Fetterman failure: Why no one can spin his painful debate performance

John Fetterman's performance in Tuesday's debate was painful to watch, but the media has rushed to defend the Democrat nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania regardless.

The struggling stroke victim turned in a train-wreck performance that makes you wonder how his campaign thought he could go up against Mehmet Oz in a fast-paced, hour-long debate, even with the aid of closed captioning. And it may well swing the race – Fetterman was up by only 1.3% in the Real Clear Politics average – to the television doctor. Howard Kurtz is the host of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.

Now remember all the abuse that was heaped on Dasha Burns, the NBC correspondent who had the audacity to tell the truth about Fetterman. She said he had trouble making small talk. For that Burns was denounced by liberal journalists and commentators as if she had mounted a vicious attack on the lieutenant governor – she must be horrible at small talk! – when she had merely offered an honest observation.