QOTD: A couple of seasoned campaigned operatives
by digby
On Anderson Cooper last night:
Former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer: In every campaign I've worked on, I'm trying to think back if I can even imagine a world in which we worked for President Obama or other candidates that you would go out and tell the press that you had pneumonia. I don't think you would ever do that.
It is fair, and they've acknowledged that they should have gotten the information out more quickly on Sunday. But if she was not going to change her schedule I don't see any reason why it would have made sense to disclose that in advance.
Obviously hindsight's 20/20, given what happened on Sunday, but it's pretty standard. Candidates are sick all the time and if they disclose at every moment for something that is a very treatable common illness like pneumonia, I don't think that's that big a deal.
Anderson Cooper: Stuart Stevens do you agree with that? Especially since it's playing into criticisms by Donald Trump that she doesn't have stamina?
Former Romney adviser Stuart Stevens: You I think presidential candidates are like pro-athletes. They don't ever like to talk about anything that reveals a weakness. I think it's perfectly natural. If Hillary Clinton thought that she was going to get over pneumonia then it wouldn't be a big deal.
I suppose they could have told the press, I'd leave that up to the press handlers to decide that. But in the larger context I really don't understand this as a campaign issue that if you thought that Hillary Clinton had an ailment like this, why would you then want to vote for Donald Trump?
Gloria Borger then chimed in that it was about Clinton's lack of transparency and unwillingness give access to the press. This isn't a story about Clinton's health it's yet another story about the press.
.
