Walker in GA and Oz in PA: How are These Races Close?

Herschel Walker did much better than most people expected in his debate against Senator Raphael Warnock. He was expected to flop miserably. Aside from flashing an unauthorized prop badge that has been turned into a meme, he was able to tie Warnock to the Democratic party which means he votes with other Democrats, namely Biden and Pelosi. That is a common theme among Republican candidates during these midterm elections. He wouldn't vote with the Democrats, of course. He would vote with the Republicans, which would align him with his intellectual equals, Boebert and Greene.

Walker claims to support family values. His son, though, claims he was an abusive philanderer who he and his mom hid from for a while for their safety. Walker claims to be pro-life. Two exes, however, have provided evidence that he paid for their abortions along with an allegation that he drove one of them to a clinic twice because she changed her mind the first time. Still, by getting through the debate with only one meme-worthy moment, it was a huge victory for someone who made a lot of touchdowns when he played college football for the Bulldogs and seems to have scored a lot because of that. 

As for the abuse and philandering, well, we all know that kids say the darndest things.

Up north in Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz purchased a home so that he could run for the Senate in that state despite truly living in New Jersey. The polished television personality known for his quackery held his own in his debate against John Fetterman, who is publicly recovering from a stroke. Dr. Oz claimed Fetterman is medically unfit for office, an offensive move he couldn't make in those congressional hearings when he was defending himself against allegations of pushing useless products by making unproven claims that they would improve the health of the users. 

While he didn't say whether he supports bringing back the legal sale of snake oil in order to vindicate himself for being a fraud, he did say that the decision to have an abortion should be between a woman, her doctor, and her locally elected officials. 

Seriously, he said that.

I can understand some races being close. These two races should not be close. So, why do these two races appear to be closer than expected?

I suspect much of it is because those who vote Republican don't care about the quality of the candidate. They care only about filling the seat with someone who will vote against their own best interests because of America, guns, and things like that. Being a hypocrite and a liar are not knock-out factors for Republican voters. As McConnell proved by his hypocrisy over the nominations of Garland and Comey, Republicans don't care about things like equity, honesty, and integrity. They only care about winning enough seats to pack the judiciary and to pass regressive laws to make America a Christian theocracy. Walker and Oz are willing to vote that way, so it doesn't matter to Republican voters that almost everything they say is at least distorted if it isn't an outright lie that can be proven with evidence.

Warnock claims Walker is unfit to serve in the Senate because he is unfit to serve. Fetterman claims that Oz is an opportunist who really is not from Pennsylvania because he is an opportunist and has lived and voted in New Jersey most recently.

If young people and people who don't normally vote can be motivated to vote because of the issue of women's medical rights, these races wouldn't be that close. Most people who are ardently pro-life already vote. So, too, do those who are vocally pro-choice. If the people who don't normally vote were to vote, it would overwhelmingly work out to favor the people who have substance and integrity because that would be the reason they would vote. 

There are not many people that I have heard say they don't vote, but they are so impressed with Walker as a football player, or with Dr. Oz as a celebrity, that they are going to make an exception to vote for them. It is much more likely that those who say they don't usually vote, but will vote in these midterms, will do so because they support women's medical rights and are against voter suppression.

Neither Walker nor Oz went within ten feet of claiming Trump won in 2020. I think all GOP candidates have been told that they have saturated that voting bloc and they will not be able to lure unsuspecting voters into voting by name recognition as easily if they align themselves with Trump. However, both Walker and Oz enthusiastically accepted Trump's endorsement and rode the endorsement to retain the MAGA base in the primaries. 

Worse than aligning themselves with Trump's fan club, opposing Biden and Pelosi aligns them with Mitch McConnell, who is much more relevant than Trump when considering political alignments. Trump doesn't hold an elected office; McConnell would assume the role of Majority Leader again. Trump would continue to stomp his feet for the cheers he gets from angry old white people, but McConnell would stall Biden's judicial nominations because that is what winning means to him. It is about power and control regardless of the cost to his integrity. It's as if he and his supporters regard high integrity as a character flaw reserved for wussies. 

I don't need to make things up about the character of Walker or Oz. I can point to what exes and family have to say about one, and to what congressional committee members had to say about the other. There is no reason for Walker to be close to Warnock in the Georgia race. Senator Warnock is clearly qualified, and Walker is clearly not qualified in addition to being a liar.

The same lack of qualification goes to Dr. Oz in his race against Lt. Gov. Fetterman. Oz is a liar who already has sat in the seat people like him should be sitting in when congressional hearings are held. Fetterman, though, is only qualified if you consider his resume' and history of community activism. He suffered a stroke during the campaign, which is legitimately concerning. However, he has pointed out that in January he will be much better, and Oz will still be a fraud.

Those are both reasons that people in Georgia and Pennsylvania who don't normally vote in midterm elections need to vote in this midterm. They need to vote as if their granddaughters' medical rights are at stake. Hopefully, there will be a lot of women who normally vote Republican, but who want to preserve their medical rights, who will make the outcomes of these elections not as close as they appear to be. If the margins are considerable, it might be considered a mandate to not tread on women's medical rights now or in the future.