In the runup to Hillary Clinton's announcement Sunday that she'll run for president, CNN couldn't stand the anticipation.
The Clinton campaign has kept the details of the impending announcement fairly quiet and host Dana Bash said, "The silence is deafening."
Bash then welcomed two female Democrats who served in the Senate with Clinton: Sen. Debbie Stabenow and former Sen. Mary Landrieu.
Speaking for Michigan, Stabenow encouraged Clinton to keep fighting for the middle class to make sure everyone has a fair shot at achieving "one good paying job with benefits so you can really be in the middle class."
Landrieu praised Clinton for connecting with voters "beautifully," encouraging "Hillary to just be Hillary." She added that "if we will all allow her to be the extraordinary leader that she is," Clinton's campaign will be "beautifully done."
"There's a nice ring to President Hillary Clinton," Landrieu said.
Stabenow agreed: "I have to say, electing the first woman president would certainly be a big step in the future." She then spoke of herself and Clinton being part of a special club called "grandmothers" and how that changes your focus for the future.
Republicans were bashed during the segment as the party of "personal degradation," as Landrieu accused, and for trying to make the case that a Clinton presidency will really be a third-term Obama presidency. CNN correspondent Brianna Kellar played a clip of Jeb Bush tying together the failures of a Clinton/Obama foreign policy strategy. Bash and Kellar agreed that the GOP will be ruthlessly consistent in making this connection.
Incredibly, Bash's guests both brought up George W. Bush's presidency in order to stump for how President Obama and Hillary Clinton have handled the resulting recession and the Iraq war. Bash wondered if Clinton should maybe highlight her ties to Obama.
"Absolutely," Landrieu said. "I mean, we are one democratic party, and the president has a great deal to be proud of." She added:
As you know, I don't agree with him on every policy. I don't agree with President Clinton-to-be, Hillary Clinton, on every policy. But we're one party.
