One race is over, but another has immediately begun. Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president, but Senator Clinton's not going quietly into the night. She has told confidants she now wants to be VP and signaled as much last night.
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HILLARY CLINTON: And I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard, and no longer to be invisible.
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All right. Close Clinton confidant Terry McAuliffe also sent Obama a message.
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TERRY MCAULIFFE, CLINTON CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: But what she's always said, I will do anything to help win in the fall, to help the Democrats at the presidential level.
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So there you go.
Now why would Senator Clinton want the job? It has no power attached, and there's virtually no chance that, as president, Barack Obama would give Hillary a seat at the White House table — the way President Bush did with Dick Cheney. In fact, FOX News analyst Bob Novak reports Barack and Michelle Obama don't like or trust the Clintons.
So even if the Democratic leadership convinces Obama to give her the second slot, she would not be a player if Obama wins. Much like Lyndon Johnson was not a player in the Kennedy White House, nor was Dan Quayle under Bush the elder.
"Talking Points" can only surmise the Clintons want to hang in there just in case all hell breaks loose in the Obama camp this summer. Let's face it, this is a crazy campaign already. This time last year, no one thought Barack Obama could ever defeat Hillary Clinton. And each week, new things emerge as campaign issues.
Now I am deducing the Clintons want to hang on as long as possible simply to see what goes down. I could be wrong. But there is no other rational explanation. Hillary Clinton would be much more powerful as a senator from New York than an isolated vice president running around at funerals all over the world. She knows that, her husband knows that, and Obama knows that. So there is intrigue in the air, as there has been ever since this campaign began.
And on that point, Democratic icon Jimmy Carter said today that putting Hillary on the ticket would be "the worst mistake Obama could ever make." Carter cited Senator Clinton's high negative ratings in the polls.
But Hillary is in play, no question about it. Will she get the VP nod? I don't know. And I hate saying that.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Actress Ashley Judd is taking a stand against human sex trafficking.
At a U.N. press conference, Ms. Judd is urging that the world unite to protect children from being used in prostitution and slavery. I guess we could begin that in Texas, as we just discussed.
Anyway, Ms. Judd is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, both Charles Gibson and Katie Couric told their viewers that in May, U.S. casualties in Iraq were the lowest since the war there began.
But somehow, NBC's Brian Williams neglected to mention that. Somehow, old Brian could not work that in, even though his network was the biggest offender of the explosion du jour in Iraq, carnage without context, that we exposed last year. Since then, it has stopped.
Anyway, for ignoring what he has to know is an all-important story for America, Brian Williams is a pinhead.
Questions? Are you surprised?
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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