Further delays in scheduling a debate between U.S. Senate candidates John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz have raised more questions about Mr. Fetterman’s health, including his ability to communicate and process information. He has increased his public appearances, but his speech remains halting, and he repeats key phrases like mantras.
To reassure the public, Mr. Fetterman ought to release the full results of his cognitive tests and other medical records, and make his doctors available to the media. Mr. Oz should release his medical records, too.
So far, Mr. Fetterman’s campaign has reported a specific (and normal) score from his July Saint Louis University Mental Status Examination (SLUMS), but has said only that his more recent Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) test was “in the normal range.” The RBANS test results in distinct scores in five areas: immediate memory, visuospatial/constructional, language, attention and delayed memory. The campaign should tell voters how Mr. Fetterman performed in each category.
Meantime, the Fetterman campaign should step up efforts to debate Mr. Oz. It’s another way of demonstrating he’s up to the job. Instead, Mr. Fetterman’s campaign has argued U.S. Senate debates in Pennsylvania typically occur in mid- to late-October, but that was before the days of mail-in voting. The campaign also argues more than 80% of votes tend to be cast in the last two weeks, but that leaves nearly one in five voters out of the loop.
That’s not good enough.
It’s understandable that Mr. Fetterman hasn’t rushed to debate Mr. Oz, who was a television celebrity long before he was a political candidate. He’s telegenic and completely comfortable before a camera.
Voters, however, don’t expect a perfect performance from Mr. Fetterman. They understand he is still recovering from a serious medical condition. They’ll cut him some slack, if he’s transparent about his health.
Last week, Mr. Fetterman’s campaign agreed to a debate, broadcast statewide, on Oct. 25, two weeks before Election Day, with accommodations for the “auditory processing” symptoms from his May stroke. Mr. Oz’s campaign agreed to those accommodations, but asked for the debate to be extended from 60 to 90 minutes, due to the delays those changes will cause. Mr. Fetterman’s campaign immediately rejected the longer format.
A 30-minute difference should not scuttle the only opportunity for voters to see the candidates together. One compromise would be to limit debates to 60-minutes but conduct two of them instead of one.
Mr. Oz and Mr. Fetterman should release their medical records and set the debates now. Then talk about the issues that matter most to the people of Pennsylvania.
https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion...s/202209200110