On Monday night, Charlie Rose lovingly opened his interview with Hillary Clinton by reciting a glowing review of her new book. Clinton sat down for the full hour suck-up on Rose’s PBS show and was greeted to Rose reading from Jennifer Senior’s New York Times book review of What Happened. In fact, Rose couldn’t get through the entire open without sharing a laugh with Clinton as the two seemed to revel in the rapturous review.
Rose began by gushing about sales of the book: “First of all, it’s a bestseller, a runaway bestseller. I think the fastest rising, non-fiction book in five years.”
He then repeated the bouquets thrown at the book by Senior: “This is what one reviewer said: ‘What Happened is not one book, but many. It is a candid and blackly funny account of her mood in the direct aftermath of losing to Donald Trump....It is a feminist manifesto. It is a score-settling jubilee. It is a rant against James Comey, Bernie Sanders, the media....It is a thumping of Trump.’ So, congratulations.”
The over-the-top open is reminiscent of when Rose started his 2014 interview with Clinton by actually reciting a Maya Angelou poem dedicated to the former First Lady and two-time failed presidential candidate. It also fits in with the other gooey book tour interviews Clinton has received from liberal media over the years.
The following is the full open from the September 25 edition of PBS’s Charlie Rose show:
HOST CHARLIE ROSE: Hillary Clinton is here. She was, as you know, the Democrat Party’s nominee for president in the 2016 election. She previously served as First Lady, senator from New York, and Secretary of State. Secretary Clinton received more votes in last year’s election than any of the U.S. presidential candidate in history except for President Obama. Yet despite winning the popular vote, she lost the election to political newcomer Donald Trump. Secretary Clinton reflects on the 2016 campaign in her new book. It is called What Happened, appropriately titled. I’m pleased to have her back at this table. Welcome.
HILLARY CLINTON: Thank you, Charlie. It’s good to be here.
ROSE: First of all, it’s a bestseller, a runaway bestseller. I think the fastest rising, non-fiction book in five years. This is what one reviewer said.: “What Happened is not one book, but many. It is a candid and blackly funny account of her mood in the direct aftermath of losing to Donald Trump. It is a post-mortem, in which she is both coroner and corpse. It is a feminist manifesto. It is a score-settling jubilee. It is a rant against James Comey, Bernie Sanders, the media, James B. Comey, Vladimir Putin, and James B. Comey. It’s a primer on Russian spying. It is a thumping of Trump. I sometimes wonder: If you add together his time spent on golf, Twitter and cable news,” she writes, “what’s left?” So, congratulations.
CLINTON: Thank you.
