Bad news for Dr. Oz and Donald Trump.
The TV doctor/U.S. Senate hopeful’s opponent, conservative commentator Kathy Barnette, has gone from virtual nobody to virtual front-runner in Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate race and the primary is just a few days away.
Prior to her sudden surge in the polls, Dr. Oz was narrowly leading in the crowded field after securing a controversial endorsement from Donald Trump. Now, it appears the endorsement might have hurt more than it helped, since almost immediately afterward, Barnette saw her numbers skyrocket.
Unfortunately, her rise in the polls is also very bad news for LGBTQ people.
In the past, Barnette has voiced support for a business owner who posted a “No Gays Allowed” sign in his front window, and declared that “homosexuals LEAD with their sexual preference” and should “leave [the] immorality in the bedroom.”
@WayneDupreeShow @smithkarl393 That’s the point. Many homosexuals LEAD with their sexual preference. Leave d immorality in their bedroom
— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) July 2, 2015
This week, Barnette nabbed a major endorsement from the conservative group Club for Growth Action, which shelled out $2 million for pro-Barnette commercials to air in the final days of the campaign, as well as endorsements from anti-abortions organizations–the super PAC arm of Susan B. Anthony List and CatholicVote.
In response to all this, Trump issued a statement yesterday reiterating his support for Oz and trashing Barnette for having “many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted” and criticizing her for being unable to “win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats.”
Many have interpreted the ex-president speaking out against Barnette as evidence that he views her as a serious threat who could undermine his credibility.
Meanwhile, Ric Grenell, Trump’s former acting national intelligence director, took to Twitter to share about Barnette’s old antigay tweets with his more than 840,000 followers.
She was asking for prayers because she was seeing a homosexual. https://t.co/X9dXCD3GyT
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) May 12, 2022
And a super PAC supporting Oz released a racially-charged “Crazy Kathy” ad this week featuring highly edited clips of her talking about Black Lives Matter and systemic racism.
In response to the “Crazy Kathy” video, Barnette tweeted a video pushing back against what she called “crazy allegations.”
“I have never supported Black Lives Matter,” she affirmed. “I have been very clear about who I am, and I’ve been this way for a very long time. When Donald Trump talked about the swamp, he wasn’t just talking about Democrats, OK?”
The GOP primary in Pennsylvania will happen next Tuesday.
Bengali
Maybe someone should forcefully give Dr Oz a green coffee bean enema so he can enjoy its effects.
Never forget how this fraud pushed the fake research indicating that ingesting green coffee bean extract products would result in noticeable weight loss. Another GOP fraud. Go figure.
Jim
Is Oprah still making money off of this snake oil salesman?
Max
can’t believe she’s made two bad choices so far…
RyanMBecker
Oz is one of the reasons I lost a lot of respect for Oprah. The other two are “Dr.” Phil and that crackpot, Iyanla Vanzant. None of my colleagues have any respect for him, and that includes colleagues at New York-Presbyterian, were he works. In fact, when my father needed heart surgery, we specifically requested any surgeon but him.
RyanMBecker
Max, it’s been more than two. As mentioned above, the most notable ones are Oz, “Dr.” Phil, and that flake, Iyanla Vanzant. But she has also had guests to promotes other bizarro stuff, e.g. The Wish, which claims that all you have to do is wish for something hard enough, and you’ll get it.
New Age crack, Deepak Chopra was another frequent guest. I lost a lot of respect for Barbra Streisand when the two appeared together on Oprah. She told this story of looking at a garden outside her hotel. She claims that by merely imagining it, she was able to instantly change the colors of the flowers. Chopra then dispensed his complete ignorance of quantum mechanics (a perversion of the Copenhagen Interpretation) to explain how her mind changed reality. Oprah was looking at Choprah with awe.
Kangol2
This is the perfect storm of crazy the GQP has created! Pennsylvanians should do the best thing for their state, the US Senate and the country and reject all three of these nutcases–the RINO quack, non-resident and alleged foreign agent Oz; the multimillionaire Wall Street neoliberal McCormick; and the ultra-MAGA anti-LGBTQ/anti-Muslim fanatic Barnette–and vote overwhelmingly for the Democrat Fetterman (or whoever gets that nomination). It’s a clear choice, but all three of the leading GQP candidates will be VERY bad news for Pennsylvania and the US!
MISTERJETT
MAGA = ME AIN’T GOT ADJUKASHUN
missvamp
i feel sorry for pennsylvania.
Fahd
I wish there were more reporting on the Democratic candidates.
dario717
John Fetterman is running away with it, so there isn’t much to report.
RyanMBecker
While Futterman may win the primary, some polls show that Conor Lamb has better chance of winning the election. He’s certainly the most attractive choice for Independents, Centrists and people who prefer politicians who aren’t publicity whores.
Brian
Came down here to say the same thing! Queerty has a habit of sensationalizing and shaming prominent anti-gay people, which, fine, there can be a place for that. But the US Senate race is more important than some blogger or influencer, and this impacts the lives of all gay & lesbian people in the country. Let’s get serious for a moment. What are the fundraising totals, the polls, the endorsements, what are the real chances?
Ronbo
Fetterman is a GREAT choice – not just another conservaDem. Let’s see if the DNC millionaires allow it, they are now telling us to think that Lamb, the conservaDem is more electable (unsubstantiated and undocumented by actual voters).
Even when we elect conservaDems, we still get Republican policy. It’s how the system works to exclude progressives. While Fetterman is not perfect, at least he represents a change from the status quo.
Gadfeal
I was at University when Mehmet Oz was pursuing an MD MBA at UPenn. He first gives an impression of “pressure of thought” i.e. of having so many ideas that his speech can barely contain them. He is from a very prosperous Turkish family; his father was an MD who emigrated to the US and married an American; his uncle was head of a cardiothoracic clinic in Istanbul.
My impression of him as gone from admiration and friendliness to one of shock as he has espoused “junk science”; it can’t be for the money as he is already a successful Columbia University Hospital surgeon and likely financially privileged. When he began to promote dubious, scientifically-unfounded products, I began to have my doubt; now that he has gone to the “Dark Side”, I realize that either he has undergone a maleficient transformation, or that I only viewed him superficially as a university student.
Great pity.
Brian
This shouldn’t be so surprising. Physicians aren’t scientists. I mean, he literally is not a scientist. He doesn’t use the scientific method, he doesn’t run experiments with controls. He’s just a specialized technician. Like a plumber or electrician, but with greater pressure to be accurate. So of course he can’t understand science.
He reminds me of Ben Carson. Very skilled with his hands, but also said that Jesus lived among Velociraptors.
CNY1983
who the hell would ever take any advice from that quack, let alone vote for the idiot?
Kevan1
@CNY1983 same people who voted and listen to Trump, Green, Cawthorn and Boebert.
dario717
I hate to say it, but Barnett winning is probably better overall for the Democrats. Misogyny and racism probably buy you about 3% in PA – Just ask Hillary Clinton and Lynn Swan.
Wheelerman
I live in Pennsylvania. 45 has endorsed the far right nutbag insurrectionist Doug Mastriani for governor. Lord help us if he gets the nomination & wins the office. I just don’t think Pennsylvanians are that stupid. My vote is for Josh Shapiro for governor; John Fetterman for senator. We cannot become the Florida and Texas of the northeast.
white-queer-african
@Wheelerman, having watched Smerconish and his guests on CNN this morning local South African time, the jury seems to be out, not so much about Mastriani beating Shapiro in November but that fake snake-oil salesman, Dr. Oz winning the nomination and senate seat. My husband is from Harrisburg and we will be watching the primaries very closely on Tuesday and again in November. My husband is a democrat and has my full support. I am the vocal outspoken one on Queerty against Dumph and the fascist anti-truth cult rightwing and the capture of the GOF*.
* Grand Old Failure Party previously known as the GOP.
johncp56
Proves my intuition is off, I liked the info part of show, sales no! but what he is and or turned into makes me ill, not funny for a Dr to do