“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and he wouldn’t have been able to lie about it all the time,” said Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications adviser. in a statement, which was first reported by Insider. The statement was criticized by Fetterman in a tweet on Tuesday night. “I had a stroke. I survived it. I am truly so grateful to still be here today,” he said. “I know politics can be ugly, but even then, I could never imagine making fun of someone for their health challenges.” On Tuesday, Fetterman’s campaign released a letter signed by more than 100 Pennsylvania doctors warning against Oz’s candidacy. At an event promoting the letter, Val Arkoosh, a physician who ran in the Democratic Senate primary earlier this year, criticized Oz’s comments. “No real doctor, or any decent person, to be honest, would ever make fun of a stroke victim recovering from that stroke the way Dr. Oz makes fun of John Fetterman,” Arkus said. At issue was a video made in April that showed Oz shopping as he tried to argue that inflation made items like asparagus, broccoli, guacamole and salsa more expensive. In the video, he referred to the store’s name as “Wegners,” an obvious combination of Wegmans and Redner’s. Oz also referred to the items as crudité, which Fetterman scoffed at, saying in a tweet, “In PA we call that a… vegetable tray.” Fetterman’s campaign said it had raised more than half a million dollars from the viral video in one day, including more than $65,000 from a sticker that reads “Wegners: Let Them Eat Crudite.” The product-focused film comes as Fetterman’s campaign tries to portray Oz as a New Jersey doormat who is out of touch with Pennsylvania voters. DCCC Chair Maloney fends off Biaggi challenge in NY House primary, Mullin closes Oklahoma GOP Senate nod Oz’s team, meanwhile, tried to portray Fetterman as genuinely engaged with voters on the ground, at one point sending out an “underground tracker” update of the Senate hopeful. Fetterman suffered a stroke in May, keeping the Democrat off the campaign trail for several months. The Senate race, one of several that could determine control of the currently 50-50 upper chamber, has become one of the most closely watched in the nation.
