Ed Rendell: Some Very Effective Presidents Were Sick In Office
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell defended Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton after she collapsed while leaving a ceremony at ground zero on 9/11 and later revealed she is suffering from pneumonia, saying Clinton is in fine health otherwise.
However, Rendell, during an interview with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, stated many accomplished Presidents suffered illnesses while occupying the White House.
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"We've had some very effective Presidents who were very sick in office. Franklin Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan...I was interested hearing, last night, about The West Wing, where President whatever-his-name-was, Martin Sheen's character, it was disclosed he had Multiple Sclerosis and he had kept that from the American people. Well, what's the difference between that and what FDR had? In those days, people didn't know FDR was confined to a wheel chair because there was no television. FDR was a pretty good President. He battled Multiple Sclerosis, which eventually killed him, pretty successful President."
He believes Clinton's campaign has been far more forthcoming with information and documents during the campaign when compared to Donald Trump and praised her fitness, citing time he spent with her during the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.
"We're talking about transparency and the Trump campaign has been far less transparent than the Clinton campaign. Neither of them get A's...When the full medical reports that both candidates have planned to release and said they would release, when they're released this will be a moot point...I've been around Secretary Clinton for 25 years. I saw, in Pennsylvania in 2008, we had seven weeks before the Pennsylvania primary and she was in the state four or five times, and I was with her at six, seven events a day when President, then Senator, Obama had two or three. Her stamina was fine back then and it's still good. People get sick."
Rendell also commented on Clinton's comments that half of Trump supporters were a 'basket of deplorables,' only taking issue the amount of people the former Secretary of State lumped into the 'basket.'
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"What she should've not said is one half of the Trump supporters. That's absolutely incorrect. In Pennsylvania, the vast, vast majority of people who are for Donald Trump are hard working people who may have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. They're frustrated. They're angry. They have every right to be. That was the thing that she did wrong. Could she have said that some people who support Donald Trump are deplorable? Absolutely."