Clinton, Rove, and The Suspicious Lenses

Karl Rove made a political observation on Sunday regarding the special eyewear currently being sported by Hillary Clinton. While Rove may be one of the last public figures I would attempt to defend, his words have been altered in order to mock and deride him, much the same as Sarah Palin’s accurate words regarding Russia were changed in order to mock and dismiss her in 2008.

In speaking at a public event in Los Angeles with Robert Gibbs and CBS correspondent Dan Raviv, Rove pointed out that Hillary Clinton spent time in a hospital in December 2012, and went on to ask, “Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, she’s wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what’s up with that.”  He did not use the phrase “brain damage” but this is how his comments have been portrayed, characterized, titles used for blog and news pieces, just this morning White House spokesman Jay Carney was asked to weigh in on Rove claiming Clinton suffered brain damage.  Carney’s response was loaded with his usual derision and mockery – too bad those words were never used by Rove.

He specifically, and quite correctly, used the phrase “brain injury” when referring to the December incident and Clinton’s lenses. The two are not interchangeable; I am aware of this with first-hand knowledge.  In 1986 I underwent brain surgery to eliminate a cyst that was attached to my pineal glad (small, pinecone-shaped structure which sits atop the hypothalamus gland).  I suffered post-operative hydrocephalus due to complications from the surgery.  This meant I had too much cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) inside my skull causing pressure on my brain, in particular my brain stem.  I was in and out of the hospital for multiple surgical procedures through 1987 and into 1988 in order to correct the problem. When it finally resolved it was discovered I had acquired Nystagmus, the cause explained that the fluid pressure on my brain stem had gone on too long.  The doctors never said I suffered brain damage, the called it brain injury.  I have eyeglasses with prisms as well, though not the type of Clinton; my lenses have ocular prisms grinded into each, a higher level on the left than the right.  These force the movement in my eyes to slow enough to where I see straight and only one object until I am looking about 20 yards in front of me, at that distance I have the vision of my left eye superimpose on top of my right.  I have had to get used to looking at the world this way, there is no more correction available to me.

Hillary Clinton is wearing eyeglasses with Fresnel prisms applied to the lenses; this has been confirmed by her spokesperson Philippe Reines.  These prisms are used to correct vision impairment called Hemianopsia, alternately Hemianopia.  The most common causes of this impairment are stroke, brain tumor, and trauma.  Are we to accept the explanation given for Clinton’s hospitalization in 2012?  We were told she had a severe bout of the flu that caused dehydration, leading to her falling and hitting her head so hard she suffered a concussion which caused a blood clot. She was said to have been put on blood thinners while in-patient to eliminate the clot.  At the time, however, NBC’s medical expert Robert Bazell, M.D. made an important observation that was quickly overlooked. I cannot say I have seen nor heard it brought up again by anyone other than myself or a random Facebook post here or there:

“The problem is that concussions, when they lead to blood clots — the bloods clots are not usually treated with blood thinners, as they say she’s being treated. If she has a blood clot that occurred because she was sitting around or something, they would treat that with blood thinners, and that would be fine. But there may be more to this story that we don’t know.”

Again, some first-hand knowledge; in dealing with neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neuro-opthamologists, using blood thinners to relieve a clot acquired in the manner Clinton claims would be contra-indicated in that they could very likely lead to death via internal bleeding. 

So then which is it?  Did she fall and bang her head so hard she got a blood clot that was treated incorrectly and was mortally dangerous?  Or was the clot already there, recently discovered, and the flu/dehydration/fall story concocted so as to soften the heath news impact the truth may have had?  Or was there indeed, more to the story as Dr. Bazell suggests?  What actually happened inside Clinton’s skull that her vision needed correction with that specific type of optic aid?

Disability does not preclude fitness for the office of the President of the United States; Franklin D. Roosevelt demonstrated this. However, dishonesty does—or at least it ought to–especially if that which is being covered up may well have significant ramifications for our country.