Despite Controversy, Santorum Sits Down with Stephanopoulos for First Campaign Interview
Rick Santorum announced this morning he’s running for president. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but take a look at who he gave his first campaign interview to:
Rick Santorum tells me he's officially in WH race. I'm in Pittsburgh for 1st interview today: http://t.co/x57duFrTdh pic.twitter.com/Xd4KCpzj88
— GeorgeStephanopoulos (@GStephanopoulos) May 27, 2015
"I'm ready to do this again," Rick Santorum tells me on joining the 2016 race. pic.twitter.com/ay1sQYhgwZ
— GeorgeStephanopoulos (@GStephanopoulos) May 27, 2015
That’s right, Santorum kicked off his 2016 campaign by talking with George Stephanopoulos, the same George Stephanopoulos who conservatives piled on after he admitted erring in not disclosing multiple large donations he made to the Clinton Foundation.
Rand Paul reacted by saying Stephanopoulos shouldn’t moderate any GOP debates and that he’s consciously avoided sitting down with the ABC newsman because he’s too close to the Clintons. A press flack for Senator Mike Lee said that he won’t let Lee appear with Stephanopoulos until he “recuses himself from all 2016 coverage.”
Stephanopoulos backed out of moderating any GOP debates, but RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said that wasn’t happening anyway.
In other words, there are a lot of Republicans who aren’t very keen about being around Stephanopoulos right now.
And that’s why Santorum’s interview with him drew so much attention today:
.@GStephanopoulos is interviewing Rick Santorum this AM? That is insane. The Clinton partisan should be removed from all political coverage.
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 27, 2015
Amazing that Santorum would agree to this https://t.co/KLSO3CA37J
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) May 27, 2015
So much for the GOP bluster boycotting Stephanopoulos. Santorum gives him exclusive on campaign kickoff.
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) May 27, 2015
Will be interesting to see how hard George Stephanopoulos grills Rick Santorum here given recent controversy http://t.co/S45WxtPzMX
— Colin Campbell (@BKcolin) May 27, 2015
Both the Media Research Center and HotAir have posts up today questioning why Santorum would agree to this in the first place.
And it’s not like Santorum doesn’t know how combative Stephanopoulos can be; on This Week in 2012, Stephanopoulos grilled him on his comments about feminism and the role of women.
UPDATE- 4:15 pm EST: You can watch part of their interview here, via ABC News:
ABC News Videos | ABC Entertainment News
[Image via @GeorgeStephanopoulos]
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