John Fetterman wasted no time at Tuesday’s debate addressing what he called the “elephant in the room” — the auditory processing issues he still faces as he recovers from a stroke suffered days before the state’s Democratic primary election earlier this year.
It was an issue close to home for the lieutenant governor, who used it to lay into his opponent for the statements and remarks made by Dr Mehmet Oz’s communications team that at times veered away from honest questions about the candidate’s health to callous mockery.
“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: I had a stroke. He’s never let me forget that,” declared Mr Fetterman, who added: “It knocked me down, but I’m gonna keep coming back up.”
He noted that he might “miss some words” in the debate but insisted that he was going to keep fighting. Dr Oz, for his part, did not take the bait and chose not to mention Mr Fetterman’s stroke recovery at all in his opening remarks or follow-up statements.
The lieutenant governor’s speech was halting throughout the matchup and contrasted sharply with the performance of his opponent; still, he didn’t have any issues understanding the content of the issues he was addressing and did not leave his opponent openings for attack on that issue. The residual problems with his delivery were jarring, however, and at times led to him trailing off, unable to finish a sentence before the moderator’s bell ruthlessly cut him off.
Despite his speech issues, Mr Fetterman was relentless in attacking his opponent over issues of his personal wealth, portraying Dr Oz as an out of touch TV star with few ties to Pennsylvania.
He was, however, hammered by the Republican for his lack of media appearances and initial reluctance to attend a live debate against the celebrity doctor who was a fixture of daytime television for years.
