Liberal actor Ted Danson used his appearance on the early Friday morning edition of Tavis Smiley’s PBS program to profess his love for Bill and Hillary Clinton “with every fiber of my being” and praised Hillary Clinton’s performance at the Benghazi Committee hearing as a showcase of someone who would be a “thoughtful, big hearted, incredibly bright president.”
Only moments into the interview, Smiley jealously touted the fact that “that you and your wife, Mary Steenburgen, are very dear and longtime friends of the Clintons, so we went through the first era of the Clinton White House” and wondered what he thought of Hillary’s 2016 campaign thus far.
Instead of building up to a gushy proclamation, Danson came out immediately with a “full disclosure” that: “I love them with every fiber of my being. I love the two of them.”
Danson then brought up the Benghazi hearing from October 22 and how he found himself “very impressed” with his dear friend’s ability to convey herself as a “thoughtful, big hearted, incredibly bright president”:
After watching the Benghazi hearing for 11 hours, I felt I was watching — finally watching Secretary Clinton, Hillary, defining herself as opposed to being defined by people who don’t want to run against her and I felt I was looking at thoughtful, big hearted, incredibly bright president. You know, I felt like that's what she will be as a president. You know, it was very hard to watch, but that kind of restraint, that kind of desire to get past whatever is being thrown her way to actually be clear about what they were talking about to me was very impressive, so I was, yeah, very impressed.
Egging Danson on, Smiley touted the liberal narrative that the hearing was “a witch hunt” and admitted that “this could not be the first time that the other party has gone after the Clintons and just dug and dug and I think of Whitewater in the first term.”
Skipping over the Lewinsky scandal and former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, Smiley lamented that “[n]ow, it’s Benghazi and I'm not suggesting the Clintons are perfect” but “I'm asking what is it about them that attracts these witch hunts or dare I say these vast right-wing conspiracies?”
Danson simply responded that he felt it’s been “pretty clear there is one” against his friends.
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Referring to Clinton’s political record compared to other candidates, Danson gushed that “[i]t seems to me” to be “so clear” that Clinton is who Americans “want to be in the office” and then gave a short anecdote of how his wife Mary Steenburgen often traveled with the Clintons in the early years and lamented that she often “couldn't go to sleep, she would get so agitated and angry” that anyone would dare raise issues with the Clintons.
Speaking later about his activism on global warming, Danson reassured Smiley that Hillary would be a strong advocate for their lefty causes (despite taking a long time to make her opinion known about the Keystone Pipeline):
I can only speak from — what I do is Oceana. It's an organization, ocean issues. Both Clintons have been incredibly supportive. Literally raising money for us, allowing us to honor them, but she has been on the right side, as is he, you know, for a very, very long time and my guess is they could be great on all the issues I care about. There are politics involved....You don't know what goes on behind the scenes, so no one's perfect, but by and large, yes, a President Hillary Clinton would take climate change very seriously.
The relevant portions of the transcript from PBS’s Tavis Smiley on November 20 can be found below.
PBS’s Tavis Smiley
November 20, 2015
12:34 a.m. EasternTAVIS SMILEY: I think most people will recall that you and your wife, Mary Steenburgen, are very dear and longtime friends of the Clintons, so we went through the first era of the Clinton White House. There might be a second. What did you make of Hillary and the campaign, et cetera, et cetera?
TED DANSON: Well, I mean, full disclosure, I love them with every fiber of my being. I love the two of them. You know, After watching the Benghazi hearing for 11 hours, I felt I was watching — finally watching Secretary Clinton, Hillary, defining herself as opposed to being defined by people who don’t want to run against her and I felt I was looking at thoughtful, big hearted, incredibly bright president. You know, I felt like that's what she will be as a president. You know, it was very hard to watch, but that kind of restraint, that kind of desire to get past whatever is being thrown her way to actually be clear about what they were talking about to me was very impressive, so I was, yeah, very impressed.
SMILEY: There are some who describe that Benghazi hearing that she went through, Ted, some describe that as a witch hunt and this could not be the first time that the other party has gone after the Clintons and just dug and dug and I think of Whitewater in the first term. Now, it’s Benghazi and I'm not suggesting the Clintons are perfect. I'm asking what is it about them that attracts these witch hunts or dare I say these vast right-wing conspiracies?
DANSON: Which is pretty clear there is one.
(....)
DANSON: Anyway, you can see, I can get very agitated about this. I think it’s — when you can't beat somebody, it probably frustrates you. When you think you are entitled to the White House and it's your God-given right to have the White House, when you can't beat somebody, you will do everything and anything to go after him and take them down, I guess. I don't know. I don't know. Why are they hated seems to be the question of the day. You know, it’s —
(....)
DANSON: I mean, just get all the resumes of the potential presidents up there, scratch out the names and everything and just look at the resume. Who do you want to be in the office? It seems to me so clear...We are talk about people being angry or going after, whatever. You know, Mary used to travel with them a lot to — especially when President Clinton was running first term. And she couldn't go to sleep, she would get so agitated and angry and they said, you don't that, you will burn out and they really do have that philosophy of if someone says something mean about them, which would drive me nuts, they will look it a, is there a fact in there about what they person just said about me? Oh, there is? Okay, I will adjust. I will learn, I will grow. If there's not a fact in there, then that mean thing or angry thing they said is about them, not about me and they – that way, you can keep your eye on the ball. You can keep our eye on the issue and not get sidetracked and I think they're really good at that.
SMILEY: I think they are. Second and final question about this and we will move on. This is just a little bit of chess playing here that I want to do with here for a second. Let's assume that Hillary is the nominee for the Democratic Party. Let's assume that Marco Rubio ends up being the guy because I don't think that everybody really moves that Donald Trump is going to be the nominee. I don't think that anyone really believes that Carson is going to be the nominee.
(....)
DANSON: Obviously, it's a liberal and happily so, so most of what the Democratic Party stands for when you listen to the on two debates – Republican debates, Democratic debates, I care very much about the Democratic platform, so the answer for me is very easy. Those Democratic positions, I want to see us go in that direction. I don't want to see you go in that direction that Republicans are offering us, so my answer I think is very easy. I want the woman, thank you very much. I want the person who has experience. I want the person who has been under fire and we know how she will respond more or less. I want that.
SMILEY: She held her cards for a long time on the Keystone Pipeline. You can't talk to Ted Danson without talking about his long term work on the environment. How concerned you are that environmental issues — and we can run the list, are going to get raised, get on the agenda much less high enough on the agenda of debate this time around?
DANSON: Right. I can only speak from — what I do is Oceana. It's an organization, ocean issues. Both Clintons have been incredibly supportive. Literally raising money for us, allowing us to honor them, but she has been on the right side, as is he, you know, for a very, very long time and my guess is they could be great on all the issues I care about. There are politics involved. I mean, I would have thought that the Keystone Pipeline would never have been on President Obama's, you know, okay list, but I'm sure there was a trade. There was this, you know, sorry, it wasn't. Sorry, I would have thought that off shore oil trading would have been on his — sorry. You don't know what goes on behind the scenes, so no one's perfect, but by and large, yes, a President Hillary Clinton would take climate change very seriously.
(....)
SMILEY: Again, back to Paris, when you see things like what happened in Paris, people often times tend to get frozen by their fears. I can't speak for anybody else, but at least — I'm in the TV business, as are you and when these moments happen, I’ve had to train myself to tune in the television once a day to see what the update is going to be, you know? Because every hour, the story is changing and developing but I check in once a day to see how the story has advanced, how it’s developed. I can't sit home every day and watch MSNBC, CNN or Fox News. I can't — my spirit — I can’t even take a that in and be at peace throughout the day and not be, you know, full of fear and — Does it make sense?
DANSON: Part of me wants to put a comma in there and say, I know, I have watched you throughout the day talk about this, so that's it's so hard to talk about events like this so soon afterwards without feeling like we don't know what it's like to be sitting in the streets or have lost or have been in Paris, so anything that actor says is, like, stupid. In response to what you're saying, yes, I agree and I would say further saying I almost prefer picking up the newspaper of your choice and reading it and being able to digest it that way because visually or cable all day long, it is.
