Awesome. Totally Awesome.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with CNN's Fareed Zakaria about former president Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea to secure the rescue of American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee:


Below, I included a full transcript of this video, plus some preceding conversation (which I transcribed from this clip), to help contextualize the conversation. The stuff not included on the above video is in italics.

Zakaria: But the Bill Clinton mission was unorthodox—here you have a former president going on what appeared to be a state visit from the way in which he was greeted, um, being received by North Korea's top nuclear negotiator—

Clinton: This, as you know, came from the families; I mean, this was a message that, um, Laura and Euna were given by the North Koreans, which they passed onto their families, and former vice president Gore—

Zakaria: Naming him specifically?

Clinton: Naming him specifically. And then they passed it on, obviously as they should, to the rest of us, um, and, you know, it was not anything, you know, Bill was interested in, seeking, or even contemplating, but, of course, when, you know, vice president Gore called and when, uh, our administration evaluated it and began to, uh, brief him, he said, 'You know, look, if you think it's the right thing to do, and if you think I should, should do it, of course I will do it.' Um, but it is a private humanitarian mission. It was not in any way an official government mission.

Zakaria: But John Bolton, the former UN ambassador said—

Clinton: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!


Zakaria: [grinning] Should I—

Clinton: I'm sorry!

Zakaria: —even go on?

Clinton: No, you shouldn't. [still laughing] You really shouldn't.

Zakaria: But he said this is, this is rewarding hostage-taking.

Clinton: [still laughing] Ohhh, well. You know.

Zakaria: Why, why is he wrong? 'Cuz you— They effectively took hostages—

Clinton: We have done this so many times before. I mean, we've had former presidents do it, we've had sitting members of Congress do it—it is something that, you know, it is absolutely not rewarding them; it is not in any way, uh, responding to specific demands. It is a recognition that certain, um, countries, uh, that I think are kind of beyond the pale of the rule of law, uh, hold people and subject them to long prison terms that are absolutely unfair and unwarranted, and, maybe it's, you know, the fact I have a daughter, but I believed that if we could bring these young women home, we should bring them home. And it had nothing to do with our policy, and, of course, you know, you mentioned somebody who, you know, heavens—you know, if President Obama, you know, walked on water, [John Bolton] would say he couldn't swim. So, I mean, it's just not, you know, it's not something that, uh, I think is, uh, relevant to what we're trying to do.