Pass the aspirin. That’s probably what many on Clinton’s team were either asking, or taking, after the fallout from the former first lady’s medical episode at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City over the weekend. A presidential candidate was whisked away in full view of the public, she was taken to her motorcade, she wobbled as she entered the van, and then disappeared for 90 minutes. What’s wrong with her? Where did she go? What’s her condition? All legitimate questions, as is the true state of Clinton’s health. At 9:30 a.m. on September 11, the Clinton camp added another headache to their list. This is after not fully quelling the narrative surrounding her email fiasco and the Clinton Foundation.
Now, Politico reported that after the collapse, a new memo was issued to surrogates to portray her with vigor:
Hillary Clinton wanted to “power through” her pneumonia, but after Sunday’s overheating episode, it “seems like the smart thing to do” to take some downtime, even though she is “raring to get back on the trail.”Those phrases, projecting strength, prudence, and vigor, were among the six bullet-pointed talking points about Clinton’s health the campaign distributed to its army of outside surrogates Tuesday morning.
[…]
The memo — which sought to underscore Clinton’s famous stamina and to argue she had been transparent about her health — was distributed a day after Clinton’s top campaign officials assured voters that the Democratic nominee had no undisclosed medical conditions, that she’d be back on the trail within the week, and that more medical records were forthcoming.
[…]
The surrogates were guided to say they could “understand why she wanted to attend the 9/11 memorial on Sunday, as a Senator from New York when the tragedy occurred.” And they were instructed to note that even after her diagnosis, which was shared only with a small handful of aides in her inner circle, Clinton attended “a working session on national security, taking questions from the media and attending an evening event.”
As for Clinton’s decision to take a few days off the trail, resting at her Chappaqua home? No cause for concern. “It seems like she’s doing the smart thing by taking a few days off to rest,” the memo continued, “and I’m sure she’s raring to get back on the trail.”
Well, she plans on returning to the trail this Thursday. Again, I’m not complaining over this trip up. Anything that makes Lady Macbeth’s presidential ambitions more miserable isn’t a bad thing, folks. Still, through the eyes of a Clinton supporter, you have to be ripping your hair out. Precious time was devoted to portraying her as Mrs. Energy, who isn’t sick. That’s simply not true. She was sick and didn’t tell us until she decided to wobble off a curb. Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday.
There is no end point when it comes to transparency when running for president. Your whole life is under the microscope. We all know this. Just because you release 50,000 pages worth of emails doesn’t mean you’re done giving us the whole picture on your unauthorized and unsecure email server, Mrs. Clinton. It’s especially bad when you say you turned over all your work emails, and then the FBI finds 15,000 more. This is why no one trusts you. This is why every release relating to your health, the emails, the Clinton Foundation, etc. will be viewed with a bit of skepticism, which is entirely your fault. So, don’t get mad with the press. If there’s any one who is responsible for wasting valuable campaign resources over hiding pneumonia, it’s you and your closest confidants.
Now, you have your surrogates, who should be attacking Trump playing defense, trying to portray you as vivacious and transparent, with the will to power through things. In reality, you’re old, sick, and secretive.
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