NBC News " Hardball" - Transcript: Hillary Clinton Email Controversy
Interview
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MATTHEWS: Well, let`s bring in Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri. She
joins us right now live. Thank you, Senator McCaskill.
This angle, that Hillary Clinton isn`t a crook -- they`re not going that
far, although Darrell Issa was pretty close to that -- it seems to me that
they go after this e-mail, which seems like a strange thing to focus a
national campaign on, but they`re doing it.
And if you look at the numbers in the states, her numbers on honesty and
candor are dropping. So however unfair this is, they`re working something
here.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Well, I think it`s way too early to
tell whether or not this gamble that they`re making -- and frankly, Darrell
Issa is so over the top. He is like the lead drum major of the Hillary
haters, and they`re legion out there.
But let`s get to the policies. And that`s what the American people are
going to do, Chris. They`re going to look at these people and they`re
going to decide who has the stable of a resume that is incredibly varied
and strong? Who is confident? Who has gravitas on the world stage? And
who cares about them in terms of the policies? This parade of characters
they have, none of them even favor increasing the minimum wage.
So I think Hillary Clinton is going to be fine. And I think America
understands that she didn`t want people pawing through her personal e-mails
dealing with her mother`s illness and death and her daughter`s marriage and
pregnancy.
I think most Americans get that. There should be some ability to have some
privacy if you`re a public figure.
MATTHEWS: Well, of course, they don`t see it that way. Let me ask you
about Hillary Clinton`s posture right now, talking about populist
arguments, saying that the deck is stacked to the top, using that phrase
apparently three times now, including the video. So she`s on this line
now.
Is she going to be seen as imitating too -- imitative too much of Elizabeth
Warren here, a kind of Elizabeth II, or does this authentic to you, that
she is a woman of the Democratic left? Is she on the left?
MCCASKILL: With all due respect, Hillary Clinton has been talking about
the issues that help middle class America for longer than Elizabeth Warren
has even been thinking about politics. This is a woman who has a lifetime
of working on behalf of children`s issues and family issues. She doesn`t
have to apologize for her bona fides in this area.
And this notion that she`s quote, unquote, "too close to Wall Street" -- I
think that comes from the fact that she was a senator from New York.
MATTHEWS: Yes.
MCCASKILL: I`m not sure there`s anything in her record that would bear out
that she somehow doesn`t get that people are afraid they`re not going to be
able to afford to retire in this country.
So I think -- and by the way, what are the people on the far left going to
do? Are we going to embrace Ted Cruz, or is it going to be Marco Rubio?
MATTHEWS: Well, clearly, not in the general election you`re not. Thank
you for that.
MCCASKILL: Right.
MATTHEWS: I think that`s an easy one.
MCCASKILL: Right.
MATTHEWS: Senator, you`re one of my favorites. Thanks so much. Claire
McCaskill of Missouri.
MCCASKILL: You bet.
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