Clinton Powered Through With Pneumonia

You know what? Hillary Clinton been a badass this week. She's taking on one of the most demanding jobs in the world — the candidacy for President of the United States — and she did it while battling pneumonia. She was only diagnosed on Friday, but it's safe to say she was probably sick, or would be soon, when she broke into a coughing fit at a Cleveland rally on Labor Day. On Sunday the doctor's orders were to rest and take it easy, but she went to the Sept. 11 memorial event anyway. If anything, Clinton arguably showed a serious commitment to her candidacy.

Everything over the course of the week was done while "under the weather" — be it allergies or the later, more serious diagnosis of pneumonia. Consider her next big showing. Clinton's performance at the Commander-in-Chief Forum on Wednesday was impressive, especially when you consider that Matt Lauer kept trying to cut her off after he mismanaged time, dedicating too much to her emails. Towards the end, he barely let her speak about ISIS and at one point that she said she'd talk faster to stay within her allotted 30 minutes (Trump of course got off a lot easier).

On Thursday, she held a press conference on the tarmac in White Plains, New York, for thirty minutes, speaking primarily about Trump's comments on Pres. Obama and Vladimir Putin the night before (Trump had said Putin is more popular in his country than Obama is here, hence he's a better leader). Given it's her first press conference in nearly nine months, you'd think she'd have waited until she was feeling better. Not only that, she joked with the media, something that must be stressful given the way so many journalists portray her.

Then Friday, the day of her diagnosis, she stepped up her schedule. She held a large national security meeting with bipartisan experts and then eviscerated Trump afterwards at yet another press conference, this time with American flags in the background. "No conversation about our national security would be complete unless we acknowledged that the nominee on the other side promises to do things that will make us less safe," Clinton told gathered reporters.

Not to forget, of course the fundraiser that has been playing in the headlines. At an LGBT fundraiser Friday evening in New York City, Clinton said half of all Trump supporters are a "basket of deplorables," referencing the racists, sexists, xenophobes, homophobes, and Islamophobes among his supporters. That of course did not go over well, but she showed up to do it with pneumonia. Don't forget that.

Also on Friday was an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo about Sept. 11. She explained to him the significance of her connection to 9/11. At the time she was the junior senator from New York. She and her fellow senator Chuck Schumer were in Washington, D.C. The next day they took one of the few planes that was able to fly and went to New York City to see Ground Zero. She told Cuomo that she made it through by getting to work. "It was also my job and the job of other officials to get our city and state and country what we needed," she said in the interview.

That's the same spirit that she showed when attending the memorial service on Sunday. When there's something important that must be done for the country, she's there. Right now, it's beating Donald Trump. All week she kept on the campaign trail, despite not being at her best. Then Sunday, she went to honor those killed 15 years ago in New York while she served as the state's senator. Her work this week — all while sick — show a real commitment to the country, and to her candidacy.