Hillary Clinton surprise stop on 'Colbert': Will book tour never end?
Is Hillary Rodham Clinton the hardest-working politician in show business? This summer, she鈥檚 set out on a book tour that seems to have no end. Her latest high-profile media appearance came on Tuesday night, when she walked on to 鈥淭he Colbert Report鈥� with no notice. Well, almost no notice: Prior to taping, host Stephen Colbert did hint that something big was up with some coy tweets.
鈥淔or some reason, my studio is crawling with Secret Service agents talking about somebody codenamed 鈥楥illary Hinton鈥�. Ooh, I bet it鈥檚 Biden!鈥� .
As always, the inventive Colbert had a preplanned twist that made the Clinton stop-by more than a boring recitation of difficult foreign policy choices. He began by criticizing Ms. Clinton鈥檚 鈥淗ard Choices鈥� as 600-plus pages of name-dropping.
鈥淚 just don鈥檛 buy any of this. There is no way on earth one woman can be in so many places at once,鈥� said Colbert, alone on stage.
Then Clinton came on to chants from the audience. Colbert reacted with faux surprise. Then the pair engaged in a name-drop-off of epic proportions, as Clinton charged that Colbert was himself a name-dropper par excellence.
鈥淣ame-dropper? That鈥檚 not what my good friend Tom Hanks calls me ... when we鈥檙e hanging out at George Clooney鈥檚 place,鈥� Colbert said.
鈥淥h, I love George. I wish he could have joined us when I had lunch with Meryl Streep and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa,鈥� Clinton replied.
鈥淚 know Raffi. He鈥檚 such a cutup. Especially when we go camping with Oprah,鈥� Colbert said.
Things degenerated from there. It ended when Colbert boasted of once having done an entire show with Bill Clinton, and Hillary reminded him that she knew Bill, too.
On a slightly more serious note 鈥� but only slightly 鈥� Colbert then got Clinton to outline her peacemaking style by talking about settling a conflict between a horse-sized duck and 100 duck-sized horses. Or something like that.
鈥淔irst, I鈥檇 try to find common ground between ducks and horses. For instance, they both grew up on Old MacDonald鈥檚 farm. Then I鈥檇 establish a timetable to achieve meaningful horse-duck dialogue,鈥� Clinton said.
If you want to see the whole thing, yourself. We鈥檒l only note that it鈥檚 obvious why Clinton would stop by in these circumstances: "The Colbert Report鈥� segment was almost certainly entirely prescripted, and thus controllable and favorable. Not all the appearances of her book tour have been so smooth.
As she鈥檚 hopped around the country and the world to sell 鈥淗ard Choices,鈥� Clinton has been dogged by questions about her inartful comments regarding family finances. Was she really 鈥渄ead broke鈥� when she left the White House? That鈥檚 begun to harden into a GOP talking point that Clinton is trying to counteract.
On the same day the (possible) 2016 Democratic presidential nominee was jawing it up with Colbert, probable 2016 GOP hopeful Rand Paul was in Iowa. He made speeches and attacked Clinton in an .
鈥淭o make a comment about how woeful her finances were when she鈥檚 worth supposedly between $100 million and $200 million 鈥� most of us, myself included, can鈥檛 imagine that much money,鈥� Senator Paul said.
That鈥檚 a big reason Clinton is still out on the never-ending book tour. She knows the race has already begun. Her adversaries are honing their words, and so is she, in the pre-primary phase of the great American presidential contest.
