Morning Joe: R-E-S-P-E-C-T Hillary

September 23rd, 2008 10:02 AM

Hillary Clinton, Queen of Soul? Barack Obama, All-American teenaged girl?  That's precisely the analogy that Joe Scarborough made this morning in trying to explain why many Hillary supporters haven't swung to Obama.  Hillary was a guest on today's Morning Joe, and the interview offered a number of other interesting tidbits:

  • Hillary dodged the question of whether Bill was telling the truth when he claimed she didn't want the VP slot on Obama's ticket.
  • The junior NY senator declined to swing at a Sarah-bashing softball Mika Brzezinski tossed her.
  • Hillary let slip that she still has her own campaign on her mind.

But let's get back to Joe's conventional-wisdom busting musical metaphor, which came after Hillary had offered an innocuous answer to guest panelist John Ridley's question as to why many of her supporters remain uncommitted to Obama.

View video here.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Ridley, it's still a hard sell.  I mean, that's like somebody going to a store to buy an Aretha Franklin album, and then the cashier trying to push Miley Cyrus on them.  It just doesn't work!

As Hillary indulged a hearty smile and chuckle, Mika tried to stop Joe short.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: OK, OK.

SCARBOROUGH: I want Aretha!

JOHN RIDLEY: If you want [liberal] music, and the music is good, stick with the company that put out that music.

SCARBOROUGH: I want Aretha!

As for those other tidbits . . .

Toward the beginning of the interview, discussing the current financial crisis, Hillary spoke of how she advocated certain measures "throughout my campaign."'  Check out the video of the moment, which comes at the very beginning of the clip. It seems that Hillary realizes that it's not really a good idea to be talking up what she did during her campaign, but, having begun, plunges on.

A bit later, Mika offered up that Sarah-bashing softball.

BRZEZINSKI: Senator Clinton, the voters will obviously be looking to vote for someone who can take the reins and lead this country into better days.  My question to you is: do you think Sarah Palin can handle a crisis like this?

Hillary declined to swing, saying that voters will look at the men at the top of the ticket.  Have a look at the video and see if you don't agree that Mika's question seemed to come as something of a non sequitur.

Then came Hillary's dodge on whether she wanted the VP nod.

BRZEZINSKI: You could have really helped the Democratic ticket for sure.  Do you ever wish you were on it? Your husband said you didn't want the job.

HILLARY CLINTON:  Well, it's not anyone's to want or not want. It's up to the nominee.

Malarkey! It is human nature to want even those things that we don't have the ability to make happen.  And is Hillary saying Bill wasn't telling the truth when he told The View that she didn't want the spot?