Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman lambasted his GOP rival, Dr. Mehmet Oz, on Wednesday over a series of attacks on his health after the lieutenant governor suffered a stroke earlier this yr.
Fetterman made the comments on MSNBC’s “The eleventh Hour,” his first national television interview after he was hospitalized in May, saying Oz’s campaign had been mudslinging and shamelessly “making fun of a stroke dude.” Oz and his team have drawn criticism for antagonizing Fetterman and mocking his recovery, an ironic move, the Democrat said, for his cardiologist opponent.
In a single moment earlier this month, Oz’s senior communications adviser said: “If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then perhaps he wouldn’t have had a serious stroke.”
“If that’s your story, tell it the way in which you bought to,” Fetterman told host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday. “But he really should own those words and he should just acknowledge that, as a health care provider, you’re going around making fun of any individual that had a stroke.”
“While you go searching [you] realize that there’s Pennsylvanians all across the state which have serious health crises in their very own life,” he continued. “And I don’t think anybody would want a health care provider of their lives making fun of them or laughing at their circumstances. But I just occur to have a health care provider in my life to do exactly that.”
Fetterman, who returned to campaigning last month, said Tuesday he wouldn’t take part in a September debate against Oz, saying he was still recovering and had lingering difficulties with auditory processing, a typical condition for stroke survivors. His campaign stressed he was still “healthy and fully able to showing up and doing the work” and expected to make a full recovery in the approaching months.
He told Ruhle he remained open to a debate with Oz, but only in the event that they desired to get right into a “serious conversation” moderately than political haranguing.
“But immediately, the proven fact that they’ve chosen to have a deeply unserious campaign to only ridicule any individual that’s just recovering from a stroke,” he added.
Fetterman’s camp has also prodded Oz on social media before November’s midterms, lambasting his penchant for crudités and his multiple homes.
Fetterman said Wednesday on MSNBC he felt “improbable” after recovering from the stroke, adding that he “might miss a word from time to time … but that’s really the effect of it now.”
“I’m feeling amazing actually,” he said. “The reality is that I actually feel significantly better than I even have felt in quite some time, truthfully. That’s the reality. I’m walking 4, five miles on daily basis and ensuring that we’re taking all of the medication that the doctors have all prescribed. And I just actually feel improbable.”
