What’s in a title? Evidently quite a bit when you happen to be a nationally-known television personality who is also a medical professional, but who also happens to be running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey.
According to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Philadelphia Inquirer has apparently decided it will no longer use “Dr.” when referring to his campaign for the Senate. Oz has reacted on video with a clever put down, but the alleged decision by the newspaper has raised an important question.
Why do media outlets continually refer to the First Lady as “Dr. Jill Biden?” Unlike Oz, Biden is not a medical doctor. She’s an educator. A Ph.D. Yet many in the media continually use the “Dr.” reference.
I won't be canceled. pic.twitter.com/CHF6NwSP9X
— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) December 8, 2021
While Dr. Oz may be having fun with the Inquirer, he’s having a little less amusement with a controversy that may dog him into the campaign. While he’s running as a GOP candidate, in the past Oz has made some statements supporting gun control measures that may not ring well with Pennsylvania gun voters.
As noted by Fox News, Oz has in the past supported so-called “red flag” laws that allow gun seizures “without proof of malicious intent.”
Gun rights is a toxic political issue in any campaign, and in Pennsylvania, where hundreds of thousands of people hunt and even more are licensed to carry, the Second Amendment is likely to be in the spotlight in 2022.
Dr. Oz provided a written statement to Fox News after the cable network published an article about his gun control past support.
“As a proud gun owner myself, I’m a firm believer in the Second Amendment and our constitutional right to bear arms for protection. I do not believe there should be any policy or law, state or federal, that prevents a law-abiding American from purchasing a gun without due process and fair adjudication,” Oz said.
The 61-year-old Oz indicated he will primarily focus his campaign on rebuilding “the middle layers of society…that have been hollowed out by failed policies, narrow thinking and toxic culture wars.”
Oz isn’t the only candidate to succeed Toomey. There are currently 10 other Republicans in the running, along with a dozen Democrats. To say the 2022 Senate campaign will be lively may be the understatement of the decade as they all scramble to get the most media attention possible.
