Pirate's Cove

She’s working the refs, and, since most of them are in the bag for her, it’ll probably work, especially since the majority are already defending Coughing Hillary against any charges or “just wonderings” regarding her health

(The Hill) Hillary Clinton’s campaign is working the refs hard when it comes to reports about her health.

While Clinton responded to a fit of coughing this week with humor, saying she was “allergic” to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, her aides and surrogates played the role of bad cop.

Campaign spokesman Nick Merrill took to task an NBC reporter who wrote about the coughing spell, posting on Twitter that the writer should “get a life.”

But, she keeps having these coughing fits. They aren’t unusual. They aren’t short.

The pushback signaled that Clinton’s campaign intends to sharply counterattack news organizations that take questions about her health seriously.

“They’re trying to work the refs a little bit as they try to push back on the mainstream media’s willingness to pick up on some of this stuff that’s usually left to the fringes,” Clinton surrogate Jim Manley explained.

So, instead of showing documents that she is healthy, and there is a good reason for the constant coughing which would send most of us running to the doctor, they’re going to attack and, most likely, attempt to destroy any who bring it up. She told the FBI 39 times that she couldn’t recall because of her concussion. She has a lot of falls. These aren’t conspiracy theories. They’re facts.

Do they show a picture of a woman in good health? One thing you can bet on, Americans love a good conspiracy, and they will be asking “if Team Hillary is pushing back hard on the allegations while refusing to debunk them with her health records, might there be something there?”

Allies, however, maintain that voters aren’t worried about the stories questioning her health.

“I think the media deserves to be beat up on this because I think it’s ridiculous. I really doubt that any American really cares about this,” said Democratic strategist Brad Bannon.

“This is as trivial as you can get. The media deserves pushback for giving so much coverage to this thing,” he added.

Au contraire. Citizens very much care about this. More read news about celebrity doings than politics, and they certainly care if a candidate is portraying poor health symptoms. Americans spend a lot of time on trivial things. Trivial things that seem important to them. Perhaps they aren’t much concern to the political elites, but citizens care. They care when their favorite celebrity is exhibiting signs of physical or mental illness, even when it’s just part of their favorite TV show. And the more Team Hillary attempts to obfuscate and Blamestorm, the more the media attempts to provide shelter, the more they will focus on this issue and wonder “what’s she hiding?” That’s the nature of humanity.

The health of a candidate is important, is it not? And it is certainly legitimate to ask questions when she hasn’t released her medical records. Trump, again, should do the same. We’re electing someone to the most power position in the world, and we should know that she’s up for the job, which ages a person tremendously, and requires enormous physical and mental stamina.

Finally, let’s consider that some media will take this as a challenge to their livelihood, and say “to hell with my Clinton supporting colleagues, I’ll get the information.”

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Team Hillary Puts Media On Notice To Not Question Her Health »

At the Washington Times, Wesley Pruden asks a fundamental question: why can’t we The People, the voters, demand candidates answer questions?

When questions were raised about Barack Obama’s birth, and whether he was actually eligible to be president of the United States, he brushed the questions aside as if answering them was beneath the dignity of a prince of the crown. He let the questions fester for years before putting them to rest.

It’s still not clear why he did that. He preferred to accuse inquiring minds that wanted to know of racism and bigotry, as if the peasants had no right to ask questions about the crown prince. The presidency is the most precious honor Americans can bestow on one of their own, but Mr. Obama treated the gift as nothing more than a trinket he was entitled to, and who were these uppity people to question him?

Only racists, bigots, mean-spirited zealots, right-wing fanatics and white Christians who couldn’t appreciate the heavenly music of the call to evening prayer at the mosque would do that. Even the mildest criticism, of the sort that every president before him had to endure, was dismissed as disrespect, even racism.

Let’s not forget that Birtherism was started by Camp Hillary, and she never attempted to shut this down. As I noted time and again, Obama was most likely born in Hawaii exactly as stated, but, when there’s a nasty rumor, a candidate for public office should be open to answering the question of whether they are eligible and/or fit for office.

Hillary Clinton is trying a similar tactic, portraying criticism of her vulgarity, her greed and her intolerance as hatred of women, and envy of a woman finally breaking through a crystal ceiling. It’s not working, in part because men have a reputation built over the centuries for mortgaging their lives to provide for their women, and in part because nobody knows better than women themselves that the accusation is silly. Is there a woman anywhere who wants a reputation for ethics, character and feminine grace like Hillary‘s?

She, like candidates before her, may not like the questions, but voters have the right to ask candidates, and particularly candidates for president, any question they please. It’s what democracy and democratic elections are about. “If you can’t stand the heat,” as Harry S. Truman reminded everyone, “stay out of the kitchen.”

The questions the Hillary campaign are trying to put off limits now are the legitimate questions about Hillary’s health. She has a well-documented record of coughing fits, fainting, stumbling up and down stairs, and uncontrolled giggling and snorting at inappropriate times. There may be good and sufficient reasons for all that, but it’s not against anybody’s rules to ask what they are.

The questions about Obama’s birth certificate were fun for a bit of traffic and discussion, which is the way most handled it. Some, let’s admit, were entirely over the top in their focus and conspiracies. Some still are. There were lots and lots of questions on Obama’s background, schooling, and life that were never answered, especially since the media was almost entirely behind him, and refused to ask the questions that they would have asked of a Republican candidate.

With Hillary’s health, though, this is something that is on display, and citizens have the right to know whether she is in good health.

Her doctor says Hillary’s in good health, and if so that’s good news. We should all send her the traditional Chinese wish (slightly amended) for long life and many (grand)children. But in return the American voter is entitled to a detailed report of a thorough and independent physical examination of both candidates. If such a requirement is good enough for a truck driver, it’s good enough for a candidate for president of the United States. There’s no apology for asking for it.

Likewise, we should have access to Trump’s health and tax records. Voters should have access to knowing all they can about the people running for essentially the most powerful position in the world. We do not work for them: they work for us. Failure to release his taxes has certainly hurt Trump a bit. With Hillary, the longer the questions on her health fester the more voters will wonder what she’s hiding and make their judgements.

Read: What’s The Problem With Questioning Hillary’s Health? »