Joe and Hillary: a love story. Who knew?

Hillary appeared on today's Morning Joe to promote her latest book, a fourth memoir. Scarborough began the interview by recounting how, attending his first White House picnic as a congressman, the Hillary he encountered was very different from the one he anticipated.

He and other Republicans had run on the notion that Bill Clinton, Al Gore and Hillary were all Marxists. After the picnic, Joe was invited on a conservative talk radio show and asked to share his impressions of the trio. Whereas he confirmed that Bill and Gore "breathed fire," he found Hillary to be not a Marxist, but a "Midwest Methodist." That made the radio hosts' heads explode, said Scarborough.

Despite saying she was reticent to talk about her faith, Hillary then proceeded to describe how central it is to her being. Scarborough said that only having met her for three minutes at the picnic, "that faith came through even then."

Scarborough then broke out an early Valentine, saying:

"It really has always been disconcerting to my conservative friends, how much I, I, I loved you from the start."

Kamala Harris has been notoriously reluctant to do national TV interviews. But could something be worked out with Morning Joe if there were an understanding that Scarborough would profess his undying affection for the Democrat candidate?

Here's the transcript.

MSNBC
Morning Joe
9/19/24
7:41 am EDT

JOE SCARBOROUGH: I read something in the book, and, you know, instead of starting on politics or foreign politics, I want to start on the book. Because it reminds me, something I read reminds me of the first time I met you and President Clinton and everybody else at the White House picnic. 

And of course, we all ran against you. Hillary's a Marxist. Bill's a Marxist. Everybody's a Marxist. And after, after the picnic, I was asked by a conservative radio show to come on and talk about how horrible you all were.

They said, what'd you think about the president?I was like, ah, breathes fire. What did you think about the vice president? Ah, breathes fire. And then they laugh and go, what did you think about Hillary? I go, she's a Midwest Methodist. 

Their heads all exploded. I said, you want me to tell you the truth? She's a Midwest Methodist. That's what I saw in talking to her. Not a Marxist, a Midwest Methodist. 

And then I saw this in your book. You're reticent in talking about your faith, but you say, "My faith has sustained me, informed me, saved me. I don't know who I would be or where I would have ended up without it."

And you know, isn't it crazy? Even with all the political divide, and all the differences, that came through in you. For people who really know you, and I'd only met you for three minutes, but that faith, that came through even then.

HILLARY CLINTON: Wow, Joe. That's an amazing memory. And I used to love those White House picnics and Christmas parties, because at least for a couple of hours, everybody was talking to each other and having fun together before they went back to their corners.

And you know, I write about my faith, my family, my friends, obviously my politics in this new book because I do think we've got to start looking at people as the whole beings that we are. 

And certainly, my faith, as I say, has been critical. It's been key to who I am, how I think about my life, the kind of service that I believe in, and I really appreciate the old memory that you just shared.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. It really has always been disconcerting to my conservative friends, how much I, I, I loved you from the start.