Monday, September 12, 2016

Is Pneumonia Hillary's Exit Card?

Even before we learned that Hillary is suffering from pneumonia, Scott Adams, cartoonist become soothsayer, pronounced her “unelectable.” By a strange logical twist Adams suggested that the perception of weakness was fatal to a presidential candidate because we, irrational creatures that he believes we are, tend to reject weak candidates.

Of course, there is nothing irrational about assessing a candidate’s health or stamina. On utterly rational grounds a candidate who seems weak and frail will have less energy than will a candidate who appears to be strong and vital.

You don’t have to be a cartoonist to figure that out.

Now that we know something about what was wrong with Hillary, we know that she was weaker than most people had imagined. We know that she has pneumonia and we ought to know that pneumonia in the elderly is not a simple or easy matter. But, we do not know what kind of pneumonia she has and do not understand why, if the illness was bad enough for her to collapse, she is not in a hospital.

As it happens, Hillary now has a face-saving way to get out of the race. If you and I and the mainstream media know that her campaign has just run aground and is headed for ignominious defeat, the powers running the Democratic Party know it too. And they are certainly looking for a replacement candidate—though the only realistic possibility is Joe Biden.

In the Hill, Kenneth Timmerman has this to say:

The media elites are in a panic. They witnessed the meltdown of their candidate in broad daylight and can feel that shiver up their spine — except that this time, it is not the delight of victory they are feeling, but the dread of defeat.

Surely, they do not want to go down with the good ship Clinton.

As for Hillary’s pneumonia, begin with a source that has been on her side, the New York Times.

It explains:

While pneumonia is a common lung infection that most healthy people overcome, the illness can be more serious for people age 65 or older, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Mrs. Clinton is 68....

It can take as little as a week for a healthy young person to feel normal again, according to the lung association. But it can be weeks before a middle-age person fully regains strength. Older adults are also one group that is more likely to have complications in recovery.

If a middle aged person needs weeks to recover from some forms of pneumonia, the chances that Hillary will quickly recover and take up a grueling schedule seems very limited, indeed.

The Powerline blog quotes a physician who speculates that Hillary might have an aspiration pneumonia, caused when food particles, for example, bypass the digestive tract and make their way into the lungs:

Another more worrisome possibility comes to mind. I raise this second possibility because of Hillary’s history of neurological illnesses (blood clot in brain, concussion), hints raised on the internet in Wikileaks documents and by others that she may have a neurological disease like Parkinson’s, and her by now well documented history of recurrent coughing fits. This second possibility is that she has an aspiration pneumonia.

Aspiration pneumonia occurs when fluids and food particles that normally enter the esophagus instead enter the windpipe and lungs. It is commonly seen in neurological conditions like strokes and Parkinson’s disease or similar diseases where the nerves to the swallowing mechanism are not working properly. This is especially worrisome because it is likely to recur given the underlying, usually incurable disease process and because it can be a life-threatening event.

I consider aspiration pneumonia to be the more likely cause because it unifies all the pieces of disparate information that are available on Hillary’s medical condition. A diagnosis of aspiration pneumonia raises profoundly troubling implications for her possible election as president.

As of now we are being kept in the dark. But, the chances seem to point toward Hillary’s withdrawal from the presidential race. For a 68-year-old in less than great health, a quick comeback from pneumonia seems nigh unto impossible.

7 comments:

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

The media looks more foolish than a day before. Today we get these kinds of articles: http://theweek.com/articles/648141/why-did-hillary-clinton-lie-about-health

Not only is "The Week" a pathetic rag, but this author is a dolt. The reason Hillary's campaign lies to the media is because the candidate lies to everyone about everything. And Hillary's top advisors regularly lie and obfuscate for tactical advantage. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

David Spence said...

This dude drank all the Kool-Aid!

http://shareblue.com/hillary-clintons-feat-of-strength-obliterates-months-of-health-conspiracies/

Lee Katt said...

You are the man, Doc.

Complaining, whining and bemoaning of fate -- all not good. All things I do incessantly, although I try to keep it in and not dump on everyone around me. Which means I probably do it more than I should. No wonder nobody calls me. LOL. Cheers.

Ares Olympus said...

Stuart: As it happens, Hillary now has a face-saving way to get out of the race. If you and I and the mainstream media know that her campaign has just run aground and is headed for ignominious defeat, the powers running the Democratic Party know it too. And they are certainly looking for a replacement candidate—though the only realistic possibility is Joe Biden.

It does seem like this is the first presidential election ever where no one really wants to win.

If Hillary needed an excuse to back out, this would be her chance. And given the debate schedule coming up fast, she needs to look her best, think her best, while what her body needs is R&R. Joe Biden certainly has the knowledge and experience to jump into a campaign.

Being president is a 24 hour/day engagement, even if presidential campaigning might be harder in some ways, especially given 50 parallel election going on, even after a 2 year party endorsement process.

If Hillary stays in, Trump might back himself into the presidency despite himself, if only he could keep his mouth shut, and May God have Mercy on our Souls, or is that phrase only reserved for those condemned to capital punishment?

America is the land of experimental government, and only Trump can fix everything. He said so, so soon we may have to believe him now.

And if Trump fails or gets too imperial, the Republicans can always impeach him and convict him, and put in Mike Pence.

I wonder who President Pence will nominate for Vice President? Ted Cruz might still have a doorway to the presidency.

Sam L. said...

Biden is the only realistic possibility? Surely you jest! Of course, the Dems and the media (but I repeat myself) -have widely differing values of "realistic" from those I would accept.

Stu": "As of now we are being kept in the dark." Our "dark" never gets lighter than "really dim", which is the way they like it.

AO: "As it happens, Hillary now has a face-saving way to get out of the race. If you and I and the mainstream media know that her campaign has just run aground and is headed for ignominious defeat, the powers running the Democratic Party know it too."
I don't KNOW it; I merely suspect it. I also ask, if the GOP would not impeach The Won, why would they impeach The Donald? Other than to teach the voters that they are even less trustworthy than we might possibly think.

Ares Olympus said...

If we like juicy or empty gossip, here it is:
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/09/12/report-dem-operatives-expect-emergency-meeting-to-consider-replacing-hillary/
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David Shuster - Clarification from dem operatives @HillaryClinton pneumonia: Expect emergency DNC meeting to CONSIDER replacement. #HillarysHealth
...
Even if the DNC meets and decides to replace Clinton, party rules stipulate that she herself must voluntarily drop out.

Were she to do so, the rules and bylaws of the Democratic Party stipulates that the Democratic National Committee has many responsibilities, including "filling vacancies in the nominations for the office of the President and Vice President."

In such cases, "a special meeting to fill a vacancy on the National ticket shall be held on the call of the Chairperson, who shall set the date for such meeting in accordance with the procedural rules provided for in Article Two, Section 8(d) of these Bylaws." That referenced section reads, "all questions before the Democratic National Committee shall be determined by majority vote of those members present and voting in person or by proxy."

If Clinton is elected in November and has to step aside before the inauguration in January, the 20th Amendment stipulates that the vice president-elect — in that case, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine — would succeed to the presidency.
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Last minute ballot changes are not totally unheard of, but fully chaotic.

When Minnesota's Senator Paul Wellstone died in a small plane crash less than 2 weeks before the election, elder statesman Walter Mondale stepped up to run for the seat, but was 2% short from winning, while the early absentee ballots with Wellstone's name wasn't included in Mondale's totals.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone#Electoral_history

Someone high up is definitely telling America that things are not right, and to prepare to batten down the hatches for some sort of storm.

Trump might be right that the Federal reserve is playing politics by avoiding a rate rise during election season, but given 8 years of near zero rates, it looks like a butter fly flapping its wings in China is enough of an excuse to delay another 6 months.

The tail is clearly wagging the dog at this point.

Anyone who has any money in any speculation asset or stock is making a big bet to not sell now, even if the Fed says it can put out the fire in any panic market. I believe the experts - sell high, buy low, and somehow everyone says everything is high, but still can't get out of the game.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/09/09/a-perfect-storm-correction-is-coming-and-nothing-can-stop-it-economist.html
---
"You have a perfect storm here if you get something like a Fed rate hike into the next several months," Rosenberg said Thursday on CNBC's "Futures Now. "The problem is that the market is not priced for it. I wouldn't be surprised that we see some kind of repeat as we had towards the end of last year into January-February, which was something close to a 12 percent correction."
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Its like a forest fire. How do you allow the brush fires to burn without creating a crown fire that takes everything out. And how do you tell investors they overpaid, and all our pensions and retirement funds are built on a false demand?

Not even Trump can fix this, although he could say "Let them eat cake", i.e. that "past performance is not a guarantee for future results, and the future is here."

Farm Boy said...

You never can tell when you are dealing with the dnc communists, the mainstream media Tass, and the Clinton machine. Everything is fabricated, poll tested, spun, and lied about. The dnc knew hillary's campaign was in the toilet months ago, as did the Tass media. They ginned up some fabricated faux poll numbers that showed hillary leading Trump, but these were pure fiction. Trump pulls in tens of thousands to his rallies, and hillary pulls in a couple hundred typical white liberal rich elitist people -- yet hillary leads in all the polls? Who do you believe the polls or your lying eyes? She is a terrible candidate and she is going downhill physically. They have been lying about this (they lie about everything) for months, but now everyone can see that hillary isn't going to make it. Who knows what the dnc is up to behind the scenes. I know they didn't want Bernie, and they don't have much of a bench. I thought they should have run Biden and maybe Warren. Who knows what they will do now. You can safely presume it will be a pack of lies, spin, and utter BS. It's who they are.