John Fetterman, Mehmet Oz.Photo: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Bonnie Biess/Getty
Plans for Pennsylvania Senate candidatesJohn FettermanandDr. Mehmet Ozto face off in a debate remain up in the air as Fetterman continues to recover from a stroke, with the Democrat’s campaign tellingThe Washington Postit is “working to figure out what a fair debate would look like with the lingering impacts of the auditory processing in mind.”
“To be absolutely clear, the occasional issues he is having with auditory processing have no bearing on his ability to do the job as senator,” Fetterman campaign strategist Rebecca Katz told thePost. “John is healthy and fully capable of showing up and doing the work.”
Lt. Gov. Fetterman, 53,suffered a strokedays before Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary in May and underwent a procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator. His doctor laterrevealedhe has atrial fibrillation, which caused the stroke, and cardiomyopathy, which is why he got the implant.
Earlier this month, Fettermanreturned to the campaign trailand told supporters he was “grateful” and “feeling great, better than I have in years” in an emotional speech.
The stroke has factored in to the campaign in other ways, after Fetterman had abit of funwith a viral video of Oz’speculiar shopping trip for cruditésat a so-called “Wegner’s” supermarket.
“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly,” Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications adviser,told Insider in an interview.
Fetterman responded to the Oz campaign’s swipe at his stroke in apost on Twitter, writing: “I had a stroke. I survived it. I’m truly so grateful to still be here today. I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could never imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges.”
After that announcement, Fetterman said hewould not participatein the debate with Oz, adding: “They think it is funny to mock a stroke survivor.”
“My recovery may be a joke to Dr. Oz and his team, but it’s real for me,” Fetterman said in the statement, perMarketWatch.
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The tenor of the Pennsylvania Senate campaign has been one of near-constant mocking and memes, with Fetterman relentlessly calling out Oz out for being an out-of-touch transplant from New Jersey. Oz, meanwhile, argues that Fetterman is a “lying liberal” who is afraid to debate the television personality/cardiothoracic surgeon.
source: people.com
