Hillary Clinton Tugs on Bond With Former Aide, Stephanopoulos - "I think you can vouch for that."

[jefferson_dem]

Clinton Tugs on Bond With Former Aide
By Katharine Q. Seelye

DES MOINES — During an interview on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton referred a few times to her shared history with her interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, who worked in the Clinton White House.

Mrs. Clinton often says that her time in the White House gave her the experience to be president. Mr. Stephanopoulos asked her on Sunday, just four days before the neck-and-neck Iowa caucuses, about a recent report in The New York Times that questioned the depth of that experience.

Mrs. Clinton said she disagreed with that conclusion and added: “You know, I can imagine what the stories would have been had I attended a National Security Council meeting. You were there. I think you can vouch for that.”

Mr. Stephanopoulos was in the unusual position of being able to do just that. He managed much of the Clinton message and no doubt dreaded answering questions about the degree to which the powerful first lady might be involved in national security or anything else.

But he did not vouch for her. And there was no reaction shot of him when she said that.

At another point in the interview, Mrs. Clinton again drew him into their shared history.

Discussing the difficult campaign ahead, Mrs. Clinton recalled: “You know, George, you and I went through an experience, in 1992, where Bill Clinton didn’t win anything until Georgia.”

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“That’s not a surprise to me, or to you,” Mrs. Clinton answered, immediately drawing him back into their circle of familiarity.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/clinton-tugs-on-bond-with-former-aide/