big fat faker brain

So, remember how a bunch of right-wing pundits and politicians made snarky and comical noises about Hillary Clinton faking a concussion to get out of testifying about Benghazi? And then she was hospitalized with a blood clot resulting from the concussion that could have, you know, killed her?

She got out of the hospital yesterday. (Welcome home!) So it seems a fine time to revisit some of the tweets and pontifications from Hillary haters, to see whether they ever apologized. Allow us to lead you through Buzzfeed‘s original roundup of sniggering, followed by our explorations into whether these folks ever said they were sorry for accusing someone in life-threatening danger of lying about it like a kid trying to get out of school by heating up a thermometer next to a light bulb and claiming to have a fever. (Something neither of your SorryWatch correspondents would ever do. Except the one who did.)

Former U.N. spokesman Richard Grenell, Buzzfeed noted, tweeted this:

Grenell is a prolific twitterbird! I had to go back through many, many tweets to see if he’d ever apologized. The answer: No. On December 15, a few minutes after the retweet above, he said, “Because of the CT shooting, we should postpone the Behnghazi hearing. Also, it will give Hillary time to get well.” That’s not an apology. Then on December 19 he tweeted: “Turns out when the 3 am phone call was ringing, Obama didn’t hear it and Hillary fainted” and “we learned today that it really does take a village to protect Hillary.” (Also not an apology. And so much for giving her time.) That same day, Grenell tweeted, “Sending prayers for George HW Bush. Get well soon!”

On December 18, the New York Post accused Clinton of “channeling the late poet Shel Silverstein.” Quoth the Murdoch paper: “‘I have the measles and the mumps / A gash, a rash and purple bumps,’ said Clinton, in effect, informing the House and Senate (with regrets!) that she was suffering too many maladies to testify as expected about the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.” The paper continued, “Clinton’s story beggars belief: While traveling in Europe, she contracted a stomach virus . . . which made her dehydrated . . . which made her faint at home . . . which caused her to fall and hit her head . . . which gave her a nasty concussion.” In sum, the Post noted, “This looks like one of the most transparent dodges in the history of diplomacy.” Apology update: No. On December 31, the paper reported on Clinton’s admission to the hospital, pointing out, “Cynics in the media and in Congress sneered that Clinton was faking the concussion to avoid testimony about the attack.” (Whiplash!)

Next up in the Buzzfeed roundup: The web site Newsbusters, which led its Clinton concussion story with “The dog ate my homework” and discussed her “excuse” for not testifying. Not only did the site never apologize, it never reported on the blood clot or on her admission to the hospital.

Next we have Charles Krauthammer, who called the concussion “acute Benghazi allergy.” When given the opportunity on Fox on New Year’s Day to apologize, Krauthammer doubled down. “I have no apology to make,” he said, “because I’ve just explained why I did, as a result of the information that I received. And I would say that perhaps the State Department, if not apologize, ought to explain why it withheld information and why a lot of it mitigated what we now are hearing might have been a more serious set of circumstances. But we still don’t know what she was suffering [from] in those two weeks.” (We don’t?) Krauthammer’s colleague Sean Hannity, who’d responded to Krauthammer’s quip with “Let’s see the medical report on that,” has remained silent since the seeing of the medical report on that.

Step on up, John Bolton! The diplomat accused Hillary of having “diplomatic illness”; he too turned down the proffered opportunity to apologize. On the show America Live, on December 31, he was asked whether he wanted to “amend” or “take back” his crack. His response: “The thrust of what I’ve said repeatedly…was that there was a real absence of transparency in the way the State Department was presenting the Secretary’s medical condition. I don’t think that lack of transparency, frankly, has gotten any better.” All righty, then.

Congressman Allen West, who’d said Clinton had a “case of Benghazi flu,” has also remained silent since Hillary’s hospital stay. No apology.

Thus concludes our rundown of the Buzzfeed roundup. However, the Atlantic Wire did find a conservative who apologized for his coreligionists’ conduct: GOP consultant Matt Mackowiak tweeted, “Some of us had some fun w/ Hillary’s concussion & postponing of Hill testimony. Clearly a serious situation. Apologies & prayers in order.” (He later tweeted: “Grateful that Secretary of State Clinton will make a full recovery.”) If our readers tell us of other conservatives who’ve apologized for the merry joshing, we’ll add them to this post. And a healthy new year to all.