Conservatives on social media criticized Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, John Fetterman, for backing out of an upcoming debate with his opponent, Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.
One user even recognized Fetterman’s campaign strategy as the one that helped President Biden get into the White House.
On Tuesday, Fetterman, the current Pennsylvania lieutenant governor, put out an official statement declining to debate Oz during the first week of September. Fetterman’s official reason for pulling out of the debate was because Dr. Oz’s campaign mocked his health as a "Stroke survivor."
Responding to an official statement from the Oz campaign – which mocked Fetterman’s proposed policies and seemed to mock his medical condition – the candidate’s statement read, "Today’s statement from Dr. Oz’s team made it abundantly clear that they think it is funny to mock a stroke survivor. I chose not to participate in this farce."
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Fetterman’s team added, "I will not be participating in a debate the first week of September, but look forward to having a productive discussion about how we can move forward and have a real conversation on this once Dr. Oz and his team are ready to take this seriously."
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May. Though conservatives on Twitter did not buy the excuse that poking fun at his health negates an important senate race debate.
"Fetterman is going with the Biden Basement Strategy — the go-to strategy for mentally impaired candidates. And the corrupt media is going to bend over backwards to cover for him," tweeted GOP operative Arthur Schwartz.
National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Christ Hartline tweeted, "@JohnFetterman on June 21st (more than 2 months ago) said he’s ‘90 percent better and he’s campaigning.’ Now that he’s scared to debate @DrOz all of sudden he’s weak and feeble.
"Was he lying then or is he lying now?," he asked.
Conservative radio host Erick Erickson blasted the Democratic Party’s double standard in accepting Fetterman’s opt-out, writing, "For all the s--- the national media piled on Herschel Walker over lack of debates and crazy things they think he's said, they sure do give Fetterman a pass in Pennsylvania for what could be accurately described as identical behavior, even before the stroke."
"Fetterman flat out said he's not able to debate. That's the story. Not whatever deflection Fetterman's handlers are peddling," Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross claimed, blasting a NBC News story framing Fetterman as a victim of Dr. Oz’s mockery in his decision to skip the debate.
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Republican strategist Andrew Surabian claimed that Fetterman didn’t give a sufficient excuse for backing out of the debate. "Notice how Fetterman's campaign didn't even bother to give a reason why the debate wasn't ‘doable’ for him."
He added, "If Fetterman's not physically able to debate Oz, he should stop gaslighting everyone and just come clean to the voters."
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., offered sympathy to Fetterman for his health problems, but insisted that it’s not a good look for the Senate hopeful to back out of a debate either way. "This is truly sad to see. I pray that @JohnFetterman fully recovers from his health issues, but is he really refusing to debate @DrOz. Pennsylvania voters deserve to see debates. The debate of ideas is part of the job."
