Dr. Oz vs. Fetterman Shows Worst Side of U.S. Politics

The U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania may be showing the worst side of politics as Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman battles Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in the potentially crucial contest.

Pennsylvania's open Senate seat could be decisive in determining which party controls the chamber after this year's midterm elections, which are only weeks away.

The campaign has been marked by harsh rhetoric on both sides, with the Oz campaign questioning Fetterman's ability to serve following a stroke he suffered in May and the Fetterman campaign targeting Oz's longtime residence in New Jersey.

Fetterman branded Oz "sick" after a report that experiments the celebrity surgeon had supervised caused the death of more than 300 dogs as well as other animals, while the Republican has claimed the Democrat supports "releasing convicted murderers back on the streets."

Oz has denied being involved in the death of the dogs.

Political experts who spoke to Newsweek described the race as "juvenile" and an example of the "erosion of norms" in U.S. politics.

Schoolyard Taunts

The rhetoric from the Fetterman and Oz campaigns has won national headlines as the race could be key to control of the Senate and the Fetterman campaign has made particularly effective use of social media, but the debate in Pennsylvania has been "dumbed down," according to Thomas Gift, founding director of University College London's Centre on U.S. Politics.

"You'd be hard pressed to find any midterm race in the country that's more juvenile than Pennsylvania's contest between John Fetterman and Dr. Oz—and that's saying something," Gift told Newsweek.

"For two men with Ivy League credentials, it's ironic that the matchup has become one of the most dumbed-down competitions for a major government seat this year," he said.

"Although the race could determine which party controls the Senate, the aspiration of high-minded policy debate and elevated political discourse has largely given way to schoolyard taunts and sophomoric bickering on Twitter," Gift added.

Gift went on to say that Fetterman has "seemingly revolved his entire campaign around constructing online memes attacking Oz for being from New Jersey. Meanwhile, Oz has spent much of the last several days trying to counter the narrative that he's a puppy murderer."

"Pennsylvania may be the center of the political universe. But the center of principled, intelligent political dialogue it certainly is not," he said.

Wilder Accusations

Paul Quirk, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, told Newsweek that the campaign rhetoric could be designed to keep the attention of "jaded" voters.

"American campaign discourse has been in decline for about 30 years," Quirk said. "The earlier stages saw deterioration of norms against clear falsehoods and scurrilous accusations."

Quirk pointed to 2004 when Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry "had his record of heroism in the Vietnam War pronounced fraudulent, completely without credible grounds, by supporters of Republican George W. Bush."

"Much of the motivation for violating such norms comes from recent campaign strategies that have abandoned efforts to attract moderate, swing voters and instead focused on mobilizing the party base," he said. "A party's core supporters don't insist on high standards of accuracy for attacks on candidates of the other party."

Quirk also noted the role played by former President Donald Trump's two election campaigns and his presidency featured "schoolyard insults, chants of 'lock her up,' and demeaning nicknames for opponents and critics" that "have shown the way to even lower standards."

"Other candidates, especially those Trump has promoted, have followed his lead. The voter backlash against overly harsh, irresponsible rhetoric that we might once have expected has not emerged," Quirk went on.

Oz has been endorsed by former President Trump along with many other GOP midterm candidates.

"If anything, the party base—especially on the Republican side—has become jaded and requires ever wilder accusations to keep it interested," he said.

Odious Attacks

Fetterman is slightly favored to win the Pennsylvania Senate race, according to analysis from poll tracker FiveThirtyEight, but Oz shouldn't be counted out, according to David A. Bateman, an associate professor of government at Cornell University.

"I think that Oz has been struggling to match Fetterman's much more modern, almost irreverent campaigning, which has managed to connect with people in ways that populism often does but without any of the hate that populists often like to draw on," Bateman told Newsweek.

"For Democrats I expect it will be a model going forward, as has Fetterman's upfront discussion of his new disabilities," he went on. "Oz has tried to match this but not only does it tend to fall short in quality but it ends up being more odious in its attacks on Fetterman's health."

"Still, all signs suggest that it will be a good night for Republicans, and even Oz's lackluster campaign is not destined to lose," Bateman added.