Dr. Oz Seemed To Awkwardly Throw His Campaign Staffers Under The Bus For Making Light Of John Fetterman’s Stroke

Dr. Oz wants to win a vacating Senate seat in Pennsylvania so badly he even moved across state lines. But if he does nab it, it will only be after enduring untold mockery from his opponent, John Fetterman. For months, the Keystone State’s sitting lieutenant governor has been relentlessly and creatively trolling the former TV quack. Oz has struggled to return in kind. And when he has, things have gotten weird and ugly.

Last week, the Oz campaign tried to clap back at the backlash over a bizarre old video he recorded, in which he tried to slam Biden for inflation-induced prices by supermarket-shopping for “crudité.” Instead it backfired after a campaign staffer cracked that Fetterman wouldn’t have suffered the stroke he had in May if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life.”

Not only was it cruel, but Oz is a licensed physician who’s supposed not supposed to make jokes about people’s health. But during a new interview on Pittsburgh radio station KDKA, he tried to awkwardly make things right, in part by seeming to throw his staffers under the bus.

“The campaigns are saying lots of things, both of them,” Oz said when asked about the Fetterman attacks. “My position is — I can only speak to what I’m saying — is that John Fetterman should be allowed to recover fully. And I will support his ability, as someone who is going through a difficult time, to get ready.”

Oz claimed he had “tremendous empathy” for his opponent’s health issues, saying he’s “a physician first.” He also vented about Fetterman not yet agreeing to a debate, probably because he’s still recovering from a stroke from almost four months ago.

“I have no idea if he’s recovered. He’s told us nothing,” Oz said. “And its actually up to him to decide when he’s comfortable sharing with that.”

Will this cause friction at Oz’s campaign headquarters? Possibly! But things are almost certainly already uncomfortable over there on account of Oz trailing behind his opponent. Whatever the case, some weren’t buying Oz’s attempt to distance himself from what’s being said in his name by people he employs. Rebecca Katz, a strategist with Oz’s campaign, certainly wasn’t, tweeting that he should “either stand by the sh*tty things this campaign is saying on your behalf or denounce it.”

(Via The Philadelphia Inquirer)