As America is on fire and in a never-ending downward spiral, the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania puts the spotlight on the Democrats' banality, pettiness, and rank stupidity.

The Republicans have a dream candidate in Dr. Oz.  Whip smart, telegenic, charismatic, accessible, super hard-working, and surrounded by a picture-perfect loving family, what could go wrong?  For starters, it is not a one-on-one race.  Rather it is two against one:  his opponent John Fetterman and the monolithic Main Street media against Dr. Oz. 

In the months leading up to the primary through to the present, the Philadelphia Inquirer — once a Philadelphia print icon, known for its tremendous sports coverage and brave, groundbreaking exposés and special reports — has led a smear campaign against Dr. Oz:

• He's a carpetbagger from New Jersey and doesn't know Pennsylvania — omitting constantly that Dr. Oz went to Penn, and his family owns residences in the state.
• He's rich.  OMG, what a threat.  Since when has achieving the American Dream, through a combination of hard work, ingenuity, talent, and high intelligence, doom a candidacy?  Dr. Oz has been successful in a multitude of venues, from leadership in his educational pursuits to a high-profile medical career and an award-winning television show.  These experiences give him a great understanding of folks at all levels and an empathy for life's struggles.  In contrast, his opponent, Fetterman, has mooched off his very wealthy parents until the age of fifty and has never held a job other than in politics.
• Dr. Oz is an actor; you can't trust what he will do.  Throughout the campaign, one can see how Dr. Oz will interact with others — with kindness and patience, his loyalty to a scheduling commitment — even when exhausted, and the aforementioned incredible work ethic.  With Dr. Oz, what you see is what you get.  The chutzpah of this attack is mind-blowing.  Fetterman is the poster boy of inauthenticity.  To nail a hipster punk visage, he wears a skinny goatee, facial jewelry, hoodies, and Bermuda shorts and zips around on a cycle.  Oh, what a toughie boy.  Shhhh!  He is a wealthy, multi-degreed fraud with an MBA from Harvard and a bank roll from Mommy and Daddy.
• Dr. Oz called a veggie tray crudité.  The horror.  All the restaurants on the globe must immediately remove the crudité entry from their menus.  After all, how else will anybody ever again be able to order vegetables out?  Dr. Oz had been teaching about health, wellness, and the importance of eating the right foods forever.  Naturally, he would tout veggies.  Fetterman pounced, insinuating a "hoity-toity" edge to an "out-of-touch" Dr. Oz.  Fetterman, however, is the fool.  For someone who was off the campaign trail for months due to ill health, and still unable to speak clearly, one would think he would be more focused on his own well-being than the vocabulary of Dr. Oz.  But then again, there is no accounting for stupidity and immaturity.

Not to be outdone, the crudité caper was false fodder for the Philadelphia Inquirer.  On Wednesday, August 17, 2022, the past American ambassador to Israel (2017–2021), David Friedman, traveled from New York to Philadelphia for a Republican Jewish Committee (RJC) event.  In front of approximately 400 attendees, Ambassador Friedman endorsed Dr. Mehmet Oz for U.S. Senate, as a pro-Israel moderate Muslim.  Ambassador Friedman discussed the novelty of the political alliance, the fact that Dr. Oz is the first Muslim running for the U.S. Senate, and how proud and delighted he was to foresee a continuation of the enormous strides politically that he and President Trump had achieved in the region — most notably the Abraham Accords.  The event was heavily covered by the media. 

Did the Inquirer cover the event fairly?  Of course not!  On the front page, and continued on page 4, the crudité caper was big news.  The RJC event was not even mentioned by name.  Instead, as an aside, the Inquirer stated that a Jewish event had been held the night before.  Nary a word was reported regarding Friedman's endorsement, or the many attendees of all religions and races who agreed with Friedman, or the fact it was hosted by the RJC — an organization also composed of members from varied backgrounds. 

Fetterman, as Obama used to exhort: Eat your peas.

Image: Elyse Horvath.