Vox's Kara Swisher continues to defend Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman at all costs after he struggled to communicate Tuesday evening while debating Republican nominee Mehmet Oz.
Fetterman, who suffered a stroke earlier this year, had a hard time articulating coherent answers despite the use of closed-captioning services meant to help overcome stroke-related challenges. While many consider Fetterman’s performance disqualifying, Swisher – who had a stroke of her own in 2011 – has rushed to his defense.
"John had a bad night, no question. 11 years in from stroke, I had one too due to too much travel and a bad cold and I started losing words. It happens when you suffer a medical crisis," Swisher tweeted.
Fetterman spent months avoiding one-on-one interviews following the stroke he suffered earlier this year until he sat down with NBC correspondent Dasha Burns earlier this month. Burns interviewed Fetterman using closed captioning, so he could better understand the questions, but she told viewers that the Democratic candidate had a hard time making "small talk" before the interview.
Swisher, a former New York Times columnist who had recently spoken to Fetterman on her podcast, scolded Burns for her report.
"Sorry to say but I talked to @JohnFetterman for over an hour without stop or any aides and this is just nonsense. Maybe this reporter is just bad at small talk," Swisher tweeted.
Conservatives has since called for Burns to receive an apology from Swisher and other liberals who questioned her reporting, but the Vox podcaster has instead ramped up her support for Fetterman. Swisher has sent over a dozen tweets defending Fetterman to her 1.4 million followers since the widely criticized debate.
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She declared the "best piece so far" was a story by The Atlantic headlined, "The Fetterman-Oz Debate Was a Rorschach Test," that declared Fetterman "has no choice but to bet on Pennsylvania voters identifying with his health struggles instead of viewing them as disqualifying."
A journalist responded, telling Swisher she is free to support Fetterman, but she should "own it" instead of pretending to be an objective journalist.
"Both John and I will recover from our strokes and be fine. You’ll never recover from being an a--hole. If you do suffer a major illness, maybe you’ll grok your casual cruelty," Swisher shot back.
One critic said it appeared Swisher was "desperate" to boost her "failing" podcast, but the liberal host fired back, "Yes will have to console myself with the many millions on profits it makes."
Swisher wrote, "What she said," to caption a tweet from USA Today columnist Connie Schutz that praised Fetterman’s "courage" for recovering in the public eye.
She also sent several retweets, including far-left actor Billy Baldwin asking, "Would you rather vote for a stroke victim or an a--hole?"
Swisher even sparred with Republican Senate candidate JD Vance, who wrote that she is "best understood as a propagandist not a journalist."
"Hey @JDVance1why don’t you come on my podcast and say that to me directly? I get that it’s hard for you to screw up the courage to stick up for yourself. But you are welcome anytime, I won’t emasculate you like others have and you should be able to keep up," Swisher wrote.
"Btw that a candidate for Senate in another state is taking the time to target me relating my experience as a victim of a stroke pretty much tells you all you need to know about the casual cruelty this political grotesque has descended into in order to win," she wrote in a follow-up message. "Yeah, @JohnFetterman had a bad night. I have a bad cold & am exhausted & could not remember my hotel room number last night, 11 years after my stroke. But we’ll continue to recover & improve, while this dude will always be a pathetic chode."
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
