PA Panic: Democrats Shaken By Fetterman Debate Disaster

Pennsylvania senatorial candidate John Fetterman’s jaw-droppingly poor performance in Tuesday’s night’s debate against Republican Mehmet Oz has shaken Democratic officials, operatives and rank-and-file members. 

As the race goes down to the wire with Senate control on the line, even Democrats are questioning Fetterman’s decision to debate, with some wondering if he should have bowed out of the race altogether after suffering a stroke one week before the Democratic primary. 

“It was startling. I really question the judgment that he continued with this race,” a senior Senate Democratic aide told NBC. 

“I don’t know anyone, even the most staunch Fetterman supporters, who think that went well,” a senior Pennsylvania Democrat told Reuters. 

“Folks are pretty much freaking out on the Dem side,” Democratic consultant and grassroots activist Khari Mosley told NBC. 

“Anyone on his team who agreed to a debate should be fired, or never work again, because that debate may have tanked his campaign,” Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis told NBC. 

“Fetterman’s team never should have agreed to this debate. He still clearly has serious health issues,” a Pennsylvania Democratic operative told The Hill.

“In retrospect, he probably shouldn’t have debated,” Democratic former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell told the Associated Press. 

“I think he was forced into that debate to quell different opinions, and I think he didn’t. I think it made it worse,” a registered Pennsylvania Republican who backs Fetterman told The New York Times.

“You can’t pretend you didn’t see what you saw. You can’t wish it or explain it away,” a Democratic strategist told The Hill. 

Oh my god pic.twitter.com/TVAAPNXYiU

— Quoth the Raven (@QTRResearch) October 26, 2022

Fetterman’s performance was so jarring that even many mainstream media outlets were compelled to dabble in honesty, albeit with varying degrees of candor:  

Associated Press: Fetterman “struggled to complete sentences, and he jumbled words throughout”

Reuters: In a “shaky debate performance…[Fetterman] spoke slowly and at times stumbled over words…[his words] were frequently halting, and he often repeated phrases multiple times“

Politico: “Fetterman sometimes struggled to communicate — missing words, pausing awkwardly and occasionally having a hard time finishing sentences“

Of course, plenty of outlets played defense. NPR‘s report, for example, merely said, “The process of reading live captions had Fetterman speaking somewhat haltingly through the debate.” The New York Times was in damage control mode, with an article titled “Fetterman Was An Uneven Debater Before His Stroke” and a change-the-subject op-ed: “Fetterman vs Oz Is Not Really Fetterman vs Oz.” 

Others tried to shame as “ableist” anyone who dares to entertain the possibility that Fetterman’s continuing impairments may impede his ability to perform his job. 

Liberals spent decades suggesting (correctly as it turns out) that Reagan suffered various forms of senility, including onset of Alzheimer’s, in his second term, but now they’re trying to invent a new rule that it’s bigoted against disabled people to discuss cognitive impairment: https://t.co/8KaluWriHL

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 27, 2022

Fetterman has refused to release his medical records. According to his doctor and his campaign, the stroke left him with an auditory processing disorder, and he’s also been receiving speech therapy. To help him compensate for that, Tuesday’s debate featured monitors that provided Fetterman with a rolling transcript of what the moderators and Oz were saying. 

In the wake of the disastrous performance, the Fetterman campaign tried to blame the captioning system, saying it was “delayed” and “filled with errors.” Nexstar Media, which hosted the debate, pointedly refuted the allegations, with spokesman Gary Weitman saying:

“The closed captioning process functioned as expected during rehearsal and again during tonight’s debate…Nexstar’s production team went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the effectiveness of the closed captioning process, and to accommodate several last-minute requests of the Fetterman campaign.  

Both candidates agreed to the technical set-up for the closed captioning process weeks ago, which was implemented at the request of the Fetterman campaign. Both candidates were offered the opportunity for two full rehearsals with the same equipment used in tonight’s debate; Mr. Fetterman chose to do only one.”

#PASEN: Oz statement on debate(s): “We’re sorry to hear that the Fetterman campaign was unhappy with how the closed captioning system that they requested was working on Tuesday. We’re happy to do a second debate any time.”

— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) October 27, 2022

It remains to be seen how much effect Fetterman’s fiasco will have on the election. The latest polls — taken before the debate — have Fetterman up only 2 points, down from a 8-point lead in August.

Some 640,000 Pennsylvanians have already voted. For perspective, a little over 5 million voted in the 2018 midterm.  Democrats account for 46% of Pennsylvania’s registered voters but 73% of the early and absentee vote this year. (The Republican numbers are 40% and 19%, respectively.)

Though his doctor has touted Fetterman’s progress, Tuesday’s debate revealed he has a long road ahead, as he struggled not merely in pronouncing words, but in forming basic sentences or making intelligible arguments. He opened by bidding the audience “goodnight” and things only went downhill from there.  

Fetterman opens the debate:

“Hi. Good night everybody.” pic.twitter.com/mg0X3Iwf5D

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022

Fetterman: “It was helping two students 17 years ago to help them buy their own homes. They for and didn’t pay the bills and got are paid and it has never been an issue in any of the campaign before.” pic.twitter.com/hv5M4YWc0a

— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) October 26, 2022

FETTERMAN: “How can a man, you know, with with 10 gigantic mansion has am willing to talk about willing wage for anybody? Imagine a signal mom trying with two children trying to raise with them.” pic.twitter.com/hbqePfo8Of

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 26, 2022