Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) is cautioning Pennsylvania Republicans against leaning too heavily on John Fetterman’s health when attacking the Democratic Senate nominee.
Reschenthaler, a member of House GOP leadership and the first member of Congress to endorse Republican Mehmet Oz publicly during his primary race, argued that the GOP would be better served focusing on his policy positions in the final stretch of the election.
Fetterman has faced scrutiny over whether he can perform the job of senator after suffering a stroke in May.
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“I think that it’s a mistake for Republicans and conservatives to focus on Fetterman’s health because it’s a double-edged sword — for every vote you get for somebody that does not think he has the cognitive capabilities to perform the job of a U.S. senator, you lose a vote to somebody who is sympathetic to him having a stroke,” he told the Washington Examiner in an interview on Wednesday.
“What’s a much stronger attack on Fetterman is that he is wildly out of step in that he’s too radical for most Pennsylvania voters,” Reschenthaler added. “For example, on his position on legalizing drugs, releasing all prisoners convicted of second-degree murder, banning fracking, ending private health insurance — this is way too far left for a swing state of Pennsylvania, and that is a better attack.”
The Pennsylvania Republican praised Oz for his handling of the debate, saying the TV doctor-turned-politician articulated his positions without seeming insensitive to Fetterman’s health recovery efforts. Fetterman made a point to address his struggles at the beginning of the debate, and his team has stated that his doctors believe he is progressing well in his recovery.
“I often say you can’t win a debate, you can only not lose a debate. I think that Oz’s performance last night was the exception to that rule. Oz was in a difficult spot because he had to be aggressive to get his point across with the moderators, but he also could appear to be a bully with Fetterman, who clearly was struggling from cognitive issues,” Reschenthaler said.
“I think he struck that perfect balance — he had that nuance, he walked that tightrope, and he’s able to get his points out. He was able to push back on the moderators when they were trying to move on from him making points, he was able to not appear to bully Fetterman,” he added.
Reschenthaler went on to state he believes Fetterman’s decision to interrupt Oz’s closing statements, accusing the GOP Senate hopeful of wanting “to cut Social Security,” wasn’t a productive strategy in undercutting Oz’s arguments or articulating his positions to voters.
“I can tell you, as a trial lawyer, who has actually taken court cases to jury verdict, you rarely want to object during your opponent’s opening statement and closing argument because objections during either opening or close, they look cheap. It looks like you’re trying to distract your opponent, and I think that’s what Fetterman did last night,” he said. “I think that backfired on him. It clearly did not get him off his game, but it made Fetterman look inconsistent, and it made it look like he was flailing and desperate to interrupt Dr. Oz’s flow.”
Fetterman’s team asserted that the lieutenant governor did “remarkably well” in the debate, aired nationally by NewsNation, shortly after it wrapped but argued that “delayed captions filled with errors” hindered his performance. Nexstar, the parent company of NewsNation, defended its efforts to accommodate Fetterman and noted that both candidates were offered two rehearsals.
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Reschenthaler argued that taking aim at the network after its efforts to accommodate their team’s request indicated that Fetterman’s camp is attempting to conduct “damage control” following his debate performance.
“The fact that there were even concessions to allow him to get basically a teleprompter telling him what is being asked of him, that should be generous on the network’s part because remember, he’s not going to get these kinds of concessions on the Senate floor. So, he’s getting this advantage,” he said. “You can argue whether he should be advantaged or not — clearly, he has cognitive issues, and I’m sympathetic to that. But then to turn around and blame the people that were trying to help mediate his issues just shows that he’s in a state of damage control.”
