(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) Desperate to boost plummeting poll numbers and ease concerns about his increasingly obvious cognitive and physical health problems, Pennsylvania Democrat Senate candidate John Fetterman on Wednesday released what critics called a highly biased and flawed assessment of his alleged “significantly improved” condition.
The review was provided by one of Fetterman’s major campaign donors, who also happens to be the candidate’s primary care physician, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Dr. Clifford Chen, who has given nearly $1,400 to the incumbent lieutenant governor’s Senate campaign, conveniently opined that after an examination, his favored candidate was in excellent health.
“Overall, Lt. Governor Fetterman is well and shows strong commitment to maintaining good fitness and health practices. He has no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office,” Chen raved in his latest contribution to the struggling campaign.
While mainstream media organs, from ABC and NBC news to Politico, the Associated Press and USA Today, hyped the allegedly clean bill of health for Fetterman, no mention was made about the glaring partisan bias and financial political campaign contributions of the doctor who provided the assessment.
CBS News buried a one-liner deep in a rosy piece about Fetterman’s health, noting in passingly only that “Chen has donated to Fetterman’s campaign in the past and the Democratic party.”
Rightly noting that the newly-released health assessment was not technically even a medical record, The Spectator’s Stephen L. Miller cracked that a “new media ‘medical report’ gaslight just dropped.”
Fetterman released a lettter that you have to give to HR to explain why you are sick from work and they are going with “here are his medical records now shut up ableists”
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 19, 2022
When informed of Fetterman’s health reveal, Republican challenger celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz responded with a scalpel tweet to NBC News.
“That’s good news that John Fetterman’s doctor gave him a clean bill of health,” wrote Rachel Tripp, Oz campaign spokesperson.
“The bad news is that John Fetterman still supports releasing convicted murderers out on the streets and has zero explanation for why he didn’t pay his taxes 67 times,” Tripp wrote.
“And now that he apparently is healthy, he can debate for 90 minutes, start taking live questions from voters and reporters, and do a second debate now too.”
Oz campaign to @NBCNews:
“That’s good news that John Fetterman’s doctor gave him a clean bill of health. The bad news is that John Fetterman still supports releasing convicted murderers out on the streets and has zero explanation for why he didn’t pay his taxes 67 times…” 1/2 https://t.co/E66KHcDnpj
— Dasha Burns (@DashaBurns) October 19, 2022
Fetterman’s health assessment from Chen, who also has a history of donating tens of thousands of dollars to Democrat candidates and party committees, was released after repeated calls for Fetterman to provide a complete medical history after suffering a stroke earlier this year, dodging a debate with Oz and for years hiding his ill health from voters.
Fetterman struggled through a softball MSNBC interview last week, even after being provided a special closed-captioning device on a giant monitor, and the reporter admitted that “it wasn’t clear he was understanding our conversation.”
The Fetterman campaign insisted that the latest medical review, provided by a Fetterman campaign donor, should be taken seriously.
“This isn’t about politics,” Fetterman campaign spokesman Joe Calvello told the Free Beacon. “It’s an independent, detailed medical report written by John’s primary care doctor based on his latest office visit from last week.”
Along with funneling money to Fetterman’s campaign, his doctor, Chen, has also donated to other Democrats running in tightly contested races, including leftist Sen. Raphael Warnock in Georgia and Rep. Val Demings in Florida.
UPDATE: after lagging in coverage, it appears the AP has updated its upbeat article to include information about Chen’s political donations.
