On Tuesday night, Hillary Clinton sat down with Late Show host Stephen Colbert for a friendly interview which saw the CBS host eagerly tee up Hillary Clinton to promote liberal economist Paul Krugman’s endorsement of the Democrat’s anti-Wall Street proposal.
Colbert touted how Clinton “put forth a plan...For reforming Wall Street, and Wall Street embraced it. Is that a good sign?” which allowed the Democrat to eagerly note that “Paul Krugman, you know the columnist for the New York Times...Nobel prize-winning economist said that I came out with a tough, comprehensive, effective plan."
At multiple points throughout the interview, the liberal CBS comedian offered up softball questions to Mrs. Clinton to help push her lefty agenda, including pressing her on how the U.S. can be more like Socialist nations such as Denmark:
[Y]ou are the fifth presidential candidate I have had on the show so far, and Bernie Sanders was sitting there and he said many of the same things...And his answers are a Democratic Socialist answer. And in the debate with Senator Sanders, you said the United States is not Denmark. Denmark has those things. And they have those things with high taxes on the middle class...And how would we achieve them in the united States, aside from the political paralysis of Washington, how do you get those things?
When discussing what Clinton does during her free time, specifically her favorite TV shows, Colbert got in one jab when he asked “[w]hat is the least you can get away with right now?” However, the Democrat shot back and touted two of her favorite television shows, Good Wife and Madam Secretary, both of which have female leads that many argue are versions of Hillary Clinton.
The rest of the interview featured Colbert asking fawning questions of Mrs. Clinton, including whether or not she became a Democrat in college because they “have better parties?” The CBS host also beamed at Hillary’s campaign website which has “put out a costume, a recommended costume...I went ahead and did it. This is you. Where are you here? These are costumes. You can dress up for your Halloween party as Hillary Clinton. You'll really scare your Republican friends."
See relevant transcript below.
CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
October 27, 2015
STEPHEN COLBERT: What is the least you can get away with right now?
HILLARY CLINTON: You know, I had to make some phone calls. I had to watch the 11 hours all over again. Not at all. You know, it was just really nice because it was a beautiful day, and I got to see my granddaughter over the weekend and my daughter and everybody was in spirits and good health. You can't ask for any more and then I just sort of hung around. Bill and I just kind of watched bad TV.
COLBERT: Not this show. Not this show.
CLINTON: No, no, by definition not this show.
COLBERT: Of course,, of course,.
CLINTON: A little binge watching here and there.
COLBERT: What do you binge watch? Do you have a show you like?
CLINTON: We have a lot of them and we finally finished "House of Cards." It took a while because we were slow going.
COLBERT: Do you watch that show and every yawn go, this. So old hat.
CLINTON: Another murder. I mean, really. And we did-- I do like "Madam Secretary."
COLBERT:: Oh, you do, really?
CLINTON: I do, actually, I do.
COLBERT: Don't just say that because it's a CBS show.
CLINTON: No because I watch "Madam Secretary" and I watch "Good Wife." Yeah, yeah. But, you know, we watch a lot of different odds and ends. We have a good time.
COLBERT: Do you ever call them up and say where is my residual check? Where is my royalty?
CLINTON: No, but Madeleine Albright was on an episode a couple of weeks ago.
COLBERT: She was?
CLINTON: Herself. She was playing herself.
COLBERT: Are you jealous?
CLINTON: A little.
--
COLBERT: Is it fun to run for president of the united States?
CLINTON: Some days.
COLBERT: Yes.
CLINTON: Some days. It really is fun. Some days it's just very hard work, and you do so many events, you do kind of lose track of where you are. But most days, something happens during the day that really makes you feel like, yes, I know why I'm doing this. I am so committed. And it's because somebody said something to me on a rope line.
COLBERT: That leads me to my next question-- why are you doing this? Why do you want-- this is the question Ted Kennedy could not answer in 1979. Why do you want to be president of the United States?
CLINTON: I want to be president because I want to build on the progress that we've been making and make it possible for more people in our country, particularly young people, to live up to their own God-given potential. And that means we've got to get back to providing opportunities. We've got to get back to making the economy work for everybody. And we have to defend the progress we've made in women's rights and gay rights and we have to protect voting rights and immigrant rights and everything else.
COLBERT: But how do we do that? Are you-- those are-- you know, those are noble goals and you are the fifth presidential candidate I have had on the show so far, and Bernie Sanders was sitting there and he said many of the same things.
CLINTON: Uh-huh.
COLBERT: And his answers are a Democratic Socialist answer. And in the debate with Senator Sanders, you said the United States is not Denmark. Denmark has those things. And they have those things with high taxes on the middle class.
CLINTON: Right.
--
COLBERT: You put forth a plan.
CLINTON: I did.
COLBERT: For reforming Wall Street, and Wall Street embraced it. Is that a good sign?
CLINTON: Well, I-- I'm not sure who you're talking about because I-- I certainly didn't get that message if they did. Paul Krugman, you know the columnist for the "New York Times."
COLBERT: Sure.
CLINTON: Nobel prize-winning economist said that I came out with a tough, comprehensive, effective plan because what I did, which is really looking at the problems that we have and trying to preempt the problems of the future is to recognize that, you know, we don't just have big banks in our economy that pull a lot of strings and make a lot of decisions. Look at what happened in '08. We had a big insurance company that had to be bailed out. We had an investment bank, Lehman Brothers, that failed. We have to look at the whole financial system and my plan does that.
COLBERT: If you're president.
CLINTON: Yes...
COLBERT: And the banks -- and the banks are failing, do we let them fail this time?
CLINTON: Yes, yes.
COLBERT: We let them fail this time?
CLINTON: Yes, yes, yes, yes.
COLBERT: Wow.
CLINTON: First of all, under Dodd-Frank, that is what will happen, because we now have stress tests and I'm going to impose a risk fee on the big bank if they-- if they engage in what-- risky behavior. But they have to know, their shareholders have to know that, yes, they will fail. And if they're too big to fail, then under my plan-- and others that have been proposed-- may have to be broken up because if you can't manage it, then it's more likely to fail.
COLBERT: Can you at least just get back from them the $3 they charge us to take $20 out of an ATM machine?
CLINTON: You know what? We need to go after that, too, don't you think? Yeah.
COLBERT: I do, do.
CLINTON: Yeah, that's usurruous.
COLBERT: Who would you rather run against, Donald Trump or Ben Carson?
CLINTON: I'm going to leave that to the Republicans. You think-- I-- I --
COLBERT: The likely choice is those two guys.
CLINTON: Yeah, but if I say one or the other it might influence some people and I don't want to have any influence on it. I want them to go through whatever their process is because if I am fortunate enough to be the nominee, I want to run hard against whichever Republican is up there.
COLBERT: But you can picture either one of them in the office, right? You can picture either one of those guys in the office?
CLINTON: Well, I-- I can-- I can picture them in some office.
COLBERT: Halloween. Halloween is coming up. And your campaign has put out a costume, a recommended costume.
CLINTON: They did not ask me about this.
COLBERT: They did not. I went ahead and did it. This is you. Where are you here? These are costumes. You can dress up for your Halloween party as Hillary Clinton. You'll really scare your Republican friends. Who is this?
CLINTON: No, you'll scare your Democratic friends. This is high school. If anybody left in America has a Peter Pan collar white shirt and a plaid jumper, you can do that.
