NBC (Again) Talks About Caroline Kennedy Supporting a Hillary Presidential Run

Thursday's NBC Nightly News decided it was newsworthy to air a Democrat's tentative support for a hypothetical Hillary Clinton presidential run. NBC's Chuck Todd pressed U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy on the matter.

"Can you foresee yourself supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 if she chooses to run?" Todd asked Kennedy, who reservedly expressed her support. "Because the last time you didn't support her, that's why I was just curious if this time you want her to do it and this time you would be behind her." [Audio here [1].]

That wasn't NBC's first report on Kennedy support for Clinton. On Thursday's Today [2], Todd paraphrased his exchange with Kennedy:

"I also asked Caroline Kennedy whether she was ready to support Hillary Clinton in 2016 for president given that she did not do that in 2008 and instead picked Mr. Obama. While she was hesitant to get involved in the 2016 campaign, Ambassador Kennedy said she was looking forward to Hillary Clinton running and thought she'd make a great candidate."

In response to Todd's repeated questions on her Clinton support, Kennedy was a little prickly. "Yeah, I just said that. That's great. Yeah. Yes, I think that would be great," she said of a Clinton presidential run.

Todd also brought up how Kennedy "angered some Japanese with a tweet condemning the traditional practice of dolphin hunting," but that bit of of the interview -- which aired on Today -- was omitted from the Nightly News version.

Below is a transcript of the segment:

NBC
NIGHTLY NEWS
4/24/14
[7:13 p.m. EDT]

BRIAN WILLIAMS: An interesting and admittedly briefly tense exchange between our political director and chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd and America's new ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. Chuck is in Japan traveling with the President on his four-nation Asia tour. He put a political question to Ambassador Kennedy about a potential Hillary Clinton run for the White House after she forcefully supported President Obama back in '08.

(Video Clip)

CHUCK TODD: Can you foresee yourself supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 if she chooses to run?

CAROLINE KENNEDY: Can I foresee myself?

TODD: Yeah.

KENNEDY: Sure.

TODD: Would you like to see her run?

KENNEDY: I would like to see her run if that's what she wants to do. I think she would be great.

TODD: Because the last time you didn't support her, that's why I was just curious if this time you want her to do it and this time you would be behind her.

KENNEDY: Yeah, I just said that. That's great. Yeah. Yes, I think that would be great.

(End Video Clip)