Tavis Smiley: I was gonna make a bad joke and say, speaking of interns, I wanna ask you about Bill Clinton, but I’m not gonna say that. Let me ask you though about Bill Clinton. You and Bill Clinton are friends. I assume that you know Hillary Clinton as well. A lot of talk these days, obviously, new polls come out all the time about what Hillary’s chances are in ‘08, so what do you think? As I shift gears here, talk about politics for a second.
Billy Bob Thornton: Well, I mean, I think it would be great, and obviously I would always be for her and for Bill. They’re great people, and I’ve known ‘em for a long time. I happen to think that as far as politicians go, they really do at their core mean what they say. Of course, you know, if you’re in politics, there’s a lot of stuff you have to do to satisfy a lot of people. But, that being said, I think they really mean well. And I would love to see her get in there. I don’t know if this country is capable yet of electing a woman. I’m not sure that they’ll do it right now. And because of a lot of backward thinking in a lot of places here. And, you know, um…that’s an interesting subject. I mean, let’s say, uh, there’s a black man and Hillary Clinton running as the president, vice president team.
Smiley: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Yeah.
Thornton: I don’t know.
Smiley: They ain’t ready for that.
Thornton: I don’t think they’re ready.
Smiley: They definitely ain’t ready for that.
Thornton: Yeah. And I’m not even sure they’re ready for Hillary. Although, you never know, depending on who the running mate is, maybe. I think that might have a lot to do with it. Um, it’s a real crucial time for us politically, I think.