What’s a secretary of state to do in the face of international terrorism and domestic unrest? Why, she should set the record straight on the “Today” show, which is just what Hillary Clinton did Thursday to tackle cloak-and-dagger rumors that she might replace Vice President Joe Biden in 2012 and to call the story of an alleged attempt on a Saudi ambassador’s life by Iranian agents “a state-sponsored act of terror,” adding that “the world needs to speak out strongly against it.”

Clinton got a jump on that mission, thanks to the NBC morning show and her agreeable interviewer, Savannah Guthrie, who chirps in the clip (below excerpt) that the bomb plot certainly was “brazen.”

On the VP tip, Clinton came prepared with another pithy answer, flexing her cyber-savviness in her denial that she’d bump Biden off Obama’s ticket in 2012: “It’s maybe a subject for speculation on Google, but it’s not a serious issue in the administration,’’ she said. –KA

MSNBC:

Hillary Clinton shot down speculation she could join the Obama 2012 ticket as vice president in 2012 in an exclusive interview with TODAY. Switching positions with Joe Biden, per rumors swirling around Washington, is not “in the realm of possibility,’’ the secretary of state told Savannah Guthrie.

“I do not think it’s even in the realm of possibility, and in large measure because I think Vice President Biden has done an amazingly good job,’’ Clinton told Guthrie in an interview that aired partially on Thursday. “He has taken on the burden of, you know, selling the economic plan, of traveling the country, of answering people’s questions.’’

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