If you want to learn about someone, ask the people that know them best. In this case, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette knows John Fetterman quite well. He is, after all, the current Lieutenant Governor of the state of Pennsylvania. Before that, he was the mayor of Braddock, a suburb of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state.
The paper, which rarely endorses Republicans, offered a full-throated rejection of Fetterman on several counts. The first thing the Post-Gazette takes issue with is Fetterman’s propensity to hide his medical records which already makes him look like a politician that has no intention of being honest with voters:
Mr. Fetterman’s health — he suffered a serious stroke in May — is not the issue. His lack of transparency, however, in refusing to release his medical records is troubling. It suggests an impulse to conceal and a mistrust of the people. All candidates for a major elected office should release their medical records, as did Mr. Oz. If you want privacy, don’t run for public office.
Mr. Fetterman’s life experience and maturity are also concerns. He has lived off his family’s money for much of his life. That has allowed him to do some good things, including mentoring disadvantaged young people and working to improve community policing and economic development in Braddock. That work, along with his six-foot-eight frame, shaved head and tattoos, attracted national media attention. Still, Mr. Fetterman, despite his hoodies and shorts, has little experience in holding real jobs or facing the problems of working people.
As the above-paragraph notes, the paper also questions Fetterman’s job experience and, um, lack thereof. As mayor of Braddock, Fetterman’s tenure was abysmal. As Lieutenant Governor, he’s been absent from even his primary duty of presiding over the state Senate. It’s not even that the Post-Gazette loves Dr. Oz, they point out some of his flaws as well. The question comes down to which candidate seems best prepared to lead for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and which candidate is already trying to conceal things from voters.
The paper makes a perfectly valid point. If Fetterman is already running for office on false pretenses that he’s fit to serve and refuses to offer up evidence to support his claim, how can he be trusted as an honest public servant? He’s already abusing and misusing the trust of the people, the people he’s running to supposedly represent and serve.
Dr. Oz, of course, was thrilled with the endorsement as it provides him a needed boost in one of the state’s liberal voting areas in and around Pittsburgh:
Oz called the Post-Gazette a “fabulous paper” that would not normally endorse a Republican. “But God bless them… they’ve had enough as well – they’re a big paper in Pittsburgh.”
The Republican noted there is no state north of North Carolina with a non-retiring Republican senator, adding that Pennsylvania has had at least one Republican senator most of his life.
The endorsement also defended Oz on several counts and applauded him for running a campaign that is attempting to unify the state:
We’re encouraged that Mr. Oz is portraying himself as a unifier who will work with Democrats to get things done for Pennsylvania. It remains to be seen whether he can pull that off, but he has the potential to become an influential, thoughtful and independent senator. Mr. Oz is likable, engaging, extremely smart and a good listener. Yes, he can sound like a smooth-talking salesman, but that may be what it takes to get deals done in Washington.
In a race on which much depends and little is certain, Mehmet Oz has shown he is better equipped to lead and deliver for Pennsylvania.
What about left-wing causes such as abortion and the like? That’s not the issue most voters are concerned with and any federal movement on that front is unlikely short of Republicans gathering a filibuster-proof majority. It’s all about the economy and Fetterman’s dishonesty, according to the editorial board.
As the endorsement concludes, Oz is simply “better equipped” to lead than Fetterman is, that’s the bottom line. All the memes in the world from Fetterman’s joke of a campaign aren’t going to change that.
