There are numerous videos showing snippets of John Fetterman’s debate performance on Tuesday night. I am not posting them here because I think they are sad. You can find a lot of them on YouTube. The clips of the debate I have seen show a man struggling to compose coherent sentences; he did not sound like a man who would be successful as a Senator.

On Thursday, Fox News reported the following:

Democrats are privately “panicking” over Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman’s debate performance Tuesday night and expressing regret over his decision to debate Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz, according to NBC.

The Democrat’s lingering health problems due to a stroke he suffered in May resulted in a debate performance that some said was “painful to watch.” Some Democrats felt Fetterman hadn’t been transparent about the degree of his speaking difficulties and criticized his campaign for agreeing to the one and only debate.

“[F]ellow Democrats are second-guessing his decision to appear on stage five months after a stroke — and some question whether he should have remained on the ballot at all,” the NBC article began. 

The article concludes:

Terry Madonna, a longtime Pennsylvania pollster, didn’t mince words when describing the debate.

Describing the backlash, Madonna said, “[T]he fact of the matter is his performance was obviously very questionable and it’s just dominated the news.”

He added that he’s never seen a debate performance “this bad,” the NBC article read.

Fetterman’s debate drew strong reaction on the left. Some pointed the finger at his campaign, while others claimed his critics were “ableist.”

It’s not ableist to question whether a candidate can do the job he is running for. If you owned a company, after seeing the debate, who position would you hire John Fetterman for?