Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s “ability to serve” is being questioned by his hometown newspaper.
On Tuesday, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial board published an op-ed titled, “Beneath campaign nastiness, legitimate concerns about Fetterman’s health.”
Opening the piece, the editorial board pointed out that Fetterman has not fully recovered from a stroke he suffered from a few months ago.
“If Mr. Fetterman is not well enough to debate his opponent, that raises serious concerns about his ability to serve as a United States senator,” the editorial board wrote.
The op-ed goes on to mention attacks Fetterman’s opponent, Republican TV host Dr. Mehmet Oz, has launched against him involving his health.
“That said, Mr. Oz has raised legitimate concerns. If Mr. Fetterman’s communication skills have not yet recovered sufficiently to effectively debate his opponent, many voters will have concerns about his ability to represent them effectively in Washington,” the op-ed explains.
The board continues, “While he has gamely undertaken more campaign events and media interviews in recent weeks, Mr. Fetterman still speaks haltingly and relies on closed captioning to fully understand his conversation partners.”
The op-ed notes that Fetterman’s campaign “asserts confidently that he will make a full recovery, and that he is doing the hard work — including speech therapy — to accelerate that recovery.”
According to the editorial board, a live debate “is the best way to assure voters Mr. Fetterman is up to the job.”
Concluding the piece, the publication wrote, “Voters have a right to know whether their prospective senator can do the job — including handling the give-and-take of a vigorous debate.”
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— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) September 6, 2022
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial, this am: "If Mr. Fetterman is not well enough to debate his opponent, that raises serious concerns about his ability to serve as a United States senator."https://t.co/be9wDus3B6
Last month, Oz was asked about a comment one of his advisor’s made about Fetterman’s health, as IJR reported.
During a portion of the “KDKA Radio Morning Show,” host Larry Richert asked Oz, “Is it appropriate for one of your folks to say, if Fetterman had eaten a vegetable, he wouldn’t have a stroke? Is that appropriate?”
He replied, “The campaign’s been saying lots of things, both of them. My position is that I can only speak to what I’m saying, and that John Fetterman should be allowed to recover fully.”
Oz added, “And I will support his ability — as someone who has gone through a difficult time — to get ready.”
He continued, “At some point, he has to either work with me to allow the American people and Pennsylvania voters to hear us debate so they can see where I am and where he is.”
Oz is not the only one to have attacked Fetterman recently.
Former President Donald Trump accused Fetterman of abusing hard drugs.
Fetterman’s campaign responded to a statement, saying that “more and more lies from Trump and Dr. Oz, another day, but it’s the same crap from these two desperate and sad dudes.”