Hillary’s Allergy to Transparency

We’ve seen this movie before and we know how it ends. Whenever the Clintons are accused of wrongdoing or unethical conduct, they deny it vigorously, then deflect blame or demonize whoever is asking the questions. They will not relent in this cynical, tedious exercise until or unless physical evidence emerges — or a court order is issued — to vividly and completely contradict their narrative.

We saw it with the Lewinsky scandal — Clinton accused the “vast right wing conspiracy” of ginning up the controversy. We saw it with Benghazi — when Mrs. Clinton blamed a video for causing the terrorist attack she didn’t prevent. We saw it with the private email server she used as secretary of state — when besides lying about almost every salient fact, she went as far as to point a finger at Colin Powell for giving her bum advice.

Any self-respecting journalist, not totally in the tank for Mrs. Clinton, would be furious … about why her “pneumonia” diagnosis wasn’t revealed to the press until there was no denying it.

Now we see the Democratic nominee pull the same predictable stunt again in an effort to stymie questions swirling about her health. In recent weeks, she mocked those concerned with her stamina by appearing on comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show on ABC, opening a pickle jar to show her strength.

Her campaign hacks trashed the “alt right” and “mean-spirited” critics who inquired about her physical condition after her repeated and lengthy coughing fits and apparent weakness climbing stairs. When Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani speculated that Mrs. Clinton wasn’t well, the reaction from many “reporters” would have made you think he pushed her down the stairs.

Yet on the 15th anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on American soil, Mrs. Clinton’s handlers found themselves out of excuses. The physical evidence was stark — and it came in the form of video taken from multiple angles of her being led out of a memorial event. In these videos, she appears weak, knees buckling, almost falling to the ground before being elevated into the van that was waiting curbside. No one from the press was allowed to follow her as she was whisked away. The traveling pool was kept in the dark for at least 30 minutes as to where Clinton was even taken.

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Chelsea Clinton’s apartment, it turns out, was a good place to hide out, recover, regroup — and re-frame her health narrative.

Just before noon, Mrs. Clinton emerged to do a show-walk for the cameras and proclaim, “It’s a beautiful day in New York.” Asked by reporters present if she was “feeling better?” Clinton said, “Yes, thank you very much.”

A few hours later, yet another nugget dripped out. Not only does Hillary Clinton have seasonal allergies that have been causing her scratchy throat and persistent cough, but she also has pneumonia.

Oh, and that condition was, we are to believe, discovered on Friday by her physician, Dr. Lisa R. Bardack — a full 48 hours before her fainting spell in Lower Manhattan.

Any self-respecting journalist, not totally in the tank for Mrs. Clinton, would be furious — and aggressively curious — about why her “pneumonia” diagnosis wasn’t revealed to the press until there was no denying it. Furthermore, given the candidate’s perpetual allergy to truth-telling, it is not unreasonable to question her on just about anything her campaign proffers regarding any sensitive or controversial matter.

Of course there are still plenty of journalists who are totally in the tank for Clinton.

CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter blamed the sudden intense doubts about Clinton’s health on “double standards” toward women.

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“We’re talking about the first female nominee of a major political party in American history,” Stelter said on CNN Newsroom Sunday. “We should be honest about the double standards that women sometimes face with regards to their health, with the idea that women are portrayed as being weaker than men, how they have to work harder to show they are as strong as men, especially in workplaces, especially in politics.”

Stelter’s gymnastic exercise in excuse-making for Clinton is staggering. The media let Clinton slide for months without answering any tough questions about her health, despite clear indicators something was wrong. The free pass was surely born of a double-standard — but not one that hampered the first female major party nominee.

Also appearing on CNN to play the role of spokesman for Clinton, Carl Bernstein, author of the gushing biography A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, tried to flip the script on Trump.

Bernstein said the press should “demand that Donald Trump appear with his doctor.” “We need to know if there are heart problems,” the Clinton apologist continued, despite no indications whatsoever that the GOP nominee has suffered from any heart-related ailments.

Bernstein did at least admit the Clintons’ usual tactics of evasion had hit a wall with the health controversy. Throughout Mrs. Clinton’s time in politics “her lack of transparency, which goes way back to the Arkansas years, has, for the most part, served her and Bill Clinton well,” Bernstein said. “This election it has not served her well. It has almost buried her,” he winced, “it’s not working, it hasn’t worked.”

Other, less overtly partisan, members of the media suddenly found themselves making the call for more transparency.

“The bottom line is the Clinton campaign is going to have to be completely forthright about Clinton’s health,” Bud Jackson, a Virginia-based Democratic strategist, told Reuters.

A little late for that, don’t ya think?

Diagnosis: The patient suffers from an uncontrolled, reflexive urge to lie to the American public. Recommended treatment: Retirement from public life.