On Friday, Hillary Clinton sat down with Matt Lauer for a wide ranging interview. A number of topics came up, from Bernie Sanders, to Donald Trump, to walking a fictional tree lined street in Brooklyn.
Regarding Bernie Sanders’ ability to continue pushing her in the race for the Democratic nomination, Hillary as expected played it cool. However, as we reported previously, there are signs within the Clinton camp that indicate she’s grown increasingly worried about the direction of the race, and becoming quite irritated with Sanders’ surprising staying power. With Sanders raising record amounts of money online (read: not millionaires and super-PACs) as well as handing Hillary loses in seven out of the last eight primaries, there is good reason for Hillary to be concerned.
Lauer pushes the topic later in the interview by saying that although they must be licking their chops, Democrats can’t solely focus on readying Hillary for the general election yet because she can’t shake Bernie Sanders. To which Hillary responded:
“That’s the way it always is. When my husband in 1992 secured the democratic nomination, it was in California, he lost a lot of the spring contests. I remember because we were hearing exactly the same kinds of questions like it’s over, you’ll never make it. I don’t have any doubts, I don’t have any concerns. We’re going to win the nomination.”
Ignoring for a moment that those were statements and not questions that she heard on Bill’s campaign trail, the fact that those kinds of comments are leaking into Hillary’s inner circle are a tell of just how much she’s concerned about Bernie Sanders and his recent winning streak. Furthermore, Bill’s dramatic falling out with Black Lives Matter activists as documented on Friday suggests that there is the all too real danger Hillary may alienate one of her core constituencies.
Hillary continues, saying in essence that it’s nice that Bernie has so much support, but she knows that due to the delegate system, both traditional (which are often proportional to percent of the vote the candidate receives – more here), and just as importantly super delegates (those that can throw their support behind whoever they choose, regardless of underlying votes from the citizenry), she has no doubt she’ll win.
“We have a significant delegate lead, and at the end of the day that’s what’s going to matter”
Unlike the circus that is the GOP race though, she did say that if she were to lose, she wouldn’t hesitate to endorse Bernie:
“I will take Bernie Sanders over Donald Trump or Ted Cruz anytime”
One thing that caught our attention was in discussing Bernie and his groundswell of support for his continued hammering away at crony capitalism and income inequality, Hillary said she too shares that concern. “[Sanders] has a very clear, passionate message about income inequality. I happen to share that.”
Does she share that passionate message? Well, we can’t know for sure, but somehow we suspect she doesn’t really care much about anything related to income inequality.
As you recall, Hillary has been paid tens of millions for putting her work boots on each morning at 6 am and shuffling off to give… speeches.
Quite often, the speeches were made to Wall Street, something which by now escapes nobody.
And finally, the interview finds itself at perhaps the most contentious of topics for Hillary (outside of Benghazi), the infamous email scandal.
Of course, the issue was teed up for Hillary so that should could frame as some sort of political issue, as opposed to a serious criminal investigation that has 147 FBI agents working around the clock to get to the bottom of the matter.
When asked about whether or not the email scandal will end in handcuffs for her, Hillary provided yet another epic response, along the lines of “what difference does it make”, by saying boldly that there isn’t even the remotest chance that it’s going to happen.
Here is the exchange
Lauer: “They [Republicans] are clinging to the hope that at some point between now and the end of the election, that they will get to see Hillary Clinton in handcuffs.”
Clinton: “Matt they live in that world of fantasy and hope, because they’ve got a mess on their hands on the Republican side. That is not gonna happen, there is not even the remotest chance that it’s going to happen. They’ve been after me for twenty five years.”
And so in summary, she begins with downplaying the people’s voice in her party, clearly calling out for someone, anyone to reign in crony capitalism, and ends with letting everyone know, unequivocally, that she is in fact above the law. Sorry peasants, you lose yet again.
You can see the full interview here:
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/1UQRO3h Tyler Durden