There have been more than 25 presidential debates already this political season, hosted by FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, and Univision. But to date, CBS News has yet to sponsor a single showdown.
Last night, however, viewers who would like to see Katie Couric questioning the leading presidential candidates on a big stage, got the next best thing: Katie Couric questioning Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes.
What did Ms. Couric ask?
Over the course of a lengthy back-and-forth, among other questions, Ms. Couric asked if Ms. Clinton popped vitamins, whether she liked Barack Obama, if she felt responsible for a deficit "caused largely by a war" she had authorized, what she was like in high school, and did her teenage classmates really call her Miss Frigidaire?
Herewith, a transcript of the interchange, courtesy of CBS:
HILLARY CLINTON: I do it because I really believe in what I’m doing.
KATIE COURIC: I knew you were going to say that.
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, but it’s true.
KATIE COURIC: But I’m talking about pure stamina.
HILLARY CLINTON: Pure stamina. I have a lot of stamina and I have a lot of resilience.
KATIE COURIC: Having said that, do you pop vitamins? Do you mainline coffee?
HILLARY CLINTON: I take– I take vitamins. I– I drink tea, not coffee anymore. I have really stopped drinking diet drinks. Because I found that they gave you a jolt, but they weren’t good over the long run. I used to drink a lot of them. I drink tons of water. Just as much water as I can possibly drink.
HILLARY CLINTON: My two secrets to staying healthy– wash your hands all the time. And, if you can’t, use Purell or one of the sanitizers. And the other is hot peppers. I eat a lot of hot peppers. I– for some reason started doing that in 1992 and I swear by it.