Hillary Clinton likens White House to prison

Not that it's going to diminish her ambition to live there again, but Hillary Clinton says she views the White House as something of a prison.

She also thinks that when she gets there, she'll have to have some kind of national contest to decide what to call her husband because First Lady wouldn't be appropriate.

This and other minutiae Clinton shared with Tyra Banks during a Monday taping of her syndicated TV show that will be broadcast nationally Friday.

"Do you ever get lonely?" Banks asked the New York senator. "Do you ever sit in your room by yourself sometimes and just feel alone?"....

"I don't feel lonely," Clinton said. "But I do feel sometimes isolated. Because when you are in these positions that I have been in, it can be very isolating. It is one of the reasons I put on the dark glasses and the baseball cap and go out of the White House. President Harry Truman once said that the White House was like the crown jewel of the American penal system because you can feel confined."

"And kind of jails," Banks added.

"Yeah," Clinton replied. "Because you feel so set off and really isolated."

Banks also wanted to know what Clinton's husband would be called if she won. "He will always be Mr. President," Clinton said. "But now we need to do a nationwide contest for a name."

"Like a reality show," Banks suggested.

"Like a reality show," Clinton agreed. "This is good, because think about it; here are some of the things that have been suggested like First Mate. His Scottish friends say 'First Laddie,' but we need ideas.  I'll just keep calling him Bill."

Banks didn't get around to asking policy questions, but she was curious about something that so many of us have also long wondered about -- which reality show Clinton might like to be on someday -- "Dancing with the Stars," "American Idol" or "America's Next Top Model."

"In my dreams," Clinton said, "I would be on 'America's Next Top Model,' but in reality I would have to chose my limited talents and of them, dancing is better than singing. You do not want me to sing."

"What type of dancing do you do?  Do you do hip-hop?  Can you do the Soulja Boy or the Spongebob dance?"

"I have heard of those," Clinton said. "I think that is a variation of what I did like 30, 40 years ago."

"My mother says the same thing."

Finally, Clinton announced her decision: "I think it would have to be 'Dancing with the Stars,' " she said, "especially if I could have one of those really good partners."

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Dan Collins]

The cankles! The cankles!

[Robert Davidson]

How many people get to collect $400,000+ every year from the suckers (excuse me, "taxpayers") and travel anywhere they want while they are in prison?

"Poor me, I'll be just like a prisoner in the White House." What a complete load of horse manure, and it shows just how much contempt Hillary has for the intelligence of most Americans. God help us all if she is right.

[Michelle]

i love hillary clinton but im scared for her because there could be some bad people who dont want hillary to be president because they are sexists or maybe just because they dont like what she has to say but i really would like her to become the first female president

[Jim]

WOW more riveting questions by another talentless hack. So lets see hillary has been asked, "do you feel isolated? "do you preferDiamonds or Pearls" "do you like Bill in boxers or briefs" Can these idiots ask a serious question. Like lets say "Senator Clinton you have proposed a health care package that would give everyone socialized medicine, how will you pay for that?" and when you have taxed the "wealthy" out of all their money, what group gets taxed next?

[Jenny Bea]

Ironic she calls it that when so many people think it's exactly where they should go- bringing Sandy Berger with them.

[Charles Storey]

It may usefull for Hillary to know the feel of what prison might be like as she may end up there.

[clyde]

hillary clinton . . . YUCK! i'm sick of her and her cackle already.

we do not need bush - clinton - clinton - bush - bush - clinton!

[Charmaine]

How about First Giggolo?

[Kay Cowan]

How about calling Bill Clinton First Ladies Man?

[Carroll]

Gag me. or her. make her go away.

[Monica Lewinsky]

Wow - Tyra is really stupid.

[Keith]

"Impeached" comes to mind. And yes he was impeached -The senate just could not nut up and convict. Lying to a Grand Jury is a crime and even a president is not immune from that law.

[Larry]

Hillary thinks the White House is a prison, but her husband thinks it's a bordello.

[Confuzled]

Why is a political candidate (of any stripe) appearing on the Tyra Banks show??? Not to bash Ms. Banks or anything, but what's next - the View?

As for the contest: Trust me - there aren't many expressions we can submit to Hillary that she hasn't already called Bill.

(P.S. Hillary Clinton has already been on the view too.)

[David Eckard]

There isn't enough money in the world to get me to live within the confines of the Presidential "bubble" - constant attention, media scrutiny, special security, etc. I commend Sen. Clinton for her many years of service to this nation and her continued enthusiasm and efforts to make this a better country for all of us. She is truly our best hope to return America to its proper place in the global community. When she assumes power in January 2009, she will do everything possible to erase the last seven years of war, fear, corruption, and scandal. Thank you, Sen. Clinton, for all that you do.

[The 7-10: Anthony Palmer]

What a failure of journalism.

Of all the more substantial things to address regarding the presidential race, our state of political discourse has been reduced to asking our leading candidates which reality show they'd like to appear on.

Voters often complain that they don't know very much about their candidates. Nonstories like this are a perfect example of why.

What ever happened to media responsibility?

(So I gather you're not a regular viewer of The Tyra Banks Show?)

[JW]

It's all a huge, right wing conspiracy..........and remember The First Liar on national television, wagging his finger at the camera, saying "I did NOT have sex with THAT WOMAN!".

Do we really need these people back in the White House?
How about, Anybody but Hillary?

[Lance Morrison]

***Tears in Heaven?***
Liberals have had it their way for years--trying to define race as a conservative shorfalling in America. All of the rented 'First Black President' allusions were illusions--Bill paid the 'rainbow' crowd off with our money. Now they get to see how the Clintons really regard race--as a wedge issue. They are used to the wedge on their side, but in an instant they have turned it around.
Anyone with an open mind could see it for what it is:
**Hillary's comment about Ghandi as a gas station attendant.
**Her unbelieveable assertion that LBJ was responsible for the 1964 Civil Rights Act as opposed to the marchers and activists.
I could almost feel MLK's 'tears in Heaven'
**Think about her concession speech in Iowa, and her lilly white entourage--Bill, TerryMcAuliff, Albright and Wesley Clark--like a vanilla snow cone.
Conservatives believe in equality--equal right and equal worth. The divide that liberals have created is due to their black phobia--and they have insulated themselves FROM blacks with money that never changes a thing.
If Hillary was different than my analysis would suggest, we wouldn't be hearing that she is the single most qualified person in the country to be president.
**Does she believe there are no blacks more qualified then she?
**Does she maintain there are no Hispanics more qualified than she
**Women? Lesbians or gays? Asians? Handicapped?
She plays to these demographics, yet only if she is the deliverer of their mother's milk--public money.
I address Hillary in song with 'Hillaryous,' a song I wrote as part of 12 musical slaps to The Left. I'm just a cop, but I know bad mojo when I see it. I pray for the day when race gets out ahead of politics. Hear it @
www.conservativemusiconline.com

[stvnscott]

First Ladies' Man?
First Philanderer?

These names are a good start, no?

[Nichella, L.A.]

I hope Tyra was told she HAD to ask fluff questions in order to secure Hilary as a guest, because she is so much smarter than this interview.

A mix of fun and serious questions would've been much more appreciated by the audience.

I suspect though, that their "handlers" agreed on topics beforehand and that was that.

How are we ever to be an educated public across the board? Geez

[PO'ed Peacenik]

Well, if the White House is a prison, then let's get the bars up now and start it off by incarcerating Bush and Cheney first, kind of a war-crimes holding cell before they get sent to Gitmo.

[Macon Hardy]

Wow! I feel Hilary's Pain. I have an idea!!! Let's save her and Bill from such hell and make sure she doesn't get into the white house!

I am so surprised the media doesn't see through her fake, phoney, acts. I am a democrat and I'm voting for Obama. If he is not the nominee then I'm not going to vote. What's the use. It is time for my generation to be heard. Hillary does not represent my generation. She is old, worn out, and tiring. She would be no different than those old republicans running on the other side.

[Anisa Rhys-Jones]

She is clawing her way back on hands and knees, her and Bill. If she makes it, God forbid, I will stage a prison break myself and rescue her from her jail.

Obama is running against two people. I think that is just wrong. Can't she do it alone?

[Paula Jones]

Call Bill the First Felon

[Frank]

A prison, Barack Obama will fit right in