Dr. Oz. wants to take his expertise in health from television to politics. The television guru announced his plans to run for the Pennsylvania Senate. He says he wants to do more to assist in the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was recently reported that Dr. Oz announced he entered the Republican primary field to replace the outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania. In addition, the famed surgeon appeared on the Fox News show Hannity, where he declared his intentions to run on thoughts the same as Sean Hannity himself: “an America-first, Make America Great Again conservative.” It’s safe to say that the women of The View had a lot to say on the surgeon’s decision to run for public office.
Dr. Oz announced his run for Senate
Despite the success of his talk show and other television ventures, Dr. Oz is now turning his attention to politics and he says he was inspired to do so due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In November, the Harvard alumnus announced that he would be running to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.).
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“We have not managed our crises as effectively as past generations,” he said at the time of his announcement. “During the pandemic, I learned that when you mix politics and medicine, you get politics instead of solutions. That’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate: to help fix the problems and to help us heal.”
Dr. Oz, real name Mehmet Cengiz Öz, is a trained cardiothoracic surgeon. He has however received his fair share of criticism in spite of his work. Some physicians, government officials, and publications, including in the British Medical Journal, Popular Science, and The New Yorker have complained that Oz has endorsed unproven products and offered non-scientific advice.
Oprah Winfrey reacts to Dr. Oz’s political announcement
Winfrey is now offering her comments on Dr. Oz’s plans. She gave Oz a national platform when he began appearing on her daytime talk show. Over the course of the show, Dr. Oz made more than 60 appearances.
“One of the great things about our democracy is that every citizen can decide to run for public office. Mehmet Oz has made that decision,” Winfrey said, as reported by The Jasmine Brand. “And now it’s up to the residents of Pennsylvania to decide who will represent them.”
Dr. Oz's run is controversial
The hosts of The View are among those who skewered Oz recently.
“That’s what’s so confusing because he is, personally, he seems to be a nice person,” Sunny Hostin said. “But would a nice person sacrifice people’s children? Would a good person do these things?”
Whoopi Goldberg also gave her opinion on Oz’s COVID stance.
“Listen, you either get that this is about other people’s health — this is not whether you like the idea of a mandate, or getting a shot. That has nothing to do with it,” Whoopi said. “Kids going back to school deserve to be safe and if you, as a doctor, and a physician, can’t see that, then you’re not somebody I want to vote for, no matter how much I like you!”
“What happened to him?” asked Joy Behar. “What happened to him? He’s gone over to the dark side.”
