Why were people writing Fetterman off so bluntly near the end?

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Confirmation bias and the narrative of a red wave.

I think a lot of the confirmation bias on the D side was from soft Fetterman supporters. Sure, these people would have voted for Big John or even donated, but they definitely preferred someone more moderate. Whether it be Conor Lamb fitting the conventional wisdom of electability or Fetterman's ties to the Bernie movement, they had "concerns" from Day 1. I can't even clutch about "Lamb bros," because they weren't even enthusiastic about him. They just saw him as the vehicle to stop Fetterman.

That's why I was so vocal in the PA-Sen thread. A Fetterman loss confirmed their narratives about electability. It fed into their notion of progressives - specifically those aligned with the Bernie movement - being too far left and divisive to hold public office. When he had his stroke, they saw it as an opportunity to replace Fetterman with one of their own. It all came off as concern trolling - one of the people hand-wringing about how "Fetterman was going to blow this" outright voted for Oz!

Of course, it ignored that Pennsylvania had just elected a 78-year-old man known for being an awkward public speaker as President, and a TV celebrity over the most qualified nominee in history. And the plethora of candidates from over the years that rode their opponents' carpetbagging to a victory.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Because of his poor debate performance.

I remember how much sh*t I got for saying the debate was a wash. We all knew Fetterman wasn't going to perform, but Oz just came off as a desperate dick. That and him endorsing people like Doug Mastriano having a seat at the table was just self-immolating.

People went into the debate with two preconceived negatives. Fetterman was a mealy-mouthed candidate clearly still recovering from his stroke. Oz was a self-serving, smarmy douchebag who would say anything and everything to get elected. Oz distanced himself from his campaign mocking Fetterman's stroke while mocking Fetterman's stroke on the debate stage. He told a group of Republicans he would ban abortion in any circumstance, he told everyone he would let "local political leaders" decide, he told others that he didn't support a ban in case of rape and incest, and he was unabashedly pro-choice outside of politics.

And nearly everything that came out of his mouth was a carefully-rehearsed, hyper-polished talking point with "My opponent, John Fetterman" rolled into it. For all the talk about Fetterman reinforcing his negatives, people overlooked Oz reinforcing his own.