Following the two major state campaigns in the mid-term election year of 2022 has been a challenge, and by following, I mean doing more than watching political ads on TV or reading those big, glossy political mailings that are starting to fill up mailboxes. The Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Senate races are among the most important contests coming up in November, but getting any straight information on either is tough.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the U.S. Senate race between Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, a Democrat, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Republican, in which I concluded that the Democratic strategy was to keep John Fetterman hidden in the basement the way they did Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race.
It worked then because enough foolish voters fell for the myth that former U.S. Sen. and Vice President Biden was a really nice guy and a moderate who wanted only to unite the country. Now, I can only think about the W.C. Fields line from an old movie in which he tells someone that his grandfather’s last words, “just before they sprung the trap” were, “You can’t cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump.” How true.
It remains to be seen if enough chumps smarten up in time for the November election. Fetterman has finally agreed to debate Oz, but not until late October, after most of the mail-in ballots have been cast. It’s clear that the plan is to keep Fetterman under wraps until the last minute.
The governor’s race is a bit different. Democrat Josh Shapiro isn’t hiding, but you wouldn’t know it, because his campaign is so dull and lifeless. After all, what is he to do? With the leader of their party, the sitting president, failing in every single policy area while at the same time demonizing half of the American electorate, Shapiro can’t very well come out and promote his party’s “accomplishments,” can he?
Shapiro is very fortunate that he has the majority of Pennsylvania’s liberal media in his corner. While none of them are able to actually trumpet Shapiro’s strong points as a candidate (there are none), they certainly are bashing Republican Doug Mastriano nonstop for what they consider unforgivable sins, the latest of which is a photo of former Col. Mastriano dressed in a Confederate reenactor’s uniform while posing with a group of co-workers at Carlisle Barracks in 2017. The photo was taken at the U.S. Army Heritage Center where military history is preserved.
So, media folks, military history … Confederate uniform … is this becoming any clearer for you? Maybe if Mastriano had dressed as a 1917 Russian Bolshevik soldier or a member of Mao’s Red Guard, the liberal media would have been much more forgiving.
The point here is that no one among the Democrats is really talking about the issues. The reason is that most Americans no longer trust the Democrats on major issues, and polling bears that out. The most important issues for voters — inflation, gas prices, the economy and prices of every day items — are all issues that Joe Biden and his party have failed on.
How about crime? Sorry, the spiraling crime rate is another Democratic failure. The border? Sorry, Dems lose on that one, too. It’s no wonder that the Democrats and the media are spending all of their time bashing Mastriano and Oz.
For Mastriano’s part, his strategy seems to be to ignore the liberal media. That makes sense because the liberal journos have no intention of giving him a fair shake. They approach Mastriano the same way they approach Donald Trump, with fear and loathing.
The really bright side of the Mastriano media strategy is that it is driving the media bonkers. The media has become so used to being the self-anointed arbiters of truth that any challenge to their authority is taken as a personal insult. Being ignored leaves them searching for any bright shiny object they can find to divert voters from the issues that hurt their political allies.
Will Mastriano’s strategy work? It just might. Likely voter polls all show a close race, and Mastriano has a rock-solid base. He just needs to find a way to circumvent the state media to reach that big lump of disengaged voters in the middle, and he needs to start now.
Dwight Weidman is a resident of Greene Township and is a graduate of Shepherd University. He is retired from the United States Department of Defense, where his career included assignments In Europe, Asia and Central America. He has been in leadership roles for the Republican Party in two states, most recently serving two terms as Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party. Involved in web publishing since 1996, he is the publisher of The Franklin County Journal. He has been an Amateur Radio Operator since 1988, getting his first license in Germany, and is a past volunteer with both Navy and Army MARS, Military Auxiliary Radio Service, and is also an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
