The fog of Hillary

Watching Diane Sawyer question Hillary Clinton about Benghazi on ABC News (video below), I found myself thinking back to Roger Mudd’s destruction of Teddy Kennedy on CBS in 1979. Ms. Hillary was awake and alert, she goes on offense as always, and she scares off the posse. Even so, she wasn’t quite ready for Sawyer’s interrogation on the question of responsibility.

Ms. Hillary cannot be happy with this segment. Glenn Reynolds draws attention to Erik Wemple’s assessment of it at Wemple’s Washington Post media blog: “Diane Sawyer destroys Hillary Rodham Clinton on Benghazi.” (Wemple’s video of the segment is complete; the one below clips a minute or so off the segment.)

Ms. Hillary declares she wants to be president because of Benghazi and the desire to help the country avoid minor league ball. (Some translation required.)

Lord, save us.

Well, compare and contrast with Roger Mudd’s interview of Teddy Kennedy in 1979 as Kennedy ramped up his failed campaign to challenge Jimmy Carter for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination. One difference between the interviews: Ms. Hillary leaves no doubt that she is running and is in it to win it. Teddy Kennedy created doubt that he seriously wanted to grab the brass ring.

The Boston Globe looks back at Roger Mudd’s famous 1979 interview with Kennedy in the video below.

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