Letterman Gets Serious With Clinton

Some Light Moments, But Emphasis In "Late Show" Interview On Iraq And Campaign 2008

(CBS)  David Letterman marked his 14th anniversary at CBS Thursday with stars including Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney, joking at one point that he'd had to leave NBC "after that men's room incident" - a reference to the Capitol Hill scandal Idaho Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea in a Minneapolis airport restroom.

That was just a warm-up for the main event, however.

Letterman's headliner was Hillary Clinton, who walked onto the "Late Show" stage to the strains of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," ribbed Letterman for his many jokes about her pantsuits (while wearing one, of course), and answered some serious questions before delivering a Top Ten list of comedic campaign promises.

Most popular with the "Late Show" audience were a promise to allow taxpayers to roll dice for double or nothing against the IRS; a pledge to loan out Air Force One to folks who have trouble getting a flight; and a promise that her vice president "will never shoot anybody in the face."

Letterman took Clinton back to her first job after graduating from college, as a fish gutter in Alaska.

"The job was to be in hip boots with an apron, with a spoon," Clinton recalled. "The salmon would be brought in, they'd be slit open, and the caviar would be taken out and then they'd be thrown in a big pile. My job was to grab - I mean, these are big fish - to take a spoon and clean out the insides. That's called 'sliming fish.' "

It was, Clinton said satirically, "the best preparation for being in Washington that you can possibly imagine."

Asked about the tens of millions she's already raised for her campaign, and the many millions more that are likely to be spent, Clinton said she'd like to see a switch to "public financing, where people don't have to raise money like this."

"There's a great public financing system here in New York City, and I think it's a terrific model," she continued. "But, again, under our constitution, the Supreme Court has decided that your contributions is a form of political speech... So it would be very hard to come up with a system that would really work. But I'm gonna do everything I can - now, as a senator - I hope, as a president - to try to deal with it."

As for the campaign itself, the New York Democrat says it's long, intense, and takes stamina - which she has.

"I find it exhilarating," said Clinton. "I get to travel, go in and out of people's lives in a way that few folks ever get to do. You're in people's homes, workplaces - everything that you can imagine that's important, and they're telling you about it."

The campaign trail, she acknowledged, is also "incredibly draining... it seems to be what our system demands. Maybe because it's the hardest job in the world, they want to make the candidates go through very tough preliminaries."

The challenges are already in place, said Clinton, for the next president.

"I think it's going to be especially hard following President Bush and Vice President Cheney; I think there are going to be a lot of problems that we'll inherit," she said. "I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think, number one, that I could win, and number two, that I could do the job that the country needs."

"I think the fact that I would be the first woman president is a good barrier for America to break," she continued, pointing to female leaders past and present, including Margaret Thatcher, Indira Ghandi, Golda Meyer, and Angela Merkel. "We're the land where we say to everybody, 'Live up to your potential, live your dreams,' right?"

"It certainly seems overdue," Letterman said about the prospect of a female president.

[actornaught]

She was impressive enough on Letterman, and i realized how much more ''presidential'' she is than w on his best days. It''s obvious she''ll be able to purge some of the shame w has inflicted on our country and government, worldwide.

The anti-Hillary flock of sheep have kept themselves insulated from the mainstream, eating out of each others toilets as they prefer to do. Try as they might, their laughable mental powers just won''t bend reality. The reality that plenty of people like Hillary, and her electability has been steadily climbing above the ''pubs for some time. AND she will make a much better president than w, and anybody the ''pubs have.

[me4prezz]

I am voting for Hilary.

[detrack]

"Cover your butt, Hillary''s watching
-Laurie"
a comment that has been going around...maybe it''s true.......

[chicagopoet]

It will be much better if John Edwards is our next president. If Clinton gets elected, that will mean that the same two families, Clinton and Bush, have run this country for over two decades, three if you take into account Bush was VP under Reagan. These are the people responsible for the problems we have today. The last thing we need is to choose a president based on nostalgia. We need new blood in the White House. John Edwards has a plan to end Bush''s illegal, murderous war. Take a good look at John Edwards before it is too late.

[zick8310]

Wow, this is the reason''s we went into Iraq...Doesn''t this mean we''re winning?

"I think we say to them that they performed heroically, and they did everything they were asked to do. It''s important that every American understand that," said Clinton. "They were asked to rid of Saddam Hussein and bring him to justice, and they did. They were asked to give the Iraqis free and fair elections to chart their own future, and they made that happen. They were asked to give the Iraqi government the space and the time to make these political decisions that only they can make, and they did that as well."

[revhowdy4277]

Perhaps V.P.Cheney will help the health care crisis by donating some of the billions that he will make from Haliburton when he gets out of office for their role in scamming us on the reconstruction of Irac.

[revhowdy4277]

If Hillary wins the white house will Bill have to undergo a *** change operation?

[socrates392]

booooo Hitler-y, yayyyyy Fred.

Posted by mommajommah at 07:51 PM : Aug 31, 2007

Hitler? I think Fred thinks and acts more like Hitler than Hillary. Maybe Mao or Stalin or something, but not Hitler. The Republicans are clearly the fascists in this country!

[sblake63]

People harping on Clinton''''s experience are funny. What was Bush''''s "experience" prior to the White House? Did he sit in cabinet meetings, did he meet foreign leaders? Of course not.

Dumb arguments from dumb people.
Posted by incog-nito at 06:46 PM : Aug 31, 2007

__________________

LMFAO@ incog-nito .... ummmm Bush was governor of a state with a population of 22 million people while Hillary was spending her time trying to keep track of her cheating husband.

Now we learn one of Hillary''s biggest fund raisers is a convicted felon and of course she says "oh I had no idea". But what can you expect from Arkansas white trash. Don''t liberals usually trash country types? But instead they are they are hero''s of the left. So much for consistency HAHA!

[mommajommah]

booooo Hitler-y, yayyyyy Fred.

[ioweign]

And Hillary''''s accomplishments are...?????
Posted by bizzzz at 03:55 PM : Aug 31, 2007

And Bush''s accomplishments are....??

[incog-nito]

People harping on Clinton''s experience are funny. What was Bush''s "experience" prior to the White House? Did he sit in cabinet meetings, did he meet foreign leaders? Of course not.

Dumb arguments from dumb people.

[incog-nito]

All this Hillary-bashing is pointless. One thing''s for sure: a Dem will be in the White House in 08.

[awbsdad]

Hillary for president? Of what? Surely not the US. That would be the final blow to this country. I think she has no respect among foreign leaders. She would be a pushover. Bill wants back in and would be her advisor. Wonder if Monica can stay in the Lincoln Bedroom?
Please, people....see thru that fake grin, those pantsuits, etc. FAKE FAKE FAKE and money hungry and power hungry. Would she bring back all the stuff she took? What about new stuff? Furnishing a new house? Give me a BREAK!

[randaids]

There is no way Hillary can win, no way!!!!!!

[manner6]

Do you HAVE TO be breath-takingly stupid to be a conservative?

[bizzzz-2009]

And Hillary''s accomplishments are...?????

[actornaught]

Nancy Reagan was more qualified than w, and Hillary''s accomplishments pale them both.

So does her command of the english language...

[j4401]

If you do not think your being manipulated then enjoy your fear. I prefer the truth.
A retired general once told me, "war is all about the money period." I do not think that has changed, do you?

[sblake63]

j4401 - Not really, but does it make you feel better to pretend it''s "over". There has been a least a dozen major plots foid since 2001 and more in the works that we dont know about. Seeing two 110 story buildings collapse should never leave our minds as long as the ones who planned it are still making threats.