Karl Rove receives blow back for suggesting that Hillary Clinton may have brain damage.

Courtesy of MSNBC:

 Republican strategist Karl Rove has denied a report that he said Hillary Clinton may have suffered brain damage, claiming he “never used that phrase.” 

“I didn’t say she had brain damage; she had a serious health episode,” he said Tuesday on FOX News. According to The New York Post, at a conference last week, the former George W. Bush adviser brought up the topic of Clinton’s health after she was hospitalized in December 2012 for a blood clot. 

“Thirty days in the hospital?” Rove reportedly told the conference, according to the Post. “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.”  (The glasses were actually to correct a temporary case of double vision.)

Clinton’s health scare hospitalized her for three days – not 30, as Rove reportedly suggested. The incident occurred after Clinton was recuperating from a fall and concussion, forcing the former secretary of state to push back her scheduled congressional testimony over the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya. 

Though he denied characterizing Clinton’s injuries as “brain damage,” Rove on Tuesday largely stood by his reported comments. He said he brought up the issue to raise questions ahead of the looming 2016 presidential elections. 

“My point was is that Hillary Clinton wants to run for president, but she would not be human if this didn’t enter in as a consideration,” Rove said Tuesday on Fox. “This will be an issue in the 2016 race, whether she likes it or not.” 

“When you go through a health incident like this, any presidential candidate has to ask themselves, ‘Am I willing to do this for eight years of my life?’ ” he continued. “She’s hidden a lot of this.”

I think it is pretty clear that what Rove is doing is attempting to frighten Hillary away from the idea of running in 2016, by demonstrating how ugly things will get for her.

Personally I think that Hillary is well prepared for the Republican smear merchants, as she dealt with plenty back during Bill's presidency and her own Senate career.

However I also believe that incidents like this really speak to the almost overpowering fear that the Republicans feel concerning Hillary, and her chances of taking the White House in 2016.

Perhaps the best smackdown I have seen in response to this attack from Rove, came from our own KatieAnnieOakly.

#Rove sez #Hillary may have #BrainDamage; it didn't bother him when #McCain picked @SarahPalinUSA in 2008... #Coulter pic.twitter.com/6oxertfecI

— KatieAnnieOakly (@KatieAnnieOakly) May 13, 2014

Could not have said it better myself.