Mehmet Oz vs. John Fetterman: October 25, 2022 Debate Write-up

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Pennsylvanians, are you informed having listened to your candidates directly?

It's a mess, but unfortunately for the United States of America, a very impactful mess. I'm talking about the very high-profile United States Senate race in Pennsylvania between Republican Professor Mehmet “Doctor” Cengiz Oz (formerly of The Dr. Oz Show) and Democrat John “Omega” Karl Fetterman (current Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania).

Prof. Oz has been trailing Omega Fetterman the entire time they've had polls, given accusations that he's a quack doctor and is also an opportunist carpetbagger from New Jersey who doesn't know Pennsylvania. (His fellow Republicans in the primary also attacked him for the same reasons, as well as that he's quite moderate for a Republican and changed many of his previously liberal opinions upon running for office.) Omega Fetterman has had an Alpha-level meme game on Twitter against Prof. Oz. Prof. Oz's rebuttal is that Omega Fetterman is a socialist (his middle name ain't Karl for nothin’) who is outside of the Pennsylvania mainstream. Despite having the word “meme” in his name, Prof. Mehmet Oz is also losing the meme game. And then Omega Fetterman got a stroke, and Prof. Oz's campaign pivoted to mocking him for that and questioning whether Omega Fetterman is fit for the United States Senate because he has a (pre-)existing condition that impairs his brain.

It's because of that stroke that Omega Fetterman has only agreed to ONE debate, which is quite a bit late in this election cycle, given that Pennsylvanians could have submitted mail-in ballots already. It's sort of the same idea for why Herschel Walker only agreed to one debate in the Georgia Senate Race—which KoopaTV also covered—because he has his own brain issues. As a result, outlets like Fox News have already panned the debate as “unwatchable” due to Omega Fetterman's performance. But was it really that atrocious? I decided to watch the video-on-demand below and offer my own thoughts in another debate write-up:

There was a unique closed captions system for this debate to assist Omega Fetterman.

Omega Fetterman started his introduction already slurring his words and using some... unfortunate phrasing, but he still portrayed himself as the champion of the downtrodden, unlike Prof. Oz, who is a liar. Prof. Oz countered that he is qualified because Washington D.C. keeps failing Americans, and he can offer a balancing, moderate voice that can work across the aisle. In his intro, he accused Omega Fetterman as being highly lenient on his parole board role to allow convicted murderers to get out of prison early, as an example of why he'd be a radical choice.

Omega Fetterman's first words were “Good night, everybody.” Well, it was a good night.

The moderators then asked the candidates for specific plans in how to address inflation. For Professor Oz, it was how to cut government spending. He provided the age-old and vague right-wing waste, fraud, and abuse line. He compared his cutting people open during surgeries to being able to cutting the government's budget. Omega Fetterman was also asked about cutting spending. He correctly identified that inflation is a tax on working families. But rather than blaming the President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. administration's money creation and spending, he blamed price-gouging and corporate greed, and accused Prof. Oz of not understanding what working families are facing with the inflation crisis because he's rich and owns ten mansions. That's a stupid attack line. There's nothing wrong with owning mansions and being successful—I've even defended the likes of Luigi on this point. It's also a distraction from Omega Fetterman's lack of a plan to address runaway government spending, probably because he's a proponent of that. Professor Oz correctly identified the real issues facing Pennsylvanians, being inflation and crime. Along those lines, Professor Oz implied he wouldn't cut the federal gas tax because of the long-term effects of under-funding America's roads, but he'd want to find other ways to reduce gas prices. Omega Fetterman was asked how he plans to actually reduce price gouging. Rather than answer the question, Omega Fetterman said Prof. Oz loves oil companies.

Omega Fetterman “absolutely” supports increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, calling it a “disgrace” that it's at $7.25. Then he attacked Prof. Oz for being rich and not understanding what working at $7.25 is like. He then said that small business owners who are worried about the cost of paying that more-than-doubled minimum wage should be more patriotic and love America, pretty much, which is yet another stupid answer. Omega Fetterman may have a cool and imposing demeanor, but the man so far doesn't know what the hell he's talking about and prefers to attack his opponent to try to deflect from his massive policy knowledge deficiencies. Even Raphael Warnock the Warlock said he wouldn't support that. As for Prof. Oz, he said market forces have already raised the minimum wage by default (and with good jobs unleashed by the energy sector, people would be making far more than $15 an hour). Prof. Oz correctly identified that Omega Fetterman's answer would result in people's wages being $0 an hour, because that job would disappear when the business does.

Economics section done. Now an abortion question. Prof. Oz says, as a physician, he doesn't want the federal government involved in abortion decisions. He wants women, their doctors, and local political leaders to be in the room making those decisions. To the point that Prof. Oz would vote against federal abortion restrictions that some Senate Republicans are trying to put together. Omega Fetterman strongly believes in codifying Roe v. Wade, and implied he does not believe in any restrictions on abortion, because “abortion is healthcare.”

Speaking of healthcare, Omega Fetterman refused to release his medical records regarding his stroke. Which is fine. Meanwhile, other “real doctors against Oz” have identified Prof. Oz as promoting unproven and potentially dangerous treatments, but he stood by the high quality of the information on his show and that his show empowered Americans to make decisions in coordination with their doctors, which socialised medicine and abolishing private health insurance wouldn't allow. Omega Fetterman said that he doesn't believe in socialised medicine and abolishing private health insurance, and said that Prof. Oz is obsessed with Bernie Sanders, and the professor (former doctor) should pretend to live in Vermont instead of pretending to live in Pennsylvania so he can run against Bernie Sanders. It was strange, since that was the first time in the debate that Prof. Oz mentioned Bernie Sanders.

Fun issue on fracking natural gas, a big local state issue. Prof. Oz once wrote that the health risks around fracking weren't known in 2014, but in 2022, he's super-pro fracking. I guess since then, fracking has been demonstrated to be safe. Omega Fetterman said he ABSOLUTELY SUPPORTS FRACKING and said he's always supported fracking his entire career, and that Prof. Oz is a liar. He then looked like a jackass when the debate moderators pulled up this quote, which he denied ever saying, apparently. Perhaps he has memory loss from his stroke? Fortunately, the moderator insisted on a follow-up.

Omega Fetterman's debate “strategy” was to (mostly falsely) accuse Prof. Oz of lying whenever his opponent referred to his record or unpopular public statements.
So he was stunned and helpless when even the moderators made a whole graphic and brought receipts to bring viewers the truth.

Omega Fetterman's response to the follow-up is, and I quote exactly (from 29:32 in the on-demand video embedded above):

“...........Uh...uh...I...I...I... do support fracking. And... I...don't...I don't... I support fracking. And I stand... and I do support fracking.”

I laughed out loud at that ridiculously pathetic response. They changed topics to public safety, and accusations that Omega Fetterman is “dangerously soft on crime.” He said he's made the community more safe as mayor against gun violence. Prof. Oz disagreed with that. As for gun control, Prof. Oz likes enhanced background checks and more mental health funding, including to black people. (You may remember that usually Republicans and some Democrats reserve mental health issues to white people who misuse guns, while black people are characterised as super-predators.)

Prof. Oz doesn't like how porous the United States borders are, and the influx of fentanyl into all of the states. He accused Omega Fetterman with legalising all hard drugs in America. Omega Fetterman said that isn't his position. As for what he does believe, he wants a “compassionate” approach to immigration, without offering specifics.

Foreign policy question, yay! Omega Fetterman said the greatest foreign policy threat to the United States of America is China, which is the second correct answer he provided all night, and the first actual policy answer. Prof. Oz said the greatest threat is America's lack of strength projection and the country must establish its dominance, which is a stupid answer.

Prof. Oz said he'd support whomever the Republican Party would nominate for president in 2024 (especially if it was former President Donald John Trump), though he wants to help moderate the Republican Party's edgy positions. Omega Fetterman said he'd support President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.'s re-election run if he chose to do that, and that he's a good family man who supports unions.

Social Security is only fully funded through 2034. Omega Fetterman gave a poorly phrased answer saying that he wants to expand Social Security benefits, and offered no information on how to make that financially possible, especially since expanded benefits would make Social Security run out even sooner. Prof. Oz said Social Security and Medicare must be untouched (except to be made stronger, somehow). He wants to redirect the aforementioned waste, fraud, and abuse to the Social Security and Medicare funds. Omega Fetterman said it's “a fact” that Professor Oz would cut Medicare, which Professor Oz has said he's never said that.

Professor Oz was asked about education, which he said he's a part of the education system. (Hence why I keep calling him Prof. Oz.) He said the quality of education isn't going up, but instead colleges are increasing costs due to middle management and unnecessary expenses, advocating for more online/digital classes. He accused his Democrat opponent of not wanting to deal with the root problems of higher education costs, but just wants to keep subsidising it. Omega Fetterman gave a meandering and way overtime rebuttal that had nothing to do with education but how rich Professor Oz is. Omega Fetterman said that public universities need to be “affordable” by means of a “significant investment”... In other words, more taxes, I guess, and just pay the higher costs with more subsidies. In other words, Prof. Oz correctly described his opponent's position. He also accused his Republican opponent of not offering any ideas, even though he clearly did, or else I wouldn't have been able to write the second sentence in this paragraph about middle management and online classes. They asked about vocational schools. They're both in favour of more of it.

I think now's a good time for another image to break up the text.

Should the Supreme Court be expanded? Omega Fetterman directly answered that he doesn't believe that should happen, which is a much better answer than what Raphael Warnock the Warlock said. Prof. Oz said he wants to keep the Supreme Court the same size it is now, and added that the filibuster technique in the United States Senate should be preserved.

Closing statements already! Omega Fetterman again repeated he's for the common man. Fighting for the forgotten communities across Pennsylvania. Professor Oz's response said that as a surgeon, he has listened to the problems of people across Pennsylvania. Omega Fetterman rudely interrupted Professor Oz's closing statement, and the former surgeon was talking about his own positions, not his opponent's. What the heck is wrong with Omega Fetterman? The doctor then gave an eloquent American Dream speech, which was a very nice closing. Omega Fetterman is also a Steelers fan, while Prof. Oz is an Eagles fan.

Unlike the Georgia Senate debate, this one has a clear winner: Professor Mehmet Oz. He came across as intelligent and thinking about the issues (as much as you can in 60-second sound-bytes), even if he's a carpetbagger opportunist and a real Pennsylvanian should've won the Republican nomination. Best of all, he's not a partisan mind-slave like Herschel Walker would be as senator, retaining pragmatic traits that he must've had as a surgeon. Omega Fetterman was mostly dazed, confused, rude, and above all else, has no grasp on policy. I thought that the focus on Fetterman's medical issues was just right-wing propaganda. But, no, he really was incoherent, and he couldn't give any details on any part of his plan, presumably because it's difficult to sell his positions to the people of Pennsylvania. I hope that Pennsylvanians don't care about how many mansions Prof. Oz owns across the country (or view it as a positive), and focus on actual policy positions.


Ludwig is still stunned about how one-sided that debate was. Unfortunately, idiot partisan “blue no matter who” voters will try to deny reality and conjure up a completely different recollection of how the debate went (if they bothered watching at all), but that behaviour won't fly on KoopaTV. At least, they won't get a truth point in the KoopaTV Loyalty Rewards Program. The real evidence is clear for everyone to see and judge for themselves.