Call it the carrot-and-stick approach.
The closely watched Pennsylvania US Senate race got personal this week when one of celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz’s advisers took a shot at Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who suffered a stroke in May that knocked him out of the race for several weeks.
The crack came after Fetterman mocked a video Oz released earlier this month in which the Republican lamented the cost of the ingredients to make a crudité platter.
Pennsylvania US Senate cadidate Dr. Mehmet Oz posted a campaign video about the price of crudités. Twitter/@RonFilipkowski
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman responded with a video mocking Oz for not using the term “veggie tray.” Twitter/@JohnFetterman“If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn’t have had a major stroke and wouldn’t be in the position of having to lie about it constantly,” Rachel Tripp, Oz’s senior communications adviser, said in a statement to Insider on Tuesday.
Fetterman, the Democratic candidate, responded by saying the attack on his diet was a low blow even by political standards.
“I had a stroke. I survived it. I’m truly so grateful to still be here today,” he remarked in a Twitter posting.
An aide to Oz said in a statement that the stroke Fetterman suffered in May was due to him not eating any vegetables. Photo by Nate Smallwood/Getty Images“I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could *never* imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges,” he said.
Fetterman’s campaign has been fundraising off of and deriding the video that showed Oz picking out carrots, broccoli, asparagus and guacamole to indicate how Americans are struggling with high prices.
“Guys, that’s $20 for a crudité and that doesn’t include the tequila. I mean, that’s outrageous. And we got Joe Biden to thank for this,” Oz said in the video while shopping at a market he called “Wegner’s” in an apparent portmanteau of Redner’s and Wegmans.
“In PA, we call this a veggie tray,” Fetterman said in one post responding to Oz’s video.
“If this looks like anything other than a Veggie Tray to you, then I am probably NOT your candidate lol,” the hoodie-wearing Fetterman added before asking followers for money.
“Get in on the joke with me – Will you make a campaign contribution of ANY amount before the end of the night?” he said.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May that kept him off the campaign trail until earlier this month, when he made his first public appearance at a speech in Erie.
