Itās the question being asked this morning by everyone who watched last nightās debate between Dr. Mehmet Oz and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman: What in the world were Democrats thinking in allowing their candidate to get up on that stage?
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, and obviously thatās nothing anyone would have wished on him. Itās not a proper subject for scorn or mockery, and anyone who thinks it is should be recognized as part of the problem with American Politics in 2022, not part of the solution.
That said ā¦ What in the world were Democrats thinking in allowing their candidate to get up on that stage? Because that decision by Fettermanās Campaign staffĀ is a proper subject for scorn and mockery.
Iām not the only one raising the question. Reporters from The Hill and Time began asking ā or at least implying ā the same question last night.
Even left-leaning Politico, which, trust me, would love to do whatever they could think of to prop Fetterman up, had to face up to reality.
āLetās state the obvious: John Fetterman struggled to effectively communicate during his one and only Senate debate with Mehmet Oz Tuesday in Harrisburg,ā they wrote.
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āAnd then Fetterman failed to meet even the low expectations his own Campaign set for him Monday in a memo that predicted āawkward pauses, missing some words, and mushing other words togetherā as well as ātemporary miscommunications at times,'ā this morningās Playbook noted.
āThere are two well-worn cliches about debates,ā they added. ā(1) They are rarely won but can sometimes be lost. (2) They are decided by the coverage in subsequent days rather than on debate night itself.
āFetterman clearly lost last night.ā
As Chris Stirewalt might say: Woof. When a Democrat has lost Politico, itās hard to see where theyāre going to go from there.
You can watch the entire debate here:
And yes, Politico then tried to offer a ray of hope to disappointed leftists by saying that Fetterman was beating Oz on the issue of abortion. Too bad Abortion isnāt really a voting issue this year. And anyway, itās not only Politico who recognized how bad last night was for the left.
Thatās right: MSNBC ran a montage of Fettermanās debate stuggles.Ā MSNBC. Double woof.
In fact, one of their best-known talking heads, Joe Scarborough, may have summed up the evening best.
Scarborough did, however, get one prediction dead wrong.
Actually, many in the media, even left-leaning establishment sources like Time, The Hill and Politico couldnāt ignore how bad last night was for the Democrats and their chances of holding on to their razor-thin majority in the Senate after next monthās midterms.
Even The Washington Post weighed in.
āFetterman sought to head off a shaky debate performance from the very first question,ā The Post wrote in a story at the top of its homepage this morning.
āThe debate came amid Polls showing a tightening race, with Fetterman leading, but by a smaller margin than he had over the summer, and facing a steady stream of attacks from Oz and his allies. Democrats view Pennsylvania as their best chance to flip a seat; it is now held by retiring Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R).ā
Theyāre probably re-thinking that view after last night.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.