Clinton sidesteps Russert’s ‘Meet the Press’ questions

Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press rocked the NBC studio Sunday with perhaps the biggest laugh from a guest in months, observed Grumpy Editor.

Before moderator Tim Russert --- going back to 1998 at a time of the Monica Lewinsky scandal --- completed his question on if the vast right-wing conspiracy still exists, the presidential aspirant broke into a hearty laugh.  Then she responded, “Oh, I don’t know.  I haven’t paid much attention to it for about 10 years.  I really don’t have any idea…I’m just too busy to worry about that.”

Indeed, it was almost 10 years ago, on Jan. 27, that the former first lady appeared on NBC’s The Today Show and declared:  “The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it an explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

Also on Sunday’s broadcast, after Clinton mentioned that she “answered hundreds and hundreds of questions in New Hampshire,” Russert had trouble prying a solid response with another question, “Do you believe that Barack Obama is ready to be president?”

“This is up to the voters of our country to determine,” summed up Clinton who then went into touching on the war in Iraq, the economy and the uninsured.  Determined Russert gave it a second try:  “Is Barack Obama ready to be president?”

Russert got an almost carbon copy, but firmer, reply, “That is up to voters to decide, Tim.”

Including the dual short questions from Russert, that interaction took up almost two minutes.