A report in Rolling Stone describes the infiltration of January 6 Capitol rioters in the campaign of slippery snake oil salesman and New Jersey carpetbagger "Dr." Mehmet Oz, running for Senate in Pennsylvania. Despite his false attempts to portray himself as reasonable in order to fool some voters, his positions are radical and Trumpian. From the report:
"In his run for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat, Mehmet 'Dr.' Oz has tried to convince voters that — despite his close ties to Donald Trump — he’s moderate enough to represent their battleground state. Most notably, while the former president falsely insists the 2020 election was stolen, Oz has at times recognized its legitimacy.
Oz’s tact is a departure from the state’s other high-profile Republican, Doug Mastriano, who’s running for governor with a rapturous embrace of Trump’s election lies. But it’s Oz’s approach that appears to be working: While the polls show Mastriano floundering, Oz is running a close race against Democrat John Fetterman.
But while Oz pays lip service to the 2020 election results, he has quietly loaded up his 2022 campaign with true believers in Trump’s 'Big Lie' — including ones who attended Trump’s infamous Jan. 6 rally aimed at nullifying Joe Biden’s victory.
According to records reviewed by Rolling Stone, at least two Oz campaign staffers attended Trump’s Jan. 6 'Stop the Steal' rally in Washington, D.C. The rally, in which Trump declared the election stolen and encouraged supporters to 'fight like hell' to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn it, directly preceded the deadly Capitol riot." (our emphasis)
The two radical staffers were identified as Lee Snover, a county Republican chair, and Josh Bashline, who serves in a paid political advisor position. A little more about these two little fascists:
"Lee Snover, described as Oz’s campaign coordinator for Northampton County, attended the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally on the mall and said she walked to the Capitol that day but did not trespass on Capitol grounds. 'I got to the Capitol steps,' she told Lehigh Valley Live that day. 'The only violence I saw were the police teargassing patriots for no reason.'” (our emphasis)
Blue Lives Matter! She was also involved in the plot to illegally "decertify" Pennsylvania's election results.
"Another Oz staffer, Josh Bashline, who serves as a paid political adviser, also attended Trump’s Jan. 6 'Stop the Steal' rally, according to an interview he gave to a local newspaper. Bashline initially helped the Oz campaign as a volunteer poll watcher during his primary contest with David McCormack, but FEC records show the staffer stayed on the payroll at least as recently as Sept. 30."
The article goes on to point out Oz's hypocrisy in having insurrectionist election deniers on his staff, while portraying himself as somehow "moderate." The article describes his duplicity:
"During his narrowly won Republican primary run, Oz leaned heavily into rhetoric that the election still needed investigation — and that 2020 was an event 'we cannot move on' from. But after the primary, the TV doctor said he wouldn’t have joined potential colleagues like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz in trying to overturn Biden’s election victory. 'I would not have objected to it,' Oz told a press conference about former Vice President Pence’s counting of electoral votes in the Senate."
The whole article is well worth a read to appreciate just how sleazy Oz and his group are.
(photo: Oz looking smug as usual/ Columbia University)
