Appearing on Monday's Today, Abby Huntsman, daughter of former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, offered kind words eulogizing Margaret Thatcher: "What we know about Margaret Thatcher is she's a woman with so much courage...She really sticks to her convictions, and that's rare today. I think she really paved the way for women in politics....her legacy will be remembered forever." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
News reader Natalie Morales seized on Huntsman's comments as the "perfect segue" to a panel discussion about the political aspirations of Hillary Clinton. Co-host Willie Geist declared: "Absolutely, our Take Three, talking about the woman who could be the leader of this country, about 35 years or more than after the fact in Great Britain, Chelsea Clinton speaking out this morning on speculation that her mother will once again run for president."
After a clip played of Chelsea Clinton speaking about the possibility of her mother running, Geist turned to Huntsman and wondered: "Does it feel as inevitable to you as it does to a lot of people?" Huntsman, now an anchor for the Huffington Post online news network, HuffPost Live, gushed:
It's clear she's thinking about it, and as she should. I mean, she's at the height of her career. What's, I think, unique about Hillary is she's a historic figure. She's really the closest we've ever gotten to a woman president. And so, you know, I think this country has never been more ready for a woman to win the presidency. What we love, regardless of how you feel about her politics, we love to shatter the glass ceiling, we love to break records in this country. And I think people are very excited to see that. She's seasoned, she knows how to do it this time.
When news broke of Thatcher's death at the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, the former British prime minister was remembered as "loved and loathed," as well as "deeply controversial."
Here is a portion of the April 8 exchange:
9:05AM ET
WILLIE GEIST: Time now for Today's Take Three. Our special guest with us today, Abby Huntsman, host of the online news network, HuffPost Live. Abby, good to have you back on the show.
ABBY HUNTSMAN: Always great to be, thanks for having me.
NATALIE MORALES: Hey, welcome back.
GEIST: We've got a lot to talk about, but I do want to ask you about Margaret Thatcher. Your family got to know her pretty well, you even had a chance to meet her when you were a young girl. Some of your impressions this morning?
ABBY HUNTSMAN: Yeah, a sad morning for sure. I did get a chance to meet her when I was a little girl, you know, and seeing her behind closed doors is what you would expect. I mean, what we know about Margaret Thatcher is she's a woman with so much courage, someone that is not willing to sit in the back of the classroom. You know, she can hang with the best of them and get things done. She really sticks to her convictions, and that's rare today. I think she really paved the way for women in politics...
MORALES: She certainly did.
HUNTSMAN: ...and we'll – her legacy will be remembered forever.
MORALES: Well that's a perfect segue to our Take One today.
GEIST: Absolutely, our Take Three, talking about the woman who could be the leader of this country, about 35 years or more than after the fact in Great Britain, Chelsea Clinton speaking out this morning on speculation that her mother will once again run for president. Here's Chelsea talking to NBC's John Yang on Today.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Hillary in 2016?]
CHELSEA CLINTON: I deeply respect and appreciate all of the admiration and respect and gratitude for my mother's service. As a daughter I very much want her to make the right choice for herself. I know that will be the right choice for our country and I'll support her in whatever she chooses to do.
GEIST: Again, a lot of talk about this over the weekend, Arianna Huffington was on TV, you work at HuffPost Live, saying Hillary's obviously running. And The New York Times's Maureen Dowd wrote a piece suggesting, "Stop asking the question, Hillary Clinton is going to run for president." Obviously, Abby, this has been a fascination of the political press. You all talk about it at Huffington Post. Does it feel as inevitable to you as it does to a lot of people?
HUNTSMAN: It's clear she's thinking about it, and as she should. I mean, she's at the height of her career. What's, I think, unique about Hillary is she's a historic figure. She's really the closest we've ever gotten to a woman president. And so, you know, I think this country has never been more ready for a woman to win the presidency. What we love, regardless of how you feel about her politics, we love to shatter the glass ceiling, we love to break records in this country. And I think people are very excited to see that. She's seasoned, she knows how to do it this time.
(...)
