Fox News evening shows have come under fire after several contributors and hosts ridiculed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she sustained a concussion when she fainted due to dehydration. Clinton, who has since been re-hospitalized for a blood clot, was forced to postpone her testimony on the Benghazi attack after her concussion.
On December 15, the Washington Post reported that Clinton had sustained a concussion after fainting due to dehydration at home. According to the Post, Clinton had been suffering from a stomach virus that she had picked up after a trip to Europe.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee spokeswoman Jodi Seth then announced that Clinton's testimony would be postponed to an unknown future date due to her condition, Reuters reported.
Following the announcement that Clinton's testimony would be postponed, several Fox News programs began to ridicule the Secretary of State's condition and suggested she had faked an injury to avoid giving testimony. According to MediaMatters, the State Department called the notion "wild speculation based on no information."
Fox news contributor John Bolton, who appeared in On The Record, first suggested that Clinton was faking "diplomatic illness" to avoid testifying about the incident in Benghazi, MediaMatters reported. Several evening shows followed up on Bolton's comments with some (The Five's Kimberly Guilfoyle) saying that Clinton was running "a duck and cover" in order not to testify.
According to MediaMatters, regular Fox News guest and contributor to Fox's Special Report Charles Krauthammer went on to say that Clinton was "suffering from acute Benghazi allergy which causes lightheadedness when she hears the word 'Benghazi.'"
The O'Reilly Factor host Bill O'Reilly added his two cents in and said, "If she was in the NFL I wouldn't let her play, but I think she can make a phone call."
Days afterwards, it was announced that doctors had discovered a blood clot in Clinton's head following her concussion. In a statement released, Clinton's doctors, Dr. Lisa Bardack and Dr. Gigi El'Bayoumi, said, "This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear."
Since the development, many in the media have called on Fox News evening show contributors and host to issue an apology for their ridicule and suggestions that Clinton was faking her illness. On Monday, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow wrote, "Given Clinton's hospitalization, it would appear the folks who advanced this nonsense owe the public an explanation, if not an apology."
The Daily Download's Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz also weighed in and published a video in which they attributed the mockery to Clinton being a Democrat and a Clinton--something the conservative contributors and host at Fox appear to be against.
On Tuesday, Clinton's doctors announced that they expect the secretary of state to make a full recovery of her condition.
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