Despite their best efforts to lower expectations before Tuesday night’s debate, John Fetterman’s campaign failed to adequately capture just how much of a trainwreck his debate with Dr. Oz would be.
In fact, it was so bad, the Fetterman campaign quickly made excuses for his dreadful performance, and even some in the liberal media are admitting it was a disaster.
“John Fetterman’s ability to communicate is seriously impaired. Pennsylvania voters will be talking about this obvious fact even if many in the media will not,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough tweeted. “This is painful to watch regardless of one’s politics,” he added.
New York Magazine correspondent Olivia Nuzzi agreed. “There is no amount of empathy for and understanding about Fetterman’s health and recovery that changes the fact that this is absolutely painful to watch.”
Related: PA Senate Debate an UTTER DISASTER for Fetterman
More devastating, perhaps, was the reaction of Charlotte Alter, the senior correspondent for Time Magazine, who expected Fetterman not to do well but said he was even worse than she expected. “I spoke to Fetterman recently, and I expected him to be very bad tonight. But he was much much worse than I expected (and much worse than in our one-on-one conversation.)”
Nevertheless, there were plenty of pundits on the left who disingenuously lauded Fetterman’s performance, But Al Weaver, a reporter for The Hill, said most people on the left are, at least privately, admitting that it was a disaster.
“Democrats are asking the same thing post-debate: Why did Fetterman’s team allow him to take the stage tonight? No one I’m talking to on the left has a good thing to say about what just took place,” he tweeted.
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