I swear to God, if the GOP keeps this stupid shit up, in addition to glaucoma, I’m going to have permanent walleye from my eyes free spinning around in my head at their antics.
Personally, I don’t know how PA Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman could have done any better in his one and only debate against cruise ship doctor Mehmet Oz. Fetterman’s campaign was pitch perfect, releasing a pre debate statement lowering expectations for Fetterman, reminding all and sundry that Fetterman was still recovering from his stroke, while pointing out that Oz was nothing more than The Apprentice with a medical degree. In other words, a television personality. But fetterman held his own beautifully.
What the Fetterman camp couldn’t have counted on was that Oz would be such a slippery, uncommunicative, duplicitous shit. Oz gave the Fetterman campaign the only ad they need to run for the last two weeks when, in response to a question on abortion said, to paraphrase;
I firmly believe that the decision on an abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and local elected political officials. Holy Shit! There’s nothing quite like telling almost any Pennsylvania woman of child rearing age that the PA legislature has the right to be in the examining room with her and her doctor. Stand up and take a bow, FOOL!
But of course, being as tone deaf and clueless as Oz is, he had to gild the lily, As a physician, I would never interfere with the state’s right to regulate and control abortions. Two small problems here. First, Oz is not a gynecologist or reproductive care physician. Second, the fact that almost every gynecologist and reproductive care physician in the country are screaming that GOP restrictions are killing their quality of patient care.
Qwll, ao much for The Love Boat dude. Now let’s deal with the PA legislature. Personally, I love Pennsylvania. Beautiful scenery, great food, rich in colonial history, and if you ignore the Philadelphia sports fans, who on a day when there are no games, go out to the airport and boo bad landings, it’s rich in sports too.
But legislatively it’s most definitely hinky. On The Last Word tonight, Lawrence O’Donnell showed just how hinky. Apparently the PA legislature has a rule that if the PA legislature passes a constitutional amendment in 2 consecutive sessions, it does on the ballot for a public vote. As such, the PA legislature passed a bill this year to amend the state constitution to basically outlaw all abortions. And if the GOP maintains control of the legislature in November, which is likely, they’ll pass it again next year. Which means it goes on a public ballot.
But here’s where it gets hinky. In most states, when a group gets enough signatures for a ballot initiative, it goes on the ballot in the next general election. Not in Pennsylvania. In PA, the legislature will select a stand alone special election date for the voters of Pennsylvania to decide the issue. This stinks of the special election that elected Ted Cruz to the Senate, where the TX GOP chose a Saturday in the hottest month of the year for the special election. But this ain’t Texas, and the GOP is out of their minds with this strategy.
If I had a chance to talk to a PA GOP state legislator, I would give him a simple 2 word warning. Fucking Kansas! In Kansas the GOP put through a ballot initiative to remove abortion rights from the state constitution. They got the signatures. But instead of putting the initiative on the general election ballot, they chose to put it on the primary ballot, when Democrat’s don’t even bother to show up. The end result? A 59-41 spanking, with Kansas voters showing up out of the woodwork to vote, and at least a 15% GOP flip to vote to scuttle the initiative.
If the PA GOP honestly thinks that passing a bill, and sticking a special election in some random month is going to give them a positive primary style turnout, or even better, they need an intervention. Abortion is the white hot issue of our time, and the GOP legislature is going to have to publicly announce the special election date. And Pennsylvania women and abortion rights activist groups will take it from there. What was it that Blade said? Some motherf*ckers are always trying to ice skate uphill. They’ve been warned.
Oh, Murf, if you’re going to cite the original Blade (ALWAYS thought that one overrated, even as Wesley Snipes made the one-time John Shaft knockoff into something cool), then you KNOW I gotta pull my favorite quote from Blade II. Tonight, John Fetteman told Oz to his face, “You obviously do not know who YOU ARE F***ING WITH!”
Murph, as usual you filled in the blanks. Thanks. My takeaways from the excerpts I saw:
Fetterman came out strong against Oz’s implication that he was not fit to serve as senator.
Fetterman: “My doctor said…”
Then,
Oz: “I’m a real doctor…” No, you sell fake miracle cures to desperate people.
Oz on abortion: “I’ve attended births at 38 weeks that ended in abortion.”
That would have been murder.
Oz, you’re a fucking liar. If you, not an OB/Gyn but were there, why wouldn’t you have put a stop to it? Wouldn’t that have made you an accessory?
You weren’t there, it didn’t happen, and you are a lying quack.
Also, as a stroke survivor, I admire how hard Fetterman had to work to get where he is in his recovery. He is ready.
“I’ve attended births at 38 weeks that ended in abortion.” That could very well have been a still birth that required a dilation and curetage to save the mother from sepsis or other complications. This is what the R’s are calling abortion and preventing doctors from doing and putting women’s lives in jeopardy. PIGs.
Pigs are more dignified. What this crew is (to quote from Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror) are “Assbags!”
True. I’m no doctor, nor do I play one on TV like someone we know. Perhaps that legislator in the operating room could advise the real doctors on how to proceed.
Talk about an unforced error.
They lie. They put the responsibility of figuring out who the liar is on the voters. If you want to win the game, you must figure out which cup the pea is hiding under. Oz is one of their better educated candidates. A lie slides out of his mouth like the TV huckster he is. Time to tar & feather Mr Merriweather, (Little Big Man), selling a potion made from dead rattlesnake heads.
If I’d been in Fetterman’s place, I’d be reminding the folks that this OUT-OF-STATE so-called Doctor is actually waiting on an election result before he renounces his Turkish citizenship, something that he SHOULD have done just as soon as he decided he wanted to move from New Jersey in order to try to buy his way in one of Pennsylvania’s US Senate seats.. If he couldn’t make such a simple decision as to which country deserves his full, undying loyalty, then how can Pennsylvanians really expect him to do what’s best for them?
” Don’t worry…about a thing…cuz every little thing gonna be alright”. Bob Marley