I'm old enough to remember when this was called "to soldier on"

Hillary went to the 911 Memorial even though she had walking pneumonia.

I will ignore the hysteria about this. It doesn't mean she is too sick to become president (but as I have said in the past, I would like to see her MRI and her MMSE test results. )

But this is disturbing: instead of worrying about her health, the talking points memo says she was trying to "power through" her illness.



From Instapundit:

Hillary Clinton was trying to power through (italics mine) her illness this weekend. Campaign manager Robby Mook and spokespeople Brian Fallon and Kristina Schake all repeated the talking point ad nauseam in their cable appearances on Monday. The media picked it up as well, with reporters on CNN and MSNBC using the phrase to describe how Hillary Clinton bravely reacted to a pneumonia diagnosis on Friday.”

heh. Been there, done that...

But the phrase "powering on" is not correct: it implies power, so doesn't explain what was going on.

A better phrase is the traditional phrase "to Soldier on".

to continue doing something although it is difficult:

But it has implications of more than that:
Entomology:

The verb meaning "to serve as a soldier" is first recorded 1647; to soldier on "persist doggedly" is attested from 1954.

the implication is that if you are in a war, well, sometimes you just have to keep going, even when you might feel tired and not really want to keep fighting.

Something we docs often do also, especially during an emergency or when working for an understaffed hospital.

Presumably this phrase was too "militaristic" for the Democrats.

however, it brings up a point:

Why are doctors expected to work when so exhausted they are ill, or can't stand, or think straight?

It's a macho thing.

Ah, but is it a good thing for the patient?

But a short anecdote here.

 I once was filling in on an Air Force Base emergency room (moonlighting on a weekend shift). I was instructed that anyone who was sick, or who even needed something stronger than tylenol or sudafed, should be given a sick slip so they shouldn't work.

When I asked why, I was informed:

We work with nukes here.
In civilian practice, the worst thing that could happen is that the patient would wreck his car or smash his finger at work.
Here, if we make a mistake, we might end up nuking Kansas City.

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So tell me again why two 70 year olds are running for president in the US?