61% panicked ...

" ... what should disturb Obama, who bypassed his own vice president to lay out the red carpet for Hillary, is that the email transgression is not a one off. It’s part of a long pattern of ethical slipping and sliding, obsessive secrecy and paranoia, and collateral damage.

Comey’s verdict that Hillary was “negligent” was met with sighs rather than shock. We know who Hillary and Bill are now. We’ve been held hostage to their predilections and braided intrigues for a long time. (On the Hill, Comey refused to confirm or deny that he’s investigating the Clinton Foundation, with its unseemly tangle of donors and people doing business with State.)

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We’re resigned to the Clintons focusing on their viability and disregarding the consequences of their heedless actions on others. They’re always offering a Faustian deal. This year’s election bargain: Put up with our iniquities or get Trump’s short fingers on the nuclear button.

The Clintons work hard but don’t play by the rules. Imagine them in the White House with the benefit of low expectations."  Maureen Dowd in the NY Times

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 Panicked?  Yes indeed!  Why should they not be?

A significant attempt is underway to re-program Trump as a more plausible person who could be trusted with the actual ability to launch a nuclear strike without congressional action.   That ability is a vestige of the Cold War when it was thought that MAD required it.  Do we still need for the president/commander in chief to have that actual power?  Is there really a threat of such immediacy that the concentration of such apocalyptic power is justified?   The neo-cons and neo-liberals are trying to re-start the Cold War.  Why are they doing that?  I don't know.  I don't see what the actual, as opposed to notional, threat from Russia consists of.  In any event can Trump actually be trusted when in office?  That is the question and I expect that will remain the principal question.

Hillary is not trusted by the public.  She polls at around 20% with regard to whether or not people across the country trust her.  Can one actually and successfully govern with that low a level of public trust?  The Democrats undoubtedly think that they will re-capture control of the senate because of mistrust of Trump, but is that really true in light of the level of mistrust of Clinton?

Baggage?  She has a lot of it. 

1.  Health.  There are massive questions, unresolved by her physician's statements, as to the actual state of her health.  How bad was her head injury?  Has she had a series of micro-strokes? What about her numerous blood-clot incidents?  What is the total effect of the prescription drugs that she takes, drugs designed to keep her alive by keeping her blood thin?    How much is she medicated for stress and anxiety?  

2.  Legal problems.  Comey let her off on the issue or whether or not she could be successfully prosecuted for malpractice with regard to government secrets but a number of other issues remain.   Representatives Gowdy and Chaffetz have their staffs perusing all of HC's sworn statement to Congress looking for material upon which to make a "referral" to the FBI for an investigation of possible perjury.  Comey declined to discuss before Chaffetz' committee the question of whether or not there is a different ongoing FBI investigation into the operations of the CGI and the Clinton Foundation and possible intersections of HC's receptivity at State to foreign people or groups who were or later became donors to the CGI and the Clinton Foundation.  There is also a question concerning the Greece centered hedge fund activities of HC's son in law, Mezvinsky.  It has been alleged that HC provided Mezvinsky US government secret material concerning the intentions of various European leaders with regard to propping up the Greek economy.   This would have obviously been useful to Mezvinsky in making "bets" in the markets on Greek economic recovery.  He was a miserable failure at doing that but that would not obviate HC's culpability if she did give him US Government information especially if, as it is said to me, some of this were SIGINT products.

IMO if HC faced anyone but Trump she would be "toast."  pl  

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/opinion/sunday/the-clinton-contamination.html?emc=edit_th_20160710&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=405151&_r=0

Comments

[The Beaver]

@ Tidewater

Overactive thyroid (Hyperthyroidism) can cause irregular heart beat (arrhythmia) or a potentially dangerous heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation

Underactive Thyroid (Hypothyroidism) does not have the same causes. HRC has Hypothyroidism and this is what is said here:

https://www.verywell.com/hillary-clinton-thyroid-condition-3233019

I have hypothyroidism and I have been taking a very low dose of Synthroid daily for it as soon as my blood tests within a 12-month period showed the level of my TSH. However HRC is treating hers with a natural product.

[Babak Makkinejad]

"He deserved to be impeached."

I think that is a matter of opinion and not law.

My understanding of US Law in this case has been that there is no law; it is whatever US Congress says it is - a highly politicized institution in its good days.

[Tidewater]

Tidewater replying to The Beaver,

Thank you very much for taking the trouble to inform me about hypothyroidism and how it is controlled. Interesting to read that Bernie Sanders, in excellent health, also has it. I realize I need to read up on some basic medical matters. In each treatment, that of the use of a carefully regulated dosage of Coumadin, and that whole question you mentioned, the use of the natural product Armour Thyroid (NDT) versus Synthroid, I find this knowledge actually reassuring.

Regarding Hillary's fitness to be President of the US, continuing to speculate a little bit more,here, I assume that her weight gain could be attributed to her thyroid treatment. But if she has her hypothyroidism under control, and her blood is properly thinned by a judicious use of the (very dangerous) Coumadin--with its equally problematic long-term damage to the veins of eyes (macular degeneration)(?) and the question of Vitamin K being depleted-- still it seems to me that two of her worst problems are resolved or held in check. Further, if hypertension drugs can stablize her blood pressure--and again, I don't see why not, even if there might be serious side-effects down the line-- it seems to me that Hillary might qualify as being in good (enough) health to become the candidate.

It was only a few years back that she posed for those offical Secretary of State portraits. These are quite striking and flatteringly deceptive, as is customary. But the change is extraordinary. She looked terrible. I listened to her and Judy Woodruff for a few moments and then gave up.

[Fred]

Babak,

That is probably as correct an interpretation of the Constitution as any. It is up to the Legislative Branch to decide.

"The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High crimes and Misdemeanors."

[Tyler]

Tidewater,

Steve explained the ischemic v hemorrhagic stroke issue nicely.

I think, personally, from my paramedic understanding of pathphys, that she likely has AFib going on as well. Her strokes, irregular heartbeat, and clots all fit with the profile of someone who has that particular arrhythmia. AFib can be a precursor to generalize CHF as well.

Hypothyroidism can lead to a lot of nasty stuff. General symptoms include confusion, coma, and sometimes myxdema. Gotta take care of it.

I definitely think there's a stroke involved though. She is not suffering from "pumphead syndrome" like Bill Clinton or Cheney, but she's not all there either.

[Tyler]

Tidewater,

Also good luck finding a picture of Hillary wearing short sleeves. I would be hard money that her arms are all blotchy from the coumadin.

[Keith Harbaugh]

Monday, July 18 will be a very significant day for the Clinton legal situation.
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan will hold a hearing on whether Judicial Watch gets to depose Clinton;
the Director of Office of Correspondence and Records of the Executive Secretariat (“S/ES-CRM”) Clarence Finney; and
the former Director of Information Resource Management of the Executive Secretariat (“S/ES-IRM”) John Bentel (the man who supposedly told his staff "never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again.").
(This after Under Secretary for Management Patrick Kennedy imitated Sgt. Schultz.)
See the Thursday, July 14 Judicial Watch statement
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-hillary-clinton-testimony-essential/
On Thursday, July 14, Judge Sullivan gave an indication of his thinking:
The court ordered Clinton and the State Department to file responses to Judicial Watch’s reply briefs no later than Friday at 12 noon.
The court specified that they “shall not repeat any argument made previously.”
I'm no psychologist, but that doesn't sound very encouraging for the Clinton/State side.

[Tidewater]

Tyler,

Thank you for your medical insight into this. I had to do a quick bit of reading-up. AFib, then, is atrial fibrillation. And CHF is congestive heart failure. (I have witnessed the death of someone with CHF.)

I suppose at some point I might as well read on pacemakers.

If it is atrial fibrillation I guess that changes everything. If it is that, there are all kinds of questions. I take your point.

Surely there will be further releases from other doctors in the near future? Doctors who give a final report to the leaders of the Democratic party?

I had never heard of "pumphead syndrome." (Thought at first you were having a little fun.) Now I learn that is mental impairment after bypass surgery when patient has been on a heart lung machine. Bypass surgery, then, seems pretty well guaranteed to cause a significent intellectual decline which can last up to five years after the surgery, and tests have fairly well proven this. Well, the good news there is if you live five or six years more, most of the impairment goes away! (At least from one source.)

Yes, there is documented evidence of "confusion" (Huma's email.) Confusion is one hell of an issue.

I think it was not one, but two Secret Service agents who commented independently (from different regions of the US) about her apparent exhaustion after simply giving a speech. Someone else said that a walker was used to stand for photos. Walkers are now routinely used for every kind of movement in some retirement homes. I've seen it. (And underneath that carpet in the Westminster-Canterbury is concrete.) Could this be a precaution she has been instructed to take when in private?

Yes, those coumadin "blotches"--I don't think those areas could take a blow, as from a stumble into something, or a fall. That's a good point. Interesting comment on what one lives with on coumadin. The side-effects.

Looking on the bright side, there is Bill Clinton's nose.

I was reminded of the painting by Domenico Ghirlandaio "Portrait of Old Man and Boy" (1490). I had forgotten, or perhaps never realized when I first saw it, what a dear thing it is.

[rjj]

Odd how the details of her medical status are so available and and that Secret Service agents can speak so freely about her condition. Isn't that a firing offense?

they are clearing the path for the natty little weasel who will seem less unacceptable than Trump.