Syndicated with permission via Valiant News| Tom Pappert| Pundits on both sides of the aisle have been forced to admit, almost universally, that John Fetterman bombed at his debate on Tuesday night.
The overweight 50-something, still unable to process speech after a stroke that robbed him of his primary night victory speech earlier this year, fumbled almost every moment of the speech.
Flubs began within the first seconds of the event, when Fetterman was greeted by the moderator and given the opportunity to speak first, allowing the Democrat to offer his pitch to Pennsylvania voters before his Republican opponent – the admittedly loathsome Dr. Mehmet Oz – could open his mouth.
How did Fetterman exploit this opportunity? He thanked the audience for coming and said good night.
Fetterman opens the debate:
"Hi. Good night everybody." pic.twitter.com/mg0X3Iwf5D
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 26, 2022
At this point in the debate, supporters of Fetterman must surely have been a bit worried. “Still, it’s only the opening moments, right?” They must have thought, “He’s got his speech-to-text robot, he’ll be fine.” Oh, how wrong they were.
One can only imagine how the same moment must have felt for members of the Fetterman campaign, who surely knew that early moment was to be the highlight of their candidate’s night.
At his best, Fetterman found himself unable to communicate clearly. He fumbled words like “single” and appeared to lose his train of thought mid sentence, even while repeating attacks on Oz that he and his campaign have been using for months.
Take a look at Fetterman’s attempt to call Oz a spoiled rich guy who owns 10 mansions, and question how he could relate to a single mother of two:
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
Or, enjoy Fetterman’s attempt to discuss the Biden administration’s immigration crisis. Transcribed, without comment:
“I believe that, I believe that a secure border is, can be compatible with compassion. I believe we need a comprehensive and bipartisan solution for immigration, that’s what I believe. I don’t ever recall on the Statue of Liberty, did they say, ‘Take our tired huddled masses and put them on a bus and use cheap political stunts about them.’ I believe we have to develop a comprehensive and bipartisan solution to address our issue here, immigration here, in our nation.”
As a bonus, this clip shows the ridiculous speech-to-text robot towering over the moderators, revealing exactly how much help the stroke patient received.
This #PASenateDebate is sad as hell to watch. Fetterman clearly hasn’t recovered from his stroke. How is this dude even in the race?? pic.twitter.com/vxF9PPzlh4
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) October 26, 2022
he most viral moment of the night, of course, came after Fetterman glaringly lied, falsely claiming he’s always supported fracking despite going on the record as being against the extraction process in 2018.
Both Oz and the moderators attempted to call Fetterman out on this blatant lie, but the stroke patient was unable to respond.
I don’t mean they caught him in a gotcha and left him stammering, looking for a way out. I’m not trying to relay that Fetterman was left flabbergasted after Oz and the moderators unearthed some secret clip revealing his true thoughts on fracking. There was no flourish, no slight of hand, no flick of the wrist or brilliant linguistic maneuver.
No. What I’m telling you is that Fetterman, after hearing the question, simply did not seem to have the mental capacity necessary to respond.
When he blurted out even more support for fracking, no one seemed to know what to do. Everyone in the room, apparently feeling bad for him, just sort of shrugged and moved on to the next subject.
This is why I donated money to @JohnFetterman
This is what we need in the Senate pic.twitter.com/RAsyR4IIFm— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) October 26, 2022
The same story played out when Fetterman was asked about his vague promises to fight corporate “price gouging.”
Fetterman heard the moderator quote an excerpt from an article that he allegedly wrote, then agreed with himself proudly, and – I think – attempted to accuse Oz of being a corporate stooge. It didn’t seem to go over well in the room.
Watch the full question, and then watch the full answer.
It feels politically and medically unethical to have Fetterman run for office right now. If the media can't cover this very serious issue after the debate, they are truly hopeless. pic.twitter.com/9ByAZiipA7
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) October 26, 2022
Again, these were the better moments for Fetterman. At his worst, the stroke patient seemed to truly take on the energy of an elderly grandparent recovering from a stroke. Except unlike sweet grandma, Fetterman believes he is fit for the U.S. Senate.
For example, enjoy this moment when Fetterman randomly shouted “Doug Mastriano!” For those who don’t follow Pennsylvania politics, Doug Mastriano is not in fact the same person as Dr. Oz. Mastriano is Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial candidate. READ MORE AT VALIANT NEWS HERE
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