Tim Kaine is ‘ready to become the president’ if necessary, Senate candidate says

OPINION:

Rest easy, Democrats — no need to worry about Hillary Clinton’s health.

While she may be fine, her vice presidential pick Tim Kaine is “ready to become the president” if necessary, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday before Mr. Kaine spoke at Stivers High School in Ohio, as reported by the Columbus Dispatch.

Mr. Strickland is currently challenging Republican Rob Portman for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

His remarks were met with a flurry of backlash.

“Area man unhelpful,” wrote Shoshana Weissmann, a writer for the conservative Weekly Standard on Twitter.

“An interesting day to be stressing this message,” wrote Dan McLaughlin, a contributing columnist at the National Review Online.

Politico reporter Gabriel Debeneditti agreed.

“This line is not on the surrogates’ talking points list,” he wrote on Twitter.

Twitter user @hoosierchicago wrote of the news: “That’s weird. I have been informed that she is in perfect health. Why would this statement even need to be uttered?”

Indeed.

For the record, Mrs. Clinton, 68, was diagnosed with pneumonia Friday. After a video went viral Sunday of her collapsing into her van — in the middle of a 9/11 memorial tribute — her team decided it would tell the public. More than eight hours after she ducked her press detail and hid away at her daughter’s apartment, she emerged, hugged a little girl and told the world she felt “great.”

“I think that in retrospect, we could have handled it better in terms of providing more information more quickly,” Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman Brian Fallon told MSNBC Monday.

“There’s no other undisclosed condition. The pneumonia is the extent of it,” he said.

But just in case that’s not true — let’s face it, Mrs. Clinton and her team have a rough time in the honesty department — it’s good to know the Democrats have Mr. Kaine.

Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Strickland!