John Ellis: “Anyway, bad candidates matter is a featured piece of the mainstream media’s political coverage so far this year. And of course it’s true; bad candidates do matter. What’s odd about the mainstream media’s ‘bad candidates matter’ narrative is that all the bad candidates are Republicans.”
“Take Pennsylvania. There, Republican primary voters had a choice between Dr. Oz (endorsed by Trump) and former Bridgewater CEO David McCormick. They chose Oz (by a whisker). There’s no doubt that Oz is a second- or third-string politician. There’s no doubt that McCormick would have been a much, much stronger general election candidate. But the worst candidate in the Senate race in Pennsylvania is not Dr. Oz. The worst candidate in the race is the Democratic Party’s nominee: Lt. Governor John Fetterman.”
“To be fair, the primary reason Mr. Fetterman is the worst Senate candidate in Pennsylvania this time around has nothing to do with his political skills. Shortly before winning the Democratic primary back in May, Fetterman suffered a stroke. It was not a ‘minor’ stroke or series of TIAs. It was a stroke stroke. It has had a discernible impact on his ability to speak and think coherently. It has kept him off the campaign trail for months. It has required his campaign operatives to insist on general election debate ‘conditions’ that no reasonable person would consider acceptable. It has left his campaign with the following message; ‘He’ll be fine, eventually.’”
