September 13, 2016 01:15 PM UTC

Cory Gardner's Absurd Hillary Clinton Death Watch

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• by: Colorado Pols

After a highly-publicized incident last weekend in which Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton left a 9/11 commemoration ceremony in New York City and was later observed needing assistance getting into a vehicle to leave the scene, Clinton’s campaign announced that the candidate has been diagnosed with pneumonia and will be resting more over the coming days. CNN reports:

As Hillary Clinton fell ill during a 9/11 commemoration ceremony Sunday morning, both Democrats and Republicans alike raised questions of concern about her health.

The Democratic presidential nominee left the ceremony early, after an hour and a half, when she started to feel “overheated,” said Clinton campaign spokesman Nick Merrill in a statement. She took some time to recover, about an hour and 45 minutes, at her daughter’s apartment. When she re-emerged around noon she waved to passersby, and told reporters she was feeling “great…”

“Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule. While at this morning’s event, she became overheated and dehydrated. I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely,” said Clinton’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack, in a written statement on Sunday evening.

Today, the campaign is admitting that they should have been more forthright with Clinton’s diagnosis, the absence of which fueled legitimate concern about Clinton’s health to a greater extent than we’ve seen in recent weeks–much more so than the constant speculation about her health from sources with obvious political motivations like the head of Women for Trump here in Colorado. But while pneumonia is a serious acute illness, no one would seriously argue that it’s a disqualification from serving as President.

This weekend, the underlying desperation of Republicans to make an issue over Clinton’s health–any issue they can–shone brightly. Perhaps no more brightly than this unbelievable response from Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado:

.@SenCoryGardner‘s “prayers are with Hillary Clinton and everybody’s minds are on whether or not she’ll recover” https://t.co/TtNBuMd5XA

— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) September 12, 2016

“Everybody’s minds are on whether or not she’ll recover?” Folks, Clinton is taking antibiotics and trying to get some rest after getting sick on the campaign trail like many candidates and staff do while pushing themselves as hard as campaigns require. Her recovery from this diagnosis of pneumonia is not, by even the most speculative assessment, in question. As convenient as it might be for Cory Gardner, saddled with Donald Trump as his party self-destructing nominee, Hillary Clinton is not dying. Of course she will die someday, but it’s not time for the death watch.

In fact, it’s silly. And demeaning. And ghoulish.