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Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman led with stroke jokes at a Friday night Pennsylvania rally, as his fitness for office was questioned this week after an interview showed him using closed captioning.
Speaking to a crowd of around 300 at The Johnstown Convention Center, Fetterman referenced how his opponent, television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, peddled ‘miracle cures.’
‘I couldn’t pronounce it,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t even pronounce it before the stroke.’
And then there was the ‘crudité’ video where Oz, the Trump-backed Republican hopeful, walked through a grocery store and complained about high prices – a dig at President Joe Biden – using the French phrase for a veggie tray.
‘I remember when my team sent me the video. And they said, “You’ve got to look at this video.” And I said what the hell are you talking about. And they said it’s a crudité video,’ Fetterman told the Western Pennsylvania crowd. ‘I never heard the world.’
‘And I honestly thought it was a stroke thing,’ he said to laughs.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, but since Tuesday has been playing defense over his health, after an NBC News interview showed the closed captioning technology he utilizes in order to understand speech.
Pennsylvania Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman led with stroke jokes at a Friday night rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania after his fitness for office was called into question when an NBC News interview highlighted how he had to use closed captioning after his May stroke
While it had been previously reported that Fetterman is using closed captioning for interviews, NBC’s interview with the candidate on Tuesday garnered great attention because it showed viewers how the system worked
On top of that, the reporter, Dasha Burns, said ‘it wasn’t clear he understood what I was saying’ when she and Fetterman were making small talk before they started.
The comments allowed Oz and his allies to pounce and question whether Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s current lieutenant governor, was fit to serve as a U.S. senator.
Fetterman’s wife Gisele, in a podcast interview with Molly Jong-Fast, said she hoped there were ‘consequences‘ for Burns. ‘But what a disservice she did to not only my husband but to anyone facing a disability and working through it, and I don’t know how there were not consequences,’ Gisele said.
On Friday, she referenced what a tough 72 hours it had been for the campaign, at the top of the introduction of her husband.
‘What a month this week has been,’ Gisele said.
She then played up how her husband was a ‘stroke survivor’ when she welcomed him onstage.
Fetterman told the crowd he wanted to address the ‘elephant in the room.’
‘I had a stroke. I had a stroke back in May. And that stroke could have ended my life. Gisele saved my life,’ the Democratic hopeful said.
That elicited a response from the audience: ‘She’s the one we really like,’ a female supporter said of Gisele.
‘I was on my way to a campaign event and I was walking out of a Sheetz bathroom,’ Fetterman continued.
He was interrupted again.
‘That’ll do it!’ a male member of the crowd piped up.
Fetterman linked his brush with death to wanting to improve Americans’ healthcare.
‘What kind of a doctor roots for a guy who’s sick to stay sick?’ he said of Dr. Oz.
‘You’re gonna have that kind of doctor for the next six years now,’ he warned the crowd, if they don’t vote.
Fetterman peppered stroke jokes throughout his 22 minute stump speech – and continued to go after Oz for being a carpetbagger from New Jersey.
Oz lived in New Jersey during the years his television show aired. He established residency in Pennsylvania ahead of his Senate run.
Fetterman pointed to the crudité video for a second time – reminding the audience that Oz had said he was shopping at a ‘Wegners’ – a combination of Wegman’s and Redner’s.
‘Even with a stroke or not, I know where the hell I’m shopping,’ Fetterman said.
He also asked the crowd, ‘Are you munching on crudités when you’re watching the Steelers?’
Fetterman has gone after Oz for liking the Yankees and Cowboys – instead of Pennsylvania teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
‘Do you honestly think Dr. Oz would raise his family in Johnstown?’ Fetterman also asked.
‘I live in a place just like this,’ Fetterman offered. ‘I picked Braddock, Pennsylvania, he picked New Jersey,’ the lieutenant governor said.
Fetterman linked Johnstown, which has its own set of rusted-out industrial buildings, to Braddock, the steel town near Pittsburgh where Fetterman served as mayor.
For years, Johnstown was associated with its powerful Democratic congressman, the late Rep. Jack Murtha.
In 2008, when Murtha was still alive, Cambria County went to the Obama-Biden ticket 50 percent, compared to 48 percent for the late Sen. John McCain.
Four years later, there was a 10-point swing in the county with Mitt Romney getting 58 percent of the vote and Obama earning 40.2 percent.
And Trump nearly got the county to swing another full 10 points in Republicans’ direction. In 2016 he won Cambria Country with 67.3 per cent of the vote, compared to the 29.6 per cent won by Hillary Clinton.
Despite Biden flipping Pennsylvania back to the blue column, in Cambria County he only improved upon Clinton’s performance by one point – earning 30.7 percent of the vote, compared to 68 percent for Trump.
Fetterman – and several speakers opening for him – acknowledged the challenge Democrats had in the area. But Fetterman said he showed up because every vote counted.
‘If you don’t live in Pennsylvania, how can you fight for Pennsylvania?’ Fetterman concluded. ‘My last favor to you is send Dr. Oz back to New Jersey and send me to D.C.’
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