one-third of state prisoners and abolishing life sentences for murderers. The messaging resonated and chipped away at Fetterman’s lead with crime spiking.
It’s now a statistical tie, with the crime issue becoming more of a big-ticket item with voters since the Pennsylvania legislature is moving to impeach Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krasner, whom Fetterman endorsed for re-election. Krasner is facing dereliction of duty charges over the spike in violent crime, especially firearm-related homicides.
Fetterman is already getting the best damage control from his liberal media allies, who blame everything from the debate format to the closed captioning system but gloss over the fact that the reason why the lieutenant governor fared so poorly in the debate is that he’s a stroke victim. So, why not pat himself on the back—he already had some of the state’s major papers issuing pre-written editorials about how he was victorious. He did acknowledge that debating Oz wasn’t easy—an understatement—but he feels he still holds the high ground (via Axios):
Democrat John Fetterman said Wednesday his performance at the Pennsylvania Senate debate the previous night "wasn't exactly easy," but he felt he still had the edge over Republican rival Mehmet Oz.
What he's saying: "I knew it wasn't going to be easy after having a stroke after five months," the 53-year-old lieutenant governor said at an event in Pittsburgh. "In fact, I don’t think that’s ever been done before in American political history."
"I may not get every word the right way. But I will always do the right thing in Washington, D.C," Fetterman said.
"I have a lot of good days and every now and then I'll have a bad day, but every day I will fight always just for you."
Let’s not beat around the bush here. The stroke victim cannot diagnose or grade himself over this shambolic debate performance. Fetterman isn’t healthy enough to be a U.S. Senator. He won’t release his health records; given his stroke status, he should. That doctor’s note claiming a good bill of health was neutered when Fetterman said, “Hi, good night, everybody.”