PA-SN 2022 megathread: Shrek vs. The Wizard of Oz

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I think Fetterman will win, but if he's facing Reschenthaler it'll be very close. Endorsed, of course.

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How did Fetterman do in the LG primary in the Hill District, Wilkinsburg and East Liberty? If he did well in those neighborhoods and got reelected by a 3-1 margin in an 80% black town I see no reason why this incident would hurt him.

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Kenyatta is great, but I'm unconvinced he can win statewide.

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We nominated Kate McGinty instead of Joe Sestak and we lost big time, it's Fetterman

Probably.. But many are upset with his response to the jogger issue. I don't see how he would've been able to know the race of the guy and think the criticism is a bit unfair, but his apology was also lackluster.

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Considering Pennsylvania hasn't had a black statewide politican of prominence in a long time (if ever? besides like Auditor General or something), this would be huge For Kenyatta. That could work in his favor.

Don't get the hype about Cartwright. Yeah, he did great in his district, but that's more reason for him to STAY there, b/c we'd lose that seat then if he'd lose. And I don't see Cartwright performing any different than someone like Lamb statewide. People may hate Lamb here for some reason, but PA is still very much a tossup, so I think he'd be an Ossoff-type statewide candidate (and I mean that in a good way)

I'm still not convinced Lamb will jump in though. Would make sense for him to wait for Attorney General, no?

Lamb doesn't have the social media chops Ossoff does nor is he really appealing to younger voters. He strikes me as a Buttigieg type, a young straight laced guy who old people love.

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If you thought Markey vs. Kennedy was ugly, Kenyatta vs. Fetterman is just getting started (have fun with that, PA Dems):

https://twitter.com/malcolmkenyatta/status/1364290274852294656

Apparently the context is that it's been a year since Ahmaud Arbery's murder, but Kenyetta isn't stupid.

On any other day it would clearly be an attack on Fetterman, but today it can be read two ways. Shrewd move by Kenyatta.

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I would guess Lamb's strategy to win in a general election is trying to appeal to some more conservative voters or a bunch of Trump voters. Fetterman meanwhile is probably better suited to turn out new voters, especially younger voters although he may also appeal to populists.

While both would make a decent senator, I'm rooting for Fetterman because he's a rational progressive and offering a positive contrast to certain Squad members. The progressive wing needs representation through people like him. Also, I think he sincerely cares about improving conditions in distressed areas and could really be a voice for these communities.

I would bet Lamb's general election strategy would actually be more about absolutely running up the score in the suburbs, and keeping rural / Trump voter performance at Biden levels.

Curious what you mean by Fetterman offering a contrast to squad members / progressives needing representation through "people like him"?

Fetterman strikes me as someone who stays away from toxic culture war debates like "defund the police" and mainly focuses on economic inequality and good community work. These are issues voters can relate with a proper messager. His own experience and record in Braddock makes him appear sincere and a credible voice on the latter in particular. Fetterman also has refused to attack moderate Democrats in the past and instead emphasized what unites Democrats. I think he's an integrating figure, what would allow him to actually work on problems once elected senator and not just hang around for publicity stunts. That's why I hope he wins the primary and the general election.

Holding an unarmed black jogger at gunpoint and repeatedly refusing to apologize for it doesn't feel especially "integrating" to me, but your points about his difference from squad members are well-taken.

Didn't the jogger endorse him?

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I would guess Lamb's strategy to win in a general election is trying to appeal to some more conservative voters or a bunch of Trump voters. Fetterman meanwhile is probably better suited to turn out new voters, especially younger voters although he may also appeal to populists.

While both would make a decent senator, I'm rooting for Fetterman because he's a rational progressive and offering a positive contrast to certain Squad members. The progressive wing needs representation through people like him. Also, I think he sincerely cares about improving conditions in distressed areas and could really be a voice for these communities.

I would bet Lamb's general election strategy would actually be more about absolutely running up the score in the suburbs, and keeping rural / Trump voter performance at Biden levels.

Curious what you mean by Fetterman offering a contrast to squad members / progressives needing representation through "people like him"?

Fetterman strikes me as someone who stays away from toxic culture war debates like "defund the police" and mainly focuses on economic inequality and good community work. These are issues voters can relate with a proper messager. His own experience and record in Braddock makes him appear sincere and a credible voice on the latter in particular. Fetterman also has refused to attack moderate Democrats in the past and instead emphasized what unites Democrats. I think he's an integrating figure, what would allow him to actually work on problems once elected senator and not just hang around for publicity stunts. That's why I hope he wins the primary and the general election.

Holding an unarmed black jogger at gunpoint and repeatedly refusing to apologize for it doesn't feel especially "integrating" to me, but your points about his difference from squad members are well-taken.

Didn't the jogger endorse him?

Yes, but just because one person has the capacity for forgiveness doesn't make what he did any less unacceptable. The jogger does not speak for the black community, or anyone but himself. Note that the jogger did not revise his account of the event; he still maintains that Fetterman is lying, but just that he has forgiven him. Would be different if the jogger were revising his story.

Well, no one person speaks for the Black community. Or the Asian community, or Jewish community, or any other community. So not sure what you mean by that. I just think if the person who was victimized was able to forgive and endorse we should probably move on from the issue. And I say this as someone who has soured on Fetterman.

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Would Dr Oz be a good candidate? Does anyone know his political stances?

Identified as a moderate Republican in 2007, claiming to be in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt or Schwarzenegger.

More recently he defended hydroxychloroquine and Trump also appointed him to the Council on Fitness and Nutrition.

Beyond a bunch of other pseudoscience he's pushed I can't find anything more on his actual views.

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My gut says Barnette wins the primary.

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Very smart of Barnette to put her Evangelical identity front and center. I think Oz's religion is turning off some voters.

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https://twitter.com/NoLieWithBTC/status/1536090139172257793

You really are out here defending every single thing that every GOP member does. Must be exhausting.

No more than you defend every single thing the Democrats do.

So you want to be like Democrats?

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Frankly, Oz's campaign thus far is making him look like a complete loser. And voters don't like losers.

Yeah, he's coming across as an effete beta.

Trump let his celebrity worship get in the way of a sensible endorsement. Barnette would've kept things close and is also more MAGA.

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It's so easy it's almost unfair. lol 
https://twitter.com/RepSwalwell/status/1546546640202436608

When even Eric swalwell can effectively dunk you on it's time to reconsider politics...

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I now do wish McCormick won the primary and he may have without polls showing Barnette in 2nd lol.

McCormick wouldn't have been any better, in fact he may have been worse. TV personality is slightly more appealing than a hedge fund manager lol.

Yeah, Fetterman dodged a huge bullet with Barnette. Had she started her climb just a week or so earlier she'd be the nominee, and we'd be looking at a lean R race.

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I now do wish McCormick won the primary and he may have without polls showing Barnette in 2nd lol.

McCormick wouldn't have been any better, in fact he may have been worse. TV personality is slightly more appealing than a hedge fund manager lol.

Yeah, Fetterman dodged a huge bullet with Barnette. Had she started her climb just a week or so earlier she'd be the nominee, and we'd be looking at a lean R race.

No we wouldn't. McCormick likely wouldve made it a lean R race. Barnette would've still been a tossup. She would be able to consolidate the Trumpers but would've quickly turned off key moderates.

McCormick is a boring empty suit who wouldn't have motivated a soul. Barnette would've pumped up turnout in a lot of right wing communities especially evangelicals with her personal story. The attacks Fetterman is using on Oz, and other than the residency stuff the attacks he'd be using on McCormick would never work with Barnette. Plus she could use the jogger incident against him to nudge turnout down a tad in places like west Philly, Wilkinsburg and Harrisburg.

Mastriano is also a far right conspiracy weirdo and he's doing better than Oz.

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Right, but the point is that Oz/GOP has been trying to "John Fetterman is a Bernie Sanders radical socialist" and it is not, and has not been, working this entire time.

It seems like while the attack CAN be effective, it generally needs to be done against Dems that aren't very well defined. Fetterman is already a pretty defined figure in PA and has his own character and stuff so attacks like this tend to be less effective. A better strategy could be to attack his current character somehow.

Attacking an opponent as socialist works better in Dem primaries than in general elections.

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He's not Christian.

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Yesterday: Fetterman was fat and thus deserved his stroke

Today: I'm PA's doctor! I'll heal all of you

https://twitter.com/JessicaTaylor/status/1562417980411183104

I am as far from an Oz supporter as one can get, but the obesity crisis in America has reached disgustingly high levels. Doctors should not be afraid to tell their patients they're overweight, though many are scared to now because of the kindness over facts cult that has infested much of academia.

With that being said, Fetterman has lost like 150 so this just makes Oz look like an even bigger douche.

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Incredible ad! Some dark money super pac needs to spend millions of dollars micro targeting it to all of Pennsylvania’s most racist registered voters.
https://twitter.com/reallyamerican1/status/1562596798849757189?s=21&t=WpeWkT...

Of course people in the comments are whining that it's racist and xenophobic, saying we should go high when they go low. Did the past 6 years teach them nothing?

Also I love the dual citizenship attack line. I find it very bothersome when politicians hold dual citizenship. Pick a side, and stay there.

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https://twitter.com/BruinGOP/status/1569386915107045376?s=20&t=MdeWmP1xxyZMQ...
Tossup -> Safe D

This is what I think is unfortunate about the GOP.

On the Dem side, a lot of the progressive base at least understands that even if you disagree on your Dem candidate on even major issues, voting for them is still the best option. Yet on the GOP side a candidate support SSM (a relatively minor issue for non-LGBTQ folks), they're instantly blasted. I think it goes to show a lot of homophobia still exists within the party even if they're slowly evolving on the issue overall.

I feel like if Oz were smart, he could actually view the issue through a pretty scientific lens, like not culturally endorsing it but explain why evolutionarily homosexual couples have a role in society.

But teh GOP has moderated on social issues .

Yes it's an undeniable fact

They have not moderated.

The GOP has moderated quite a bit on the rights of LGB people. That is a fact.

They have not moderated, and in the eyes of many have deteriorated, when it comes to the rights of trans people.

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TBH, even with control of the senate at stake, I would vote against the Democrat if it came out they were killing dogs (or ordering such) for research. I get that everyone is partisan af these days but I'd at least like to think that if you are a dog lover, you'd draw the line at needlessly euthanizing these precious creatures:

But that’s the thing….he just wasn’t. He was conducting medical research trials on important potentially life-saving heart medications as a research director at a major medical university. Almost 100% of such trials end up killing animals.

Now we can debate the ethics of animal testing during such trials, but at no point has it been suggested either that this was an unusual practice in the field or that Oz was personally involved in the euthanasia of the test subjects. The worst allegations are that some of his researchers did not follow proper guidelines when euthanizing the subjects, an extremely minor violation that carries a 2000$ fine.

This story may as well have been ‘Oz was an important medical researcher at a major institution for 21 years; while there, several staffers got speeding tickets’. The penalties in terms of fines are similar, the only difference between the two is that the speeding tickets might make someone lose their license.

If anything I am impressed that he was a medical researcher at Columbia. I honestly thought he was just a TV personality selling questionable tonics and elixirs to unsuspecting housewives. My opinion of him based on this story has gone up significantly and anyone who thinks otherwise honestly just has no idea how the scientific process works or how medicine is tested and developed.

Looks like compucomp came out of retirement just to like this post 🤣

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Yeah, this week was about Oz's puppies story and now him with Hitler's car, I'd say the "momentum" is over.

Was out to dinner last night and they actually had the local ABC affiliate on. Saw a ton of ads, but was slightly more Fetterman leaning. They aired the Senate Majority PAC ad about Oz "abortion is murder" twice and Fetterman's ad with the DSCC about crime. Oz's ad ran twice -the new one with Jim Gardner where he talks about Fetterman and safe injection sites.

Neither of these stories will have any impact outside of the Resistance Twitter networks y'all are addicted to.

First off - why the attitude?

Secondly, are you saying that Oz had a good week?

He's still upset that a Republican-lite like Lamb isn't the nominee.

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For a Trump +25 county, this is pretty damn huge.

Crowd sizes aren't everything, but Fetterman sure has the enthusiasm gap(TM) that Oz doesn't

https://twitter.com/the_vello/status/1578833425192349696

If it weren't for the signs and the one woman with bright yellow hair, this would look like a Trump event. I think Fetterman is building a very broad coalition.

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(was heard on the biggest "urban" station in Philly, 105.3 WDAS. Caters more towards older black listeners)

https://twitter.com/hollyotterbein/status/1583245035042021377

This is not surprising, since Fetterman has been struggling with black voters since the primary and is having problems with generating turnout in Philadelphia, which he narrowly won over Kenyatta.

Where is the proof of this, though? He won Philly just barely in the primary because Kenyatta was from Philadelphia.

By running up the margins in Southeast Philly and Fishtown, not by doing well in Black areas.