Mediaboss Marketing

In an in-depth interview with Charlie Rose that aired Monday night, former president Bill Clinton addressed concerns over Hillary Clinton's diagnosis of pneumonia, saying there was "nothing more to know" about the candidate's health and even questioning the fitness of her opponent.

"I have talked to her doctor, who is extremely competent and who has been in touch with all the people who help her, you know, with all other things over the years," Clinton told Rose on Monday night.

"There is just nothing there. All of her health indicators are good. She's very strong. She's exercised a lot. And unlike me, she sleeps well at night. I mean she sleeps long hours, or by my standards anyway."

There's "nothing more to know," Clinton said.

Concerns arose on Sunday after a video surfaced of Clinton appearing unsteady and nearly collapsing after abruptly leaving a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York. Earlier last week, the Democratic hopeful had to halt a speech due to a coughing fit her campaign later attributed to "allergies."

On Sunday, the candidate's doctor released a statement saying she had been diagnosed with pneumonia and that she would be cancelling a planned trip to California.

The former president played down the health concerns, while also using the airtime to take a swipe at Republican candidate Donald Trump -- who has yet to release detailed health records.

"They think everything is a campaign issue," he told Rose. "I think her lifestyle and her underlying indicators from blood pressure to amount of exercise, to everything else means it's almost that she is in better health than her opponent. But we don't know because he hasn't disclosed."

During the sit-down, Clinton also talked about how he views the election this year and the advice he gave his wife on how to win.

"I said you know, this is the time when there is a lot of resentment and small wounds. And you're not a demagogue," Clinton said.

"You just have always been the grown up in every room. That's why the people who work with you are so loyal to you, because you always make something good happen. And you are going to have to take a big gamble that you can win as yourself."

Continue reading here:
Bill Clinton: 'Nothing More to Know' About Hillary's Health

Heres someone you may hear over the next few days: Bob Torricelli, the New Jersey Democrat who dropped out of his Senatere-election race in October 2002.

Torricelli was hamstrung byan investigation into some shady fundraising practices, which meant his Republican challenger was suddenly deemedlikely to win. Democrats panicked, dropped Torricelli, and dusted the mothballs off retired Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who took his place and easily won on Election Day.

So why are we talking about Torricelli? Could it be that Hillary Clinton, under pressure regarding stories about her health, mightpull a similar maneuver, and let someone elserepresent her party inNovember?

Play Video

Hillary Clinton's campaign is apologizing for not revealing her pneumonia diagnosis sooner. Now, Clinton's team is attempting to manage the damag...

On the face of it, thatseems absurd, doesnt it? Clinton is still the odds-on favorite to win, for one thing. And if she collapsed (or stumbled, to use the Democrats preferred terminology) just because she has a touch of pneumonia, then why would she drop out? Some antibiotics, a few days rest, and shell be fine.

But lets for a moment entertain a hypothetical: what if its worse than pneumonia? What if we see another episode?

Clinton wouldnt be the first presidential aspirant to mislead the public about health woes. Jack Kennedy, for example, marketed himself as an athlete but was so plagued by various ailments that he might not have lived through a second term. (Were it not for the back brace he was wearing to keep him upright in Dallas, in fact, theres a chance Oswald never would have hit him with that second lethal bullet.)

So a certain skepticism is warranted about the physical fitness of presidential candidates. Yet Clintons health has been a forbidden subject for those of us in the respectable press, making it a story that existed only in the fever swamps of the internet. Talking about her physical fitness for the office would only mainstream theories that were unproven (or debunked, to use the medias preferred terminology as of a week ago).

It even had the taint of sexism: why imply that the woman in the race, who happens to be younger than her opponent, is the weaker one?

Then, of course, we saw her being dragged into that van by agents who seemed distinctly non-shocked that the candidate needed such assistance. We saw her feet limply drag along into the vehicle, although her campaign still insists she never lost consciousness and recovered quickly.

We were told she was overheated, then seven hours later,we were told it was pneumonia, diagnosedFriday.The pneumonia isnon-contagious, as she had embraced children that weekend, and therefore perhaps unrelated to the bug that had just swept her office. It also apparently wasnt that severe on Friday, the day she was diagnosed, when she seemed just fine.

Play Video

Former president Bill Clinton will fill in for his wife on the campaign trail over the next few days as she recovers from pneumonia. Clinton spok...

The cough last week? Allergies. It may haveled to the pneumonia, or had a hand in it. Dehydration is anotherculprit, were told, as the candidate has an aversion to drinking water.The important thing is, her campaigntells us, is that she feels great. Much better. Sheis always feeling great and better, they tell us.

The truth is itsprobably just pneumonia, which can be mild,and shell recover swiftly. The safe bet is still that she comes back in a couple days, does well enough in the debates, and beats Trump in November.

But its understandable to have a piece of nagging doubt about Clintons health. The video is disconcerting --the way she moves, the expressions of her handlers. After months of dismissingdoubts about her physicalfitness as expressions of lunacy, are we stillsupposed toassume that Clinton is as well as her campaign insists? Theres a sense theyre still being a bit dodgy with the facts, as with campaign spokesman Brian Fallons insistence to CBS News Nancy Cordes on Monday that she was helped into the van because she felt a bit dizzy.

The (somewhat charitable) mainstream media consensus right now is that the Clintons are locked in a cycle of paranoia that begets press suspicion that begets more paranoia. Lets assume that thats what were seeing here. And then lets remember what we saw on Sunday, those limp feet being dragged into the van.

In any event, the Democratic Party rules are pretty clear on what happens if she drops out; the DNC would fill the vacancy, and you assume Tim Kaine might be the replacement nominee, this years Lautenberg. Or perhaps Joe Biden. Shorn of all that Clinton baggage, either would be a formidable opponent come November. Either could handily beat Trump.

NPRs Cokie Roberts, among others, said Clintonspneumonia incident has the Democraticparty very nervously beginning to whisper about her stepping aside and finding another candidate.Chances are this is just to make sure they have a game plan in the very unlikely case that they have a vacancy, because after the DNC has made a decision, there would be many legal realities to consider, such as ballot rules at the state level and what individual electors can and cannot do.

Play Video

"Face the Nation" host John Dickerson weighs in on both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have problems being transparent to the American publich ...

Again, itseemsfar-fetched that any of this could come to pass. But its squarely Clintons fault that we are talking about it to begin with. She hasnt released the kind of extensivemedical records that should be expected of presidential candidates of an advanced age, like John McCain, who set the gold standard for such disclosures backin 2008.Voters deserve far more information from Clinton and Trump about their health than we have now,the White House physician for George H.W. Bush, Dr. Burton Lee, told The New York Times last month.

Trump should release them too, of course hes a little older than Clinton, is likely clinically obese, and has what appears to bean awful diet. Should such a release prove too difficult -- McCains long tenure in the Navy made finding his record easier -- they can both submit to an evaluation from a panel of independent doctors, an idea Politicos Dan Diamondrecently floated.

Its true that, as in so many things this election season, theres a risk herein holdingClinton to a higher standard than her opponent. But despite Trumps obvious bad habits, it can be fairly reasoned that Clinton has a greater burden of proof when it comes to her health, what withher bloodclot and concussion a few years back, the at-times conflicting stories about both, the persistent coughing,andher thyroid condition.

He also hasnt gone completely limp on the campaign trail yet, at least not on camera. Of all the worries we have about Trump, his physical health, rightly or wrongly, is pretty far down the list.

Clinton maywonderwhy we keep asking. Its probablyall benign. But the numerous attempts to explain her ailments --allergies,overheating, dehydration, pneumonia --over the course of not so many days makes me wonder if theyll be any more explanations, and whether this is the last Clinton healthepisode well see before Election Day.

Read more:
Commentary: The nagging doubts about Hillary's health ...

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday released more information about her medical history after the announcement on Sunday that she was diagnosed with pneumonia and amid a flurry of questions about her health overall.

The statement said that a recent physical "was normal and she is in excellent mental condition."

In a letter released by the campaign, Clinton's longtime physician, Lisa Bardack, who visited with Clinton at her home on Wednesday, said Clinton's pneumonia diagnosis on Sept. 9 started as a "low grade fever, congestion and fatigue."

Bardack wrote that after Clinton's travel, which included numerous flights on her new campaign plane, her congestion worsened and she developed a cough, evidenced by a coughing attack during a campaign rally in Ohio on Labor Day. When Clinton returned home to New York, her doctor performed a CT scan, which revealed pneumonia.

Bardack added that she has evaluated Clinton several times since she became "overheated" at a 9/11 memorial ceremony and that she is "recovering well with antibiotics and rest." Clinton currently takes a handful of medications, including for her thyroid, and Bardack said "she continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as president of the United States."

A statement released last summer said her "current medical conditions include hypothyroidism and seasonal pollen allergies."

According to the letter released today, Clinton's lab work was normal, she has a blood pressure of 100/70 and has had a normal mammogram and breast ultrasound.

Bardack also revealed that in January as Clinton was campaigning before the Iowa caucuses, she developed a sinus and ear infection and had a tube placed in her left ear to help drain fluid from her middle ear. Clinton reported having "significant improvement in her symptoms" since this procedure.

The release of this information comes three days after the Democratic presidential nominee, 68, abruptly left a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York City. Her campaign initially said her early departure was due to her being "overheated." However, after video surfaced showing the former secretary of state struggling to walk, the campaign revealed she was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.

The statement released today said a chest CT scan was performed on Clinton last Friday, the results of which revealed pneumonia. The statement said that this is a noncontagious bacterial pneumonia and that she was treated with Levaquin, which she has been advised to take for 10 days.

Clinton's campaign, in an attempt to downplay questions over her health, insisted recently that the presidential nominee has "no other undisclosed condition" and promised to release more information about her medical records.

Last summer, Clinton released a two-page statement from Bardack, saying "she is in excellent physical condition and fit to serve as president of the United States."

The statement also said Clinton has no lasting effects from a concussion she suffered while serving as secretary of state in 2012, backing up statements that she has made in the years since the incident.

Clinton, following her doctor's advice to rest and modify her schedule this week, canceled her plans to campaign on the West Coast and has remained at home in Chappaqua, New York, since Sunday.

She is scheduled to return to the campaign trail on Thursday, with a campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Asked during a phone interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday why she did not reveal her pneumonia diagnosis before Sunday, Clinton explained that she just "didn't think it was going to be that big a deal."

See original here:
Hillary Clinton Releases More Medical Information After ...

Video of Clinton's departure seemed to show her buckling and stumbling as she got into her van. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Hillary Clinton falling ill Sunday morning at a memorial service onthe 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks will catapult questions about her health from the ranks of conservative conspiracy theory to perhaps the central debate in the presidential race over the coming days.

"Secretary Clinton attended the September 11th Commemoration Ceremonyfor just an hour and thirty minutes this morning to pay her respectsand greet some of the families of the fallen," spokesman Nick Merrill said. "During the ceremony, shefelt overheated, so departed to go to her daughter's apartment and isfeeling much better."

What that statement leaves out is that a) it came 90 minutes after Clinton left the ceremony b) reporters or even a reporter were not allowed to follow her and c) the temperature in New York City at the time of Clinton's overheating was in the low 80s. (A heat wave over the eastern United States broke last night/this morning.)

She later lefther daughter's apartment, saying she was "feeling great" and waving at the crowd, per the Associated Press. Clinton was diagnosed Friday with pneumonia, according to her doctor, who ascribed her illness on Sunday to that ailment.

Whether Clinton likes it or not, her "overheating" episode comes at a very bad time for her campaign. Thanks to the likes of Rudy Giuliani and a small but vocal element of the Republican base, talk of herhealth had been bubbling over the past week triggered by a coughing episode she experienced during a Labor Day rally.

Donald Trump responded to Hillary Clinton's recent diagnosis of Pneumonia on Monday, Sept. 12, saying he hopes she "gets well" and he plans to release "very, very specific" details about his own health soon. (Jenny Starrs,Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

That talk was largely confined to Republicans convinced that Clinton has long been hiding some sort of serious illness. I wrote dismissively of that conspiracy theory in this space last week, noting that Clinton had been given an entirely clean bill of health by her doctors after an episode in which she fainted, suffered a concussion and then was found to have a blood clot in late 2012 and early 2013.

Coughing, I wrote, is simply not evidence enough of any sort of major illness thatClinton isassumed to behiding. Neither, of course, is feeling "overheated." But those two things happening within six days of eachother to a candidate who is 68 years old makes talk of Clinton's health no longer just the stuff of conspiracy theorists.

Whereas Clinton and her campaign could laugh off questions about her health beforetoday, the "overheating" episode makes it almost impossible for them to do so. Not only has it come at a time when there was growing chatter with very little evidence that her health was a problem but it also happened at a 9/11 memorial event an incredibly high-profile moment with lots and lots of cameras and reporters around.

Her campaign may well try to dismiss this story as nothing more than an isolated incident, meaning nothing. (Democrats were already pushing the story of George W. Bush fainting in 2002 after choking on a pretzel,via Twitter.)

But the issue is that Clinton kept reporters totally in the dark for 90 minutes afterher abrupt departure from the 9/11 memorial service for a health-related matter. No reporter was allowed to follow her. (Clinton has resisted a protective pool for coverage because Donald Trump refuses to participate in one.) This is, yet again, the Clinton campaign asking everyone to just trust it. She got overheated! But she's fine now!

Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton put their campaigns on pause to attend the 9/11 remembrance ceremony in New York. (AP; Photo: Getty Images)

Clinton may well be totally fine and I certainly hope she is. But we are 58 days away from choosing the person who willlead the country for the next four years, and she is one of the two candidates with a real chance ofwinning. Taking the Clinton team's word for it on her health in light of the episode on Sunday morning is no longer enough. Reasonable people can and will have real questions about her health.

I wrote this on Tuesday morning:

The simple fact is that there is zero evidence that anythingisseriously wrong with Clinton. If suffering an occasional coughing fit is evidence of a major health problem, then 75 percent of the country must have that mystery illness. And I am one of them.

Well, that is no longer operative. Context matters. A coughing episode is almost always just a coughing episode. But when coupled with Clinton's "overheating" on Sunday morning with temperatures something short of sweltering Clinton and her team simply need to say something about what happened (and why the press was in the dark for so long.)

And as the New York Times's Adam Nagourney tweeted on Sunday morning, now might be a good time for Clinton to release a fuller record of her medical history.

Sunday morning changed the conversation in the race about Clinton's health. Or rather it will force Clinton to have a conversation about her health in the race.

Original post:
Hillary Clintons health just became a real issue in the ...

Hillary Clinton leaves an apartment building Sunday. Andrew Harnik / AP

Clinton's campaign has been tight-lipped about the Sunday incident, releasing only two short statements throughout the day. Many lingering questions could be easily cleared up by the campaign, while others will take time. Here are nine big questions we still have:

1.) Why hide the pneumonia diagnosis?

Clinton suffered a

Related:

Clinton's campaign appears to have, at best, withheld information from the public and at worst misled them by aggressively batting down "conspiracy theories" that her coughing fit was anything more than allergies. Opponents are already seeing the incident as proof of their claims that Clinton has been hiding health issues. And others may now be more incredulous of the campaign's statements on her health.

2.) Has Clinton been otherwise ill in recent days?

Has she had pneumonia in the past? Pneumonia is common, but still a potentially dangerous disease that sends about 1 million people to the hospital every year and kills about 50,000,

3.) Who made the call not to go to the hospital and when?

And did Clinton lose consciousness at all? After leaving the memorial, Clinton went to her daughter Chelsea's apartment and was later examined by her doctor at her own home in Chappaqua, New York. Why was it decided not to visit a hospital immediately?

4.) What is the campaign's position on the protective press pool?

Presidents and presidential candidates have traditionally traveled with a small, rotating group of journalists so the American public can get real-time updates about unexpected incidents exactly like the one on Sunday. But Clinton left her press pool behind at the Sept. 11 event and kept them in the dark for 90 minutes before providing any information on her whereabouts or health. Clinton has yet to agree to full "protective pool" coverage, which would allow reporters to follow her door-to-door. Will she now? (Trump, so far, has not allowed for full time "protective" pool coverage, and reporters do not fly on his plane with him to his campaign to events.)

5.) Will Clinton allow a true protective pool if elected president?

Clinton's health scare is already expected to

6.) Does Clinton accept the obligation to inform the public about her health?

Bill Clinton faced questions about his health too, and while he was unforthcoming in 1992, he sat for a detailed

7.) How will this change her schedule going forward?

After canceling plans Monday and Tuesday, Clinton's schedule the rest of week remains up in the air. She is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas on Wednesday and Washington, D.C. Thursday.

8.) Will Clinton's health affect the first debate?

Clinton's first debate with Donald Trump is just over two weeks away, on September 26, so she'll want to be fully recovered by then.

9.) How will voters respond?

Clinton's core vulnerability is that most Americans don't find her honest or trustworthy. Will voters now feel like they've been misled about her health? Or will the vulnerability of the illness make Americans empathize more with someone who often has difficulty connecting.

To be sure, we know vastly more about Clinton's health than we do about Donald Trump's. Not only is the information released by her campaign more comprehensive than that released by his, but Clinton has lived her life in the national spotlight for 25 years.

We have intimate details about her 2012 hospitalization, for instance, because she was secretary of state at the time. Trump has not been subjected to the same kind of scrutiny and has been less forthcoming during his presidential campaign.

Clinton may also face a different standard because of her gender, her defenders say. Many presidential candidates have had health issues, but Clinton defenders say that while enduring health issues can be seen as a sign of persistence in male candidates, it's viewed as a sign of weakness in women.

Read the original here:
Hillary Clinton's Health Scare: 9 Unanswered Questions