John Fetterman Will Use Computer With Instant Closed Captioning During Tonight’s Debate With Oz
Bo Banks
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Democratic Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman will use a computer to deliver instant closed captioning during the Tuesday night debate against Republican Mehmet Oz.
This comes at a time when Fetterman’s physical and mental capabilities are heavily in question. Considering the Democrat recently faced a stroke that has hindered his ability to deliver on the campaign stage.
The media has been carrying water for Fetterman despite these worries. Playing the whole situation off as some “Republican pounce” opportunity that is meant to cancel out the Democrat’s gaffs and flat out oddities.
Some of these occasions have been so bad that critics of Fetterman are claiming he is unfit for office. And that Democrats should encourage him to withdraw from the race.
For example, last week an NBC reporter said Fetterman had trouble with “small talk” before their interview. She also said the Senate candidate had to use a computer for closed captioning.
The women of The View doubled down on their defense of Fetterman, claiming that the NBC reporter, herself, is just bad at small talk.
Notably, Fetterman’s wife has called criticisms against the Democrat “ableist comments.”
Further adding to the evidence that the Pennsylvania Democrat is not in a good enough condition to run for public office, managers for Fetterman’s campaign released a memo to set the expectations for tonight’s debate.
They stated that the doctor is entering the bout with a “huge built-in advantage.”
In a memo sent to reporters, the Fetterman campaign seeks to lower expectations for tomorrow’s debate with Oz: “We’ll admit — this isn’t John’s format … if we’re all being honest, Oz clearly comes into Tuesday night with a huge built-in advantage.” pic.twitter.com/21CCMGGvbI
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) October 24, 2022
“We’ll admit – this isn’t John’s format. Look no further than the debates from the primary earlier this year. On the other hand, ‘Oz is a polished daytime TV host who knows his camera angles and how to craft TV moments,'” the memo says, quoting the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“John is ready to share his vision for Pennsylvania, defend his record, and make the case against Oz. He’s going to be talking about his real ideas to help real people. But if we’re all being honest, Oz clearly comes into Tuesday night with a huge built-in advantage,” the memo says.
The computer Fetterman will use during tonight’s debate will read Oz’s responses on the screen, giving him more ample time to respond to the Republican.
Fetterman’s campaign is arguing that the debate will be inherently unfair because Oz is a TV personality who has “hosted his scammy talk show for 13 seasons filming over 2,000 episodes where he hawked miracle cures and magic diet pills to prey on hard-working Americans.”
“That’s a lot of practice!” they add. Claiming the TV is Oz’s “comfort zone.”
“[Oz is] also going to distract from his own problems by lying about John’s record and launching false attacks on crime, fracking, inflation, taxes… you name it. Oz will try to play the nice doctor on Tuesday night, but his campaign’s attacks on John’s health have consistently been mean-spirited and cruel,” they said.
“This debate is unprecedented – there’s never been a closed-captioned political debate in a high-profile Senate race where one of the candidates is dealing with a lingering auditory processing challenge while recovering from a stroke,” they write.
“We are prepared for Oz’s allies and right-wing media to circulate malicious viral videos after the debate that try to paint John in a negative light because of awkward pauses, missing some words, and mushing other words together.”
“The captioning process may also lead to time delays and errors in the exchanges between the moderators and the candidates. In fact, because the captions are going to be typed out by human beings in real-time, on live TV, some amount of human error in the transcription is inevitable, which may cause temporary miscommunications at times.”
“It is impossible to control and unavoidable. That’s OK – what matters is that people get to see and hear John’s values,” they argue.
We were happy to accommodate closed captioning. Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide. What we do push for as reporters is transparency. It’s our job. Fetterman sat down and answered our questions. That’s his job. https://t.co/gFZ02hlUs5
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) October 12, 2022
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