‘Basement Bum’: Oz Campaign Trolls Fetterman For Campaign Trail Absence

Democratic Senate candidate has been MIA since suffering massive stroke in May

Washington Free Beacon Staff • August 5, 2022 10:00 am

Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz just fired off the latest shot in a meme-filled campaign that’s already featured Snooki, Step Brothers, and at least one member of the E Street Band.

The Republican doctor’s campaign today launched a mock campaign website lampooning Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D.), who hasn’t held a campaign event since being sidelined by a massive stroke in May. FraudsterFetterman.com shows “Big John” reclining shirtless in a dingy basement. A “View Upcoming Events” button jumps across the screen when hovered over. And in case the point isn’t clear, the site proclaims in bold: “John Fetterman hasn’t attended a public campaign event since May 12th.”

The site is the latest entry into a campaign that has been dominated by memes and Twitter attacks. But Brittany Yanick, Oz’s communications director, is quick to note that there’s a serious issue beneath the jokes.

“John Fetterman…refuses to answer for his dangerous views,” Yanick told the Washington Free Beacon. “Pennsylvanians deserve answers.”

Fetterman, who is reportedly still slurring his speech after his near-fatal stroke, has weathered a number of controversies since withdrawing from the campaign trail. A group of Pennsylvania sheriffs last month wrote to Fetterman urging him to clarify his soft-on-crime positions, which they fear would worsen the state’s crime spike. And the Philadelphia Inquirer this week reported that Fetterman’s parents had long supported him financially, dealing an embarrassing blow to the Democrat’s blue-collar image.

Fetterman has hit Oz over his residence on the Jersey Shore, recruiting Jersey Shore star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt to mock Oz for the house. But the Free Beacon reported Fetterman took a family vacation there in 2020, with a taxpayer-funded security detail in tow, as he publicly pushed for strict pandemic lockdowns.

On the Oz campaign’s site, a “DADDY’S BOY” hoodie hanging above Fetterman simultaneously pokes fun at the candidate’s inherited wealth and his ultra-casual wardrobe. A shotgun to the candidate’s left seemingly alludes to a 2013 incident wherein Fetterman pulled a weapon on an unarmed black jogger.