Mediaite » George Stephanopoulos

Soledad O’Brien Pushes Back On ‘Religious Liberty’ But Lets Abortion Pill Lie Slip Through

Tommy Christopher — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:44:05 +0000

On Tuesday morning’s Starting Point, host Soledad O’Brien led yet another discussion of the Obama administration’s decision to give non-church religious employers one year to comply with the Preventive Services Mandate, which some claim is an “attack on religious liberty.”

O’Brien did a good job of challenging that false premise, but allowed guest Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-TN) to slip in the lie that the mandate covers the “abortion pill.”

Ms. O’Brien repeatedly pressed Rep. Blackburn to explain how the administration’s decision had anything to do with religious liberty. In responding, Rep. Blackburn inserted a popular lie about the mandate, one which the media has been slow to correct.

“It is about forcing employers to provide things that go against their religious beliefs,” Rep. Blackburn said. “And when you have individuals that go to church on Sunday and put money in the offering plate, they need to be assured that that money is not going to go and pay for contraception items, for abortion pills. And this mandate covers all FDA-approved medications.”

The “abortion pill,” RU-486, is not covered by the mandate, of course, but Rep. Blackburn was likely trying to conflate emergency contraception with the abortion pill. They are not the same thing, so while some religions may promote that idea as an article of faith, it is a medical fact that they are not the same. Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy from occurring, and is for use long before a pregnancy is even possible.

O’Brien’s other guest, the ACLU’s Louise Melling, explained why the mandate does not infringe on religious liberty. “This respects religious liberty,” Melling said. “Churches don’t have to provide contraceptive coverage as part of their package. What this rule says is institutions like hospitals and charities and schools that open their doors to the public, serve primarily the public, don’t have a primary purpose of religion, have to offer the same insurance everybody else does. 98% of American women use contraception, including Catholics. This say it is you serve the public, you play by public rules.”

The “religious liberty” argument has even gained traction among Democrats, partially because the Obama administration, and even people like Ms. Melling, have failed to make the simple, essential argument that this decision is about equal protection under the law for women. The Preventive Services Mandate itself is about achieving parity for women’s preventive health services with everyone else’s, and the decision about the “conscience exemption” is about extending that protection to women who work in institutions that serve the general public, religious or not.

While I disagree strongly with most of what he says about this, Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough deserves a bit of credit for pointing out, this morning, that the Preventive Services Mandate doesn’t cover abortion services of any kind, and I’d even tend to agree that the administration did a poor job of rolling this out. By letting it just sort of pop out and lie there, shivering, the administration has allowed the measure’s critics to control the discussion, so that even when they do a good job of defending the decision, the best they can do is convince people they’re not infringing on religious liberty. There’s a bumper sticker.

They should have announced this decision with a strong statement about equal protection, and about protecting women from having their employer’s religious beliefs imposed on them. Instead of answering questions like “Why should Catholic hospitals provide contraceptive coverage?” the media could, and should, be asking “Why should a woman be denied the same rights as others, just because she works at a Catholic hospital?”

Here’s the clip, from CNN’s Starting Point:

George Will: Mitt Romney Is ‘Inevitable Nominee,’ GOP Race Is ‘Over’

Josh Feldman — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:41:46 +0000

In the past week, Mitt Romney has rebounded and claimed the lead once again in the Republican presidential race. And with no debates for weeks, Newt Gingrich may not be able to shift voters’ opinions for a third time. So once again, the media is back to pushing the “inevitable Romney” narrative it’s had to temporarily shelve on a few occasions. On This Week today, George Will not only agreed that Romney is inevitable, but added that the GOP race is already over.

George Stephanopoulos saw Romney’s strong showing in two consecutive contests (Florida and Nevada) as a sign that he may end up being the GOP nominee after all. Will agreed, though he did go out of his way to note how voter turnout this election cycle was weaker than last time.

“Enthusiasm seems to be down. In Nevada, where it’s really Ground Zero for the pain of the economic downturn, you would have thought enthusiasm for the Republicans would be up, down again there.”

Will connected the dots between Romney’s victories, the lack of debates in the coming weeks, Gingrich’s huge Florida loss, and the fact that Gingrich was disqualified from placing on the ballot in his home state of Virginia, and came to the conclusion that this race is already over.

Watch the clip below, courtesy of ABC:

This Week Host Lets George Will Lie About Contraceptive Mandate And ‘Abortion-Inducing Drugs’

Tommy Christopher — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:10:16 +0000

The lie that emergency contraception is the same as the “abortion pill” RU-486 has just completed the jump from the minds of Republicans like Michele Bachmann, to Fox News opinion programming, to the broader mainstream media. On Sunday morning’s This Week, host George Stephanopoulos sat mute as columnist George Will repeated the lie that the Obama administration’s Preventive Services Mandate would force religious employers to “provide…abortion-inducing drugs.”

Women’s health has been a hot topic in the news this week, with heated interest in the Obama administration’s announcement that certain religious employers would have one year to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s Preventive Services Mandate, and the intense backlash toward, and reversal of, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure charity’s decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood. There are strong opinions on every side of these issues, but on issues of medical fact, there is only one set of facts, and it is the news media’s duty to ensure that.

Conservative opponents of contraception have been trying to inject their articles of faith into the medical nomenclature around emergency contraception for a long time. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich mentioned the medically paradoxical “Morning After Abortion Pill” in an opposition memo a few months ago, and Rep. Michele Bachmann had also been dropping references to the mythical meds into her stump speeches.

In early January, Bachmann made the unchallenged claim on Fox News’ Fox and Friends, and a few weeks later, Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson, Jr. falsely claimed that the new Preventive Services regs require religious employers who employ people of multiple faiths to “provide drugs that induce abortions.”

Hardball host Chris Matthews made the qualified statement that Catholics believe that certain types of contraception are “abortive,” but failed to provide the correct medical information, in a recent segment on the mandate.

On Sunday morning’s This Week, columnist George Will tried to change the subject from the Komen decision, telling host George Stephanopoulos “A much more important decision politically that was taken this week was the Obama administration saying that Catholic institutions have no choice, and this was applauded by pro-choice people, have no choice but to provide contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization.”

Stephanopoulos blankly replied, “I want to get to that, as well,” meaning the subject of the contraceptive mandate, but he never corrected Will’s assertion.

As I’ve written in this space several times now, the “morning after pill” is not an “abortion pill,” it can never be an “abortion pill,” because pregnancy cannot occur within the drug’s effectiveness window. Furthermore, the actual “abortion pill,” RU-486, is not covered by the Preventive Services Mandate (nor is it approved for over-the-counter sale, like Plan B is). The information that Will, et al, are disseminating is medically inaccurate, and people like Stephanopoulos have a duty to correct it, the way news organizations eventually corrected Michele Bachmann’s ludicrous claims about the HPV vaccine.

Broadcasting false medical information is a potentially dangerous act that is, at the very least, grossly irresponsible. In this case, it has the potential of discouraging women from using a medication that they have no reason to fear, or to encourage misuse of that same medication.

If Geogre Will said that large doses of aspirin cause four-hour erections, or that Lipitor makes you go blind, Stephanopoulos would surely have corrected him, but when it comes to women’s health, the media doesn’t seem to be taking science seriously. It falls to news consumers like you (and me) to demand that they do.

Here’s the clip, from ABC News’ This Week:

Joe Biden: ‘It’s Hard To Tell’ If Newt Gingrich’s ‘Food Stamp President’ Is Racial Politics

Tommy Christopher — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:05:54 +0000

In an interview with Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos Wednesday morning, Vice President Joe Biden passed on an opportunity to call former House Speaker Newt Gingrich out over his overtly racial politicking. Asked if Gingrich is playing racial politics with references to President Obama as the “Food Stamp President,” Biden responded, “It’s hard to tell. I’m not being facetious. It’s hard to tell what Newt means. He says a lot.”

Stephanopoulos first asked Biden to respond to Gingrich’s summation of the President’s State of the Union address. “The President gave a forceful defense of his record and agenda,” Stephanopoulos said. ”His challengers were out with their response right away. Newt Gingrich said it’s time to confront the truth about the President. He said he’ll always prefer a Food Stamp economy to a paycheck economy, and call it fair. Your response?”

“It’s hard to respond to Newt with those kind of ridiculous statements,” Biden began. “The fact is that for 23 months, people have been getting — the private sector’s been hiring people. The President talked about what we do think is fair. It’s fair to give the middle class a fighting shot here. To bring home jobs, incentiveize so that Americans can work here. We have a different priority set than Newt Gingrich, and apparently our Republican colleagues, have. We think it’s fair to focus on the people who built the country, who create the productivity. The people who need the jobs, who will go out and do a good job. There’s a reason why the in-sourcing is coming back. Our workers are the most productive workers in the world. We should do everything we can to deal with that.”

“Do you think the former Speaker is playing racial politics when he’s calling President Obama a Food Stamp president?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“It’s hard to tell,” Biden said, with a pause. “I’m not being facetious. It’s hard to tell what Newt means. He says a lot.”

Biden’s response was of a piece with the Obama administration’s modus operandi on issues of economics and race, which has been to reinforce the idea that Barack Obama is everyone’s president, and to avoid calling out so-called racial dogwhistles. The President and his political team are (probably rightly) convinced that in any discussion of divisive racial politics, President Obama will be painted as the one doing the dividing.

The difference here is that Gingrich’s Food Stamps bit isn’t a dogwhistle, it’s a loud-and-proud bugle call. He defends the term using faulty statistics (more people were added to the Food Stamp rolls under President Bush than under President Obama, and the number is now declining), but Gingrich peeled back the mask on that defense when he singled out black people as being “satisfied with Food Stamps,” and of having no work ethic, other than for criminality. While the President may be wisely avoiding a political fight that could damage him, at a certain point, that consideration ought to be outweighed by the resentment that Gingrich is sowing toward the urban poor.

Here’s the clip, from ABC News:

Santorum Says He Likes Gingrich, Then Proceeds To Trash ‘Erratic’ Behavior On This Week

Josh Feldman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:52:04 +0000

Now that Newt Gingrich has become the newest “Not Romney” to surge in the polls, Rick Santorum has a choice to make: whether to plow on ahead or drop out and have conservatives get behind Gingrich. George Stephanopoulos asked Santorum today about this decision, but Santorum insisted he would be a better conservative standard-bearer than Gingrich. He branded the Mitt Romney-Gingrich fight as a choice between a moderate and an “erratic conservative.”

He pointed to Gingrich’s support of issues that have also been pushed for by President Obama like climate change, the individual mandate, and immigration. He said this was a “three-person race” between him and two candidates who have not always seen eye-to-eye with the Republican party on some important political issues. He pointed to himself as someone who can rally the Republican base.

Stephanopoulos pointed to the poll results that saw Gingrich and Romney scoring highly among those who prioritized electability against Obama to be a big issue in this campaign. On the other hand, Gingrich also scored well with people who wanted a candidate who shares their conservative values. Again, Santorum falls far behind (though not as much as Romney). Santorum argued that these numbers differ on a state-by-state basis, and the race has changed so much so far and anything is possible at this point.

Then Stephanopoulos played video of Santorum at last week’s CNN debate criticizing Gingrich, and doubled down on his criticisms today, though he did add a qualifying statement.

“Newt Gingrich is a friend of mine, period. He’s a good friend of mine, I like Newt, he’s a brilliant guy who has tons of ideas. The issue is discipline. The issue is leadership. If you look at his leadership when he was in the House of Representatives, there was a conservative coup within three years of him becoming the Speaker. Eventually he was forced out because of, well, you know, issues of being able to focus, execute, discipline, order… not doing things that are out of left field. You see this repeatedly. This is not the kind of leadership we need to take on Barack Obama. We have to have a stark contrast.”

He worried that if Gingrich was the nominee, the Obama team would easily be able to launch a huge ad campaign attacking him and would make the Republican candidate the big issue of the presidential race, and the party would be “in tough shape” throughout the general election. Once again, he qualified that he likes Gingrich, but insisted he is a “high-risk candidate” with a slim chance of winning the presidency.

Watch the video below, courtesy of ABC:

George Will: Mitt Romney’s Problem Is His ‘Romneyness’

Josh Feldman — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:56:17 +0000

One week ago, Mitt Romney was the inevitable GOP nominee, the impossible-to-defeat frontrunner who was going to take three states in a row and end the primary season earlier. As George Stephanopoulos put it, what a difference a week makes. Now Newt Gingrich is back in the spotlight, and many analysts are wondering where Romney could have gone wrong. George Will‘s take? Romney just has too much… Romney in him.

Will explained that in the past five elections, it was always Candidate A winning Iowa, Candidate B winning New Hampshire, and either A or B winning South Carolina and claiming the nomination. He argued that the only “trump card” Romney had to play was electability, despite his staggering lose-to-win ratio since 1994. But getting to the precise reason Romney wasn’t doing so well, Will had a profoundly unique answer.

“We all thought going in that the big problem for Romney might be his Mormonism, it might be the Massachusetts health care plan. That’s not it. Mitt Romney’s problem is somehow his Romneyness. That is, the fact that people are just not connecting with him. Not just that he’s the first candidate we’ve ever had from the financial sector, which turns out to be a problem because finance is a, mysterious, and b, disliked, but there’s something about him that is not connecting.”

Matthew Dowd explained Romney came in the race with the clearest way forward of any candidate, and yet so much damage has been done so far. He attributed Romney’s problems not to Romney’s Romneyness, but to his “Mittness,” because of his inability to sell himself as the ideal candidate to face Obama in the general election.

Watch the video below, courtesy of ABC:

Cokie Roberts On Tebow: God…Is Clearly Not A Broncos Fan

Josh Feldman — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:32:31 +0000

Have we not reached a place free of this yet? For some reason, George Stephanopoulos decided to talk about the notoriously Christian NFL player Tim Tebow on This Week today. He asked George Will how Tebow has become such a polarizing figure in not just sports, but somehow in politics as well. Will called Tebow “an exemplary gentleman” and said he was undeserving of the attacks against him.

Cokie Roberts jumped in, and first joked that God is probably not a big fan of the Denver Broncos, then launched into a strange story about Tebow’s team.

“His team is the Saints, and the archbishop said when the Saints were named the Saints, Archbishop Hannan was asked if that was disrespectful, and he said, ‘No, just remember that most saints are martyrs.’”

Peggy Noonan quickly moved on, claiming Tebow is “the most popular sports figure in America” today, and he’s not controversial among “regular Americans.” And then, unexplicably, ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl launched into a breakdown of Tebow’s stats and how they stand up against other NFL players. But perhaps Paul Krugman made the wisest decision of anyone at the table: to not talk about a football player on a show that’s supposed to be about serious political subjects.

Watch the video below, courtesy of ABC:

Stephen Colbert Takes On George Stephanopoulos During ‘Heated’ This Week Interview

Josh Feldman — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:30:48 +0000

Stephen Colbert isn’t even a candidate for the presidency yet, and he’s already attracting more attention than actual candidates. The comedian has been riding high ever since announcing his intentions last Thursday to form an exploratory committee to run for the presidency in South Carolina, and on the heels of a new ad released by the Jon Stewart-helmed Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC released late last night, Colbert (in character) sat down with George Stephanopoulos to talk about his chances of actually getting on the ballot and the influence of Super PACs on the political process.

Stephanopoulos began by bringing up the biggest issue Colbert will have getting on the ballot in South Carolina. Namely, getting on the ballot in South Carolina. Since write-ins are not allowed and the filing deadline was months ago, Colbert’s chances of getting on the actual ballot are slim. But he joked that would not stop him, because if NASA could get on the moon and put cheese into the pizza crust, anything is truly possible. But he was definitely discouraged by the Republican party barring write-in campaigns, saying “that doesn’t sound like freedom to me.”

If his GOP candidacy falters, would Colbert consider a third-party run? Colbert didn’t speculate that much, continuously reminding Stephanopoulos that he is still in the exploratory phase of his campaign. However, he didn’t rule out the possibility that he may abandon his campaign if he sees a better candidate on the horizon, provided, of course, they kiss his ring.

Then the conversation switched to the organization formerly known as Colbert Super PAC, and Stephanopoulos played a segment of the advertisement being run by the PAC in South Carolina, attacking Mitt Romney for being a “serial killer” with respect to corporations. Colbert satirically distanced himself from the ad, reminding Stephanopoulous that Stewart was now running the PAC and candidates are not legally supposed to coordinate with Super PACs. And then, in a complete parody of Newt Gingrich, Colbert stated if information in the ad was inaccurate, it should be edited out for the sake of fairness. (Also, Colbert pointed out what a lot of us may have missed upon first viewing the ad: the narrator of the “serial killer” ad was John Lithgow, who famously played the “Trinity Killer” on Dexter. Coincidence?)

After fielding some questions from Facebook, Stephanopoulos reminded the Republican candidate that his former Super PAC is now being helmed by a man whom Roger Ailes claims is a hater of all things conservative. Colbert referred to Ailes as a friend, before agreeing with those sentiments and insisting that Jon Stewart being the new leader of the Super PAC would make it easier for him to disown anything the PAC does from now on.

Watch the full interview below, courtesy of ABC:

George Stephanopoulos Jokes That Mitt Romney’s ‘Contraceptions Are Working Just Fine’ Line Was The Result Of A Bet With Diane Sawyer

James Crugnale — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:16:37 +0000

On last night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert got George Stephanopoulos to open up about how he got Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney to give his opinion on whether states had the constitutional right to outlaw contraceptives during Saturday night’s debate. Stephanopoulos revealed he had made a bet with Diane Sawyer to bait the former Massachusetts Governor to take a position.

“So is it difficult to be a member of the press in front of a Republican audience? ” Colbert joked. “Okay, and I’ll give you a specific example. You got into a section there where you were talking about contraception. You were asking questions about contraception.”

“The right to privacy, contraception, right,” Stephanopoulos replied.

“Why was it so important?” Colbert asked. “Why were you talking about contraception so much? Don’t get me wrong, any guy sitting next to Diane Sawyer for that long at least thinks about it, but why did you make it part about the debate?

“It was about the right the privacy. One of the candidates had said he believes that the states have the right to ban contraception. I was asking Mitt Romney the same question,” Stephanopoulos answered.

Colbert then played footage of the debate, and got the ABC News anchor to respond:

Colbert: OK, OK. Romney’s basically saying you’re a silly little child. And the audience is going, “We hate him, too.” What does it feel like at that moment?
Stephanopoulos: At that moment, I’m thinking, I really want to win this bet.
Colbert: What was the bet?
Stephanopoulos: Diane Sawyer bet me that I couldn’t get Mitt Romney to say “contraceptions are working just fine.”
Colbert: Really?
Stephanopoulos: I won. [Laughter]
Colbert: You got him to say “contraceptions are working just fine.” Even though, from the number of children he has, he has no idea how they work.

Watch Stephanopoulos share details of Sawyer’s bet below via Comedy Central:

(h/t Daily Caller)

George Clooney On President Obama: ‘I Think He’s Done A Wonderful Job’

James Crugnale — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:19:40 +0000

Appearing on Good Morning America to promote his critically-acclaimed film, The Descendants, movie star George Clooney told host George Stephanopoulos that he was rooting for President Obama in 2012.

“I’m a Democrat — I’m a believer,” Clooney said. “I think he’s done a wonderful job, I think he’s having a tough time in a difficult environment. I root for him. I root for the President of the United States.”

Earlier in the interview, Clooney corrected Stephanopoulos on the difference between his prior fundraising for President Obama and campaigning for him, which he didn’t participate in:

“I didn’t do any campaigning. Because I’m a big believer–I really don’t think it helps much to have well-known, famous people campaigning for you. I don’t think that does you a lot of good.”

Clooney also had mentioned he was realistic about the political process and referenced how his father ran for Congress as a Democrat in Kentucky.

Watch Clooney’s comments on President Obama below, courtesy of ABC:

ABC News Debate Ignores Mitt Romney’s Admission That His Bain Jobs Claim Is Bunk

Tommy Christopher — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:10:22 +0000

At Saturday night’s ABC News/WMUR Republican presidential debate at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, moderator George Stephanopoulos began to press former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on his claim to have created 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital, but after extracting a major admission from Romney about a glaring flaw in that calculation, Stephanopoulos mysteriously ignored it completely.

After asking Newt Gingrich about a new short film attacking Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, Stephanopoulos asked Gov. Romney to respond. Among other things, Romney said he was “proud of the fact that the two enterprises I led were quite successful,” and that “in the business I had, we invested in over 100 different businesses and net-net, taking out the ones where we lost jobs and those that we added, those businesses have now added over 100,000 jobs.”

“Now, there have been questions about that — that — that calculation of a hundred thousand jobs,” Stephanopoulos said. “I’ve read some analysts who look at it and say that you’re counting the jobs that were created but not counting the jobs that were taken away. Is that accurate?”

“No, it’s not accurate,” Romney replied. “It includes the net of both. I’m a good enough numbers guy to make sure I got both sides of that.”

That’s not true, according to his campaign, but we’ll come back to that.

Stephanopoulos pointed out, “But that includes jobs that were created even after you left, right?”

“Oh, yes. Oh, yes,” Romney replied. ” Those — those are businesses we started that continue to grow.”

Here’s the clip, from ABC News:

For some reason, after exposing part of the recipe for Romney’s cooked jobs claim, Stephanopoulos just dropped the whole thing. The fact is, Romney’s claims about Bain are a cheat from both ends. Not only is he taking credit for jobs that were added long after Romney’s involvement, he’s also cherry-picking the top three examples and ignoring the “over 100 different businesses” that Bain raided under his tenure.

That’s according to Romney’s campaign, who told The Washington Post‘s Glenn Kessler that “the 100,000 figure stems from the growth in jobs from three companies that Romney helped to start or grow while at Bain Capital: Staples (a gain of 89,000 jobs), The Sports Authority (15,000 jobs), and Domino’s (7,900 jobs).” (This is good reporting by Kessler, but lousy “fact-checking,” ratings-wise; he inexplicably rates the completely useless jobs claim at 1, out of a possible 4, “Pinocchios,” and has a history of such generosity toward Romney.)

By all accounts, arriving at a net jobs figure for Romney’s tenure at Bain is impossible, and while that unknowable number is somewhat relevant, the real point is that people’s jobs are incidental to Bain’s mission. Indeed, the firm’s modus operandi, buying companies and extracting maximum short-term profit by cutting costs (i.e. layoffs), then selling them before they either collapse or are fixed by the next guy, tends to encourage job losses, not gains. It’s possible that even when Bain acquisitions gained jobs, those companies would have gained more jobs, had Bain left them alone.

Mitt Romney’s pitch is that his skill as a businessman qualifies him to fix our economy, but his real skill is creating wealth for people who are already wealthy (like Mitt Romney and Friends). We already live in that America, and have for a long time.

For a different look at Romney’s time at Bain, check out this segment of Up With Chris Hayes, in which, among other things, author Josh Kosman points out that “during (Romne’ys) time (at Bain), the ten biggest investments, five went bankrupt, yet Bain did very well.”

He goes on to tell the story behind the numbers of such Bain “success” stories as Domino’s Pizza, which had to revive itself with an unprecedented “sorry our pizza was so shitty” campaign, and Sealy Mattresses, whose cost-cutting led to huge profits for Bain, but also kneecapped their long-term ability to compete.

What so-called “pro-business” Republicans who worship the Mitt Romneys of the world fail to realize is that a strong economy rests on three pillars: businesses, workers, and consumers. Romney, and Bain, bloat the first pillar by eating huge chunks out of the latter two, then run to those same people (in the form of the federal government) to dig them out when the roof collapses.

Here’s the segment, from MSNBC’s Up With Chris Hayes:

Romney Trips On Contraception Question: ‘It’s Working Just Fine, Just Leave It Alone’

Tommy Christopher — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:33:03 +0000

At tonight’s ABC News/WMUR Republican presidential debate at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney stumbled badly on a Constitutional question from moderator George Stephanopoulos, first trying to punt it to “our Constitutionalist” Ron Paul, then demonstrating painful ignorance about the issues of privacy and banning contraception. To his credit, George pursued him like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. The Republican crowd was none too pleased with the line of questioning, booing Stephanopoulos several times.

“Senator Santorum has been clear in his belief the Supreme Court was wrong when it decided a right to privacy was embedded in the Constitution. He believes states have the right to ban contraception. I should add he’s not recommending that states do that,” Stephanopoulos began, speaking to Mitt Romney.

Santorum cut in, “Be clear…”

“Absolutely…I want to get to that core question,” Stephanopoulos continued. “Do you believe states have the right to ban contraception, or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?”

Romney immediately tried to evade the question. “George, this is an unusual topic that you’re raising. Do states have the right to ban contraception? I can’t imagine a state banning contraception. I can’t imagine circumstances where a state would want to do so.”

Stephanopoulos tried to help him out, but Romney plowed on, saying, “I would oppose any effort to ban contraception. So you’re asking — given the fact there’s no state that wants to do so, you’re asking could it constitutionally be done? We can ask our Constitutionalist here.”

Presumably, if elected, Romney will hire a “Constitutionalist” of his own.

“Do you believe states have that right or not?” Stephanopoulos pressed.

Romney dug himself in a little deeper. “George, I don’t know whether a state has a right to ban contraception. No state wants to. The idea of you putting forward things that states might want to do that no state wants to do and asking me if I want to do it or not is kind of a silly thing.”

The audience applauded Romney’s assessment of the obviously far-fetched premise.

Stephanopoulos tried to help him out again. “Hold on a second. governor, you went to Harvard law school. you know very well…”

Then Romney displayed the fruits of that education. “Has the Supreme Court decided states do not have the right to provide contraception?” he asked.

Oof. The first thing you learn in law school is never to ask a question you don’t already know the answer to.

“Yes,” Stephanopoulos answered, “they have. ’65, Griswold v. Connecticut.”

Not only that, but despite Romney’s insistence to the contrary, several states have introduced “personhood” ballot measures that could ban most forms of birth control. The question is as closely-fetched as it gets.

Romney continued to avoid answering the central question, whether there is a right to privacy enshrined in the Constitution, and Stephanopoulos continued to dog him, asking if the Constitution should be amended “in this case?”

“To allow states to ban contraception?” Romney said. “No. Why would we try to put it in the Constitution? With regards to gay marriage, I told you that’s when I would amend the constitution. Contraception, it’s working just fine, just leave it alone.”

Stephanopoulos tried one more time. “I understand — you’ve given two answers to the question. Do you believe that the Supreme Court should overturn it (Griswold) or not?”

The crowd disapproved of the followup, and Romney kicked it into the stands again. “Do I believe the Supreme Court should overturn Roe v. Wade? Yes, I do.”

This kind of ignorance might play well with an audience that feeds on media victimhood, but in a general election, Romney is going to need to be better prepared for questions like these.

Here’s the clip, from ABC News:

Santorum Zings Ron Paul Over Mic Trouble: ‘It Caught You Not Telling The Truth’

Tommy Christopher — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:35:34 +0000

At tonight’s ABC News/WMUR Republican presidential debate at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) zinged Rep. Ron Paul when the Texas Congressman’s microphone fed back on him. Paul was in the midst of launching an attack on Santorum, and when the mic squealed, Santorum cracked, “It caught you not telling the truth, Ron.”

Rep. Paul was asked to defend a new attack ad he’s running against Santorum in South Carolina. “You call him a corrupt — a corporate lobbyist,” moderator George Stephanopoulos said, “a Washington insider with a record of betrayal. You also call him corrupt in that ad. Senator Santorum is standing right here. Are you willing to stand by those charges, and explain them?”

“Well, it was a quote,” Rep. Paul replied. “Somebody did make a survey, and I think he came out as one of the top corrupt individuals because he took so much money from the lobbyists. But really what the whole…”

Then came the feedback. ”There it goes again,” Paul said.

“It caught you not telling the truth, Ron,” Santorum interjected.

The question touched off a long exchange of broadsides, in which the two candidates trailing Mitt Romney in New Hampshire likely made the state’s frontrunner very happy.

Here’s the video, from ABC News:

Watch The CNN Republican Debate Live Here

Frances Martel — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 00:48:06 +0000

The hits keep coming from the contentious race for the 2012 Republican nomination but, tonight, the candidates will get their last chance to square off against each other before the Florida primary mere days away. Four candidates have been invited to the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and they will square off in front of an audience that will be allowed to applaud unlike those from the last one due to a divisive decision by its hosts. Whether this will affect the evening, who will win, who will fall, and more wait to be seen.

The debate, the 19th so far, will begin at 8pm EST and be moderated by Wolf Blitzer. It is being hosted by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network.

***THIS LIVE EVENT HAS ENDED***

Rob Lowe Predicts The ‘New Republican Ticket’: Romney/Santorum

Jon Bershad — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:46:00 +0000

With all the talk of the ongoing battle between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, at least one person thinks the two will be able to patch it up. That person is Rob Lowe who predicted that the two front runners would become “the new Republican ticket” when stopping by Good Morning America.

Lowe was guesting on the morning show to promote his new Lifetime movie in which he makes an amazing transformation from being an incredibly handsome actor to being an incredibly handsome guy wearing Drew Peterson’s clothes.

The actor, once a big Democrat but now moving steadily towards the center, was asked about his interest in the politics and he responded that he was thrilled to be on the show at the same time as all the Iowa results were being discussed. When questioned about the results themselves, he predicted Romney and Santorum would end up running together.

He did, however, admit to maybe stealing the prediction from George Stephanopoulos who was sitting off to the side.

Watch the clip from ABC below:

New Promo For This Week Features GOP Candidates And Obama, All In Agreement

Alex Alvarez — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:48:18 +0000

George Stephanopoulos is returning to ABC’s This Week this weekend, right in the middle of election madness.

Stephanopoulos, who is coming back to host the Sunday morning show as former host Christiane Amanpour balances the role of global affairs anchor with a new show on CNN International, is being touted as one person who will actually allow viewers to see “the whole picture” when it comes to politics, not merely one side.

How do we know this? Because the GOP candidates (Michele Bachmann noticeably absent among them) and Barack Obama tell us so!

Check out the promo, courtesy of ABC:

Mitt Romney Talks To GMA About Rick Santorum, ‘Angry, Disappointed’ Newt Gingrich

Alex Alvarez — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:06:43 +0000

Former Massachusetts governor (oh, and the winner last night in Iowa) Mitt Romney told Good Morning America‘s George Stephanopoulos just how his experience differs from that of “runner up” candidate Rick Santorum, noting that there is “nothing wrong” with the fact that Santorum has spent “most of life in the governmental sector,” but that “it’s very different, I think, if you want to get the economy going again.”

Romney beat Santorum in Iowa by only eight votes, even though, as Stephanopoulos notes, he “outspent the former Pennsylvania senator by a 50 to 1 margin on television ads.” Romney says this is because, unlike his rival, he is focusing his efforts on a national level:

Rick has focused his effort, and I think in a wise way, entirely on Iowa. I’ve been campaigning in other states, putting together the kind organization which I believe will get me the 1150 delegates I need. So let me tell you I’m going to take every win I can possibly get and get every delegate I can possibly get.

Romney also responded, once again, to Newt Gingrich‘s comment that he is a “liar” and a “Massachusetts moderate.”

“Well, I’m sure he’s disappointed in the results last night,” Romney said, adding that he’s sure Gingrich will continue to mount a “spirited campaign.”

“I think he’s just really angry and disappointed,” he reiterated.

Have a look at Romney’s interview, courtesy of ABC:

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Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners And Losers

Mediaite Staff — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:06:01 +0000

In the world of the microscopic news cycle, a year is a mighty long time. Think “dog years” on steroids. Over the course of the past year, in thousands (around 7,500 ) of articles and millions (between 3 and 4 million) of words, Mediaite has covered the ups and downs of that whizzing, ricocheting media world. In case you lost track in that sea of information, we’ve compiled a list of 2011 Media Winners and Losers that we hope will be the start of a conversation, not the end of one. Here, in no particular order, are Mediaite’s 2011 Media Winners and Losers.

Loser: Sarah Palin (1 of 19)

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tin-eared response to the Tucson tragedy that left Rep. Gabby Giffords struggling for survival, and while that didn't help, she showed signs of recovery after that. What may have really worn out Palin's welcome, though, was her endless flirtation with a presidential run that was never going to happen. Now relegated to lesser Fox News properties and buzzless speculation about a position in another administration that will never happen, 2011 saw Palin's celebrity called before a media Death Panel." class="shutterset_mediaite039s-2011-media-winners-and-losers">

Loser: Sarah Palin As the year began, there was no brighter star in the news media firmament than former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, but as the year winds down, Palin's relevance has dipped below the MySpace line. So, what happened? How did she go from contender to dead-ender? Many media analysts point to her tin-eared response to the Tucson tragedy that left Rep. Gabby Giffords struggling for survival, and while that didn't help, she showed signs of recovery after that. What may have really worn out Palin's welcome, though, was her endless flirtation with a presidential run that was never going to happen. Now relegated to lesser Fox News properties and buzzless speculation about a position in another administration that will never happen, 2011 saw Palin's celebrity called before a media Death Panel.

tin-eared response to the Tucson tragedy that left Rep. Gabby Giffords struggling for survival, and while that didn't help, she showed signs of recovery after that. What may have really worn out Palin's welcome, though, was her endless flirtation with a presidential run that was never going to happen. Now relegated to lesser Fox News properties and buzzless speculation about a position in another administration that will never happen, 2011 saw Palin's celebrity called before a media Death Panel." >
shocked his audience in January by announcing that he would be leaving MSNBC...that very night. It was a huge media story that played out over the course of several months, until Olbermann announced the return of Countdown, on Al Gore's Current TV. Olbermann's profile and reach were significantly lowered, but the move was intended to make Current an instant player in cable news. 2012 will show whether Gore and new lead producer David Bohrman can get some numbers, and leverage their primetime lineup to get Current into more than the 60 million homes in which it's currently available. But numbers aside recent rumblings, and Olbermann's past history suggest that this union might be short-lived. Glenn Beck's exit from Fox News was announced in April, but Mediaite had the scoop weeks earlier. A combination of slipping (but still-impressive) ratings and concern over Beck's inflammatory persona led to the once-mighty Beck's exit from Fox in June, and the launch of his web-based media empire. While his audience is much smaller, Beck has managed the impressive feat of getting people to pay for something on the internet. He's somewhat off the national media radar now, but 2012 will tell if being struck down has only made him stronger, like Obi-Wan, or if we'll only see him once in awhile and it really won't be the same...like Obi-Wan." >
Wisconsin protests in February, Schultz's years as the working-man's liberal paid off in a big way, as he was the man on the scene all year at protests that now look like the forerunners to the defining Occupy Wall Street movement. Along the way, Schultz has taken liberalism back from the eggheads, and put it in the hands of the American worker." >
social media campaign that cast him as a rape apologist. He extricated himself from that mess with a down-low apology, but went on to embarrass himself with a series of uninformed rants about foreign policy. What sealed the deal, though, was his involvement with Occupy Wall Street. Instead of being transparent while challenging the premise that a rich guy can't also believe in fairness, Moore reacted foolishly to questions about his own personal wealth. In one fell swoop, he managed to undercut his own credibility, while distracting from the Occupy movement's message." >
Eric Bolling has emerged as the person who has most benefited from Glenn Beck's exit from Fox News. His regular gig on The Five, which replaced Beck's show at 5pm, has significantly upped his profile, as has his fill-in duty on The O'Reilly Factor. Like Beck, Bolling has shown a propensity for riling people up, which can be a powerful currency in the cable news realm." >
low ratings boot him out of his 7pm timeslot, back to 6 o'clock, where he still has yet to catch fire. His timeslot replacement, Erin Burnett, hasn't exactly taken off either, so King's ratings struggles could be more of a sign that the CNN "neutrality" model can't compete with leaners like MSNBC and Fox than a statement about King himself. But as one of CNN's lead political names, if he can't pick up some numbers in the months to come, his days as a host could be numbered." >
Charlie Sheen and Ricky Gervais stand out). He has also, thus far, been unharmed by any connection to the British tabloid hacking scandal. In 2012, Morgan will devote more time to the show, having quit his gig judging for America's Got Talent." >
poached Ed Henry from CNN to fill its newly-acquired front row seat in the White House briefing room. Press Secretary Jay Carney welcomed Ed to the Fox fold in somewhat prickly fashion, but the move to Fox really just means that Henry is getting credit for being the cherubic bulldog he's always been, and with a much larger audience." >
end to the Amanour era at This Week. The Challenge for ABC News here is that crackerjack White House correspondent Jake Tapper was the favorite of some, and yet they still gave the job to former host George Stephanopoulos, who already has a full-time gig hosting GMA. Rather than just allowing Stephanopoulos to focus on GMA, which has seen significant ratings gains under his tenure, ABC News may find itself in a "play me or trade me" situation with the talented and versatile Tapper." >
made things interesting at 10pm, and continued to turn out quality journalism™. In addition to that, Cooper launched a syndicated talk show, Anderson, that could very well be the next step toward a media empire." >
bulging underpants became the center of the media universe for a few strange weeks this year, and provided a cutting-edge cautionary tale for the Twitter/sexting age. A mini-win goes to Andrew Breitbart, whose Big Government broke the story, and who pulled off the most audacious media move of the year, jacking the mic at a Weiner press conference." >
so-called "Craigslist Congressman" would be a definite loser in any other year, but Rep. Chris Lee's resignation in disgrace after trolling the interwebs for extra-marital action was effectively blotted out by Rep. Anthony Weiner's Twitter scandal. Call it a stroke of luck, if you will, but Lee's misdeeds just can't compete with the long shadow cast by Weinergate." >
Republican presidential debates have been a magical endless pinata of joy for the media, but Fox News' debates have consistently outclassed the network's rivals for sheer substance. Perhaps it should have been a sign of things to come for Newt Gingrich when he found himself lashing out at his former employer's debate moderators. Who would have thought that Fox News would be such unfriendly territory for the GOP's leading lights? The Fox News moderators' sharp questioning and absence of silliness like CNN's "this or that?" gimmick were more than enough to make up for their annoying use of the Google G-Chat sound to keep time." >
smashing success of a debate, co-moderated by Scott Pelley and National Journal's crack policy wonk Major Garrett, on the revealing subject of foreign policy and national security. Instead, the network inexplicably decided to simultaneously subvert its own commercial interests and its public service obligation by shunting the last half hour of the debate to a web-only stream. Must've been a really great rerun of Numb3rs/Ghost Whisperer/whatever the hell it is they're showing at CBS on Saturday nights." >
record numbers of executions, leaving the uninsured to die, having a heart on immigration, torture, and a gay US soldier serving in Iraq. It may be fair to say that these were just a few rotten apples, but it didn't help their own candidates that the reactions of those on the stage became news. Something has gone wrong if there is a perception that your party is trying to appeal to a crowd that would make the concessionaires in Thunderdome nervous." >
CNN's primetime lineup in the ratings in 2010, it was truly in 2011-- in the midst of the programming change that would bring host Greg Gutfeld into daytime programming and provide endless comedic fodder in the form of 2012 election news-- that Fox News' early morning talk show Red Eye became one of the network's dominant brands. With biting wit that often transcends policy and politics and a loyal following on Twitter, Gutfeld, co-host Bill Schulz, and ombudsman Andy Levy saw their highest ratings quarter during the summer, and scored a huge cultural victory when Levy inadvertently exposed the seedy underbelly of Twitter Chris Brown fandom in the fall. With an election on the horizon next year, the cast of Red Eye leaves the year as one of its biggest winners." >
gallons of jet fuel onto an already-immolating Donald Trump at this year's White House Correspondents Dinner, Seth Meyers has filled the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update anchor chair during a time of resurgent cultural and creative relevance for the long-running sketch comedy show." >
crushing humiliation ever doled out on C-Span, where President Obama folded his long-form birth certificate into a funny hat and made Trump wear it at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Not to be held down, Trump later emerged as a would-be GOP kingmaker, but was humiliated again when most of the Republican field refused to attend a debate that he planned to moderate, and was forced to cancel. Every finger on every media producer in the world is crossed that Trump makes good on his threat to mount an independent run for president." >

George Stephanopoulos To Return To This Week January 8

Frances Martel — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:39:56 +0000

Longtime host George Stephanopoulos is set to return to ABC’s This Week early next year with the news that current host Christiane Amanpour is set to return to CNN for a weekday show, and remaining with ABC for specials.

According to AP– and confirmed by ABC– Stephanopoulos will once again resume his duties at This Week on January 8, 2012. Like Amanpour, he too will have two jobs, as he will stay as anchor of Good Morning America, where he currently is. ABC notes, however, that in order to accommodate his work at This Week, Stephanopoulos will likely remain on GMA four days a week. Stephanopoulos hosted the program from 2002-2010, succeeding David Brinkley.

GMA Interviews Mother Of “Victim #1″ In Penn State Rape Scandal: ‘He’s A Brave Kid’

Colby Hall — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:12:43 +0000

Since details of Penn State’s horrific child rape scandal emerged in a grand jury report released earlier this week, few of the known participants have submitted themselves to an interview with the press. That changed this morning when Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos sat down with the mother of an alleged victim, identified in the report as “victim #1.” With her voice and image altered to protect her identity, the mother explained how her son came to reveal the reprehensible allegations at the center of this story.

The son in question first met Jerry Sandusky when he was just 11 years old. Shortly after, the son became very close to the former Defensive Coordinator, spending nights at his home and even leaving school with Sandusky, despite the child’s mother not knowing of his absence. When asked when she first suspected something was wrong with the relationship, the mother said that when her son started acting out, she went to his school counselors, only to be told that it was likely “a puberty thing.”

When prompted by Stephanopoulos, she then shared how her son revealed to her how she wanted to look up “sex weirdos”:

I asked him who he was looking up and he wanted to see if Jerry was on there and I said, well, why would you look him up? And he said, I don’t know. He’s a weirdo. And I preceded to ask him if there was something he needed to tell me. And at that point, he didn’t indicate anything. I called the school and expressed my concerns. I told them to pull my son down to the guidance office and talk to him. and they did. at that point, they called me and said it was very important that I get there immediately. at that point, i already had suspicions. I kind of knew what it was about.

According to Stephanopoulos, what saddens and angers her the most, is the number of people who seemed to know something was going on but didn’t call police, including coach Joe Paterno, and agrees with the Board of Trustees decision to fire the legendary coach, saying “if he had any inclination of this, and he legally needed to do what he needed to do,” adding”yes, I think they all needed to be gone.”

For his part, Stephanopoulos ably navigated a potentially uncomfortable interview, which was wisely cut into a rather markedly edited segment for broadcast. This made for a more clear and meaningful presentation of a complex and ugly story.

Watch it below, courtesy of ABC News:

Mitt Romney Responds To ‘Slings And Arrows’ Slung By Red State Editor Erick Erickson

Tommy Christopher — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:00:29 +0000

On Tuesday, influential conservative pundit Erick Erickson launched a thermonuclear attack on Mitt Romney, the steady near-leader in the GOP presidential field. In an online-only interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Romney responded to Erickson’s criticism by saying, “I’ll let the slings and arrows come, as they may,” and by changing the subject to Barack Obama, to whom Erickson compared Romney…unfavorably. Erickson said, “As much as the American public does not like Barack Obama, they loath a man so fueled with ambition that he will say or do anything to get himself elected. Mitt Romney is that man.”

Considering the intensity of Erickson’s criticism, Romney took it remarkably well. In setting up the question, Stephanopoulos twisted the knife a little, observing that there’s “one thing in the world that the White House and Erick Erickson of RedState agree on…David Plouffe says…you have no core. Erick Erickson of RedState says exactly the same thing.”

Asked if such attacks make him angry, Romney responded at length, but skirted the central premise of the criticism:(transcript via ABC News)

You know, I think people can look at my life. They can see how I live my life– at home– in– in the business I was in for 25 years, and of course, as governor, and at the Olympics. And– my record demonstrates what I believe. I also, as you know, had the chance to write a book and lay down my views on the major issues that the country’s facing.

And, you know, I understand that politics is politics, people look for some edge they can get. But– but people know how I’ve lived my life and what I believe on the major issues of the day. And frankly, I’m in this race, because of the failure of President Obama to turn around this economy. And my conviction that having spent my life in the economy, having actually created jobs, is a qualification that’s necessary for the country to get America back to work today.

So you know, I’ll– I’ll let the slings and arrows come, as they may. And continue talking about the failure of this presidency. And I know, of course, the last thing the president wants to do and his team wants to do is to talk about their record. But I’ll keep bringing it back to it. They failed.

Here’s the thing, though. I’ve been covering Mitt Romney for damn near four years now, and I honestly do not know what he believes “on the major issues of the day.” If someone put a gun to my head, and I had to guess, I would say that he probably holds somewhat moderate views on social issues (at least to the extent that government should be involved in them), is moderately hawkish on national security, and favors extremely pro-business economic policies. However, there is ample testimony from Romney to refute all of those guesses.

The point that Erick Erickson misses by tearing down Romney is that his electability turns his essential weakness into an asset for conservatives. If Romney beats Barack Obama, Republicans could also easily gain majorities in both houses of Congress, and Romney’s squishiness would make it easy for them to roll over him, and get whatever they wanted. Conservatives would be right not to trust Romney with a Democratic Congress, but a Republican-led Congress would run Romney like a prison snitch.

Where Erickson nailed it, though, was in observing that conservatives blew it when they wrote off former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, whose centrist patina really had the White House worried back in the day, before Huntsman’s belief in science turned him into a polling blip. With scant months to go before the voting starts, it looks like that ship has sailed.

Here’s the segment, from ABC and Yahoo! News:

Condoleezza Rice: Moammar Gaddafi’s ‘Black Flower In The White House’

Nando Di Fino — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:03:24 +0000

There are probably fewer things scarier in life than an ultra-serious bald man with glasses popping up on a futuristic video conference screen and telling you that you’ve been exposed to a fatal poison and you’re all going to die. That took place in October 2001, when Dick Cheney showed up on a secure line, sharing the bad news with Condoleezza Rice, President Bush, and Andrew Card. Fortunately, Rice survived, and was able to top that event with a scarier, weirder one.

In an interview Tuesday with Nightline‘s George Stephanopoulos, Rice reveals details of an especially creepy meeting with Moammar Gaddafi. During a visit to Libya, Gaddhafi brought Rice into his personal kitchen, where he showed her a video. “It was actually just a bunch of pictures of me,” she told Stephanopoulos. “And he said, ‘I had Libya’s best composer — most famous composer — write this song for you.’” The name of the tune? “Black Flower in the White House.” Rice says she ate quickly and bolted. “I thought, ‘This is a really, really strange moment in my time as Secretary of State.’”

As for the poisoning, Bush, Rice, and Card were in Shanghai when Cheney broke the news. “The White House sensors sensed botulinum toxin,” Rice recalled, “which is always fatal.” For 24 hours, the trio went about their business in China without knowing if they were dying, as tests on the White House samples were being run. “For 24 hours, we were in Shanghai, we did not know the results of those tests,” Rice told Stephanopoulos. The tests, naturally, came back negative.

Earlier in the interview, Rice and Stephanopoulos got into foreign policy. She told Stephanopoulos that, “We didn’t go to Iraq to bring democracy to the Iraqis. We were very clear about this. This was a security threat.”

Enjoy the video below, courtesy of ABC:

James Carville: Rick Perry Is ‘In Over His Head’ And ‘Incapable Of Running For President’

Colby Hall — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:52:52 +0000

Democratic strategist James Carville appeared on Good Morning America this morning to assess the current crop of front runners in the GOP presidential field and was not shy in his both predictable and entertainingly harsh criticism of his ideological foes. Herman Cain and Mitt Romney were both targeted, but it was Texas Governor Rick Perry, who has seen a rather enormous dip in recent polls, that received the most merciless review.

In Carville’s purview, Romney isn’t so much a “flip-flopper” but more of a “a serial wind sock” adding “every time you turn around, it’s something else.” On Herman Cain, Carville declared that he “is not going to be the Republican nomination for president,” before calling him a “national distraction,” which might be a welcome one in the middle of this “horrific recession.”

But he saved the best/worst for Perry, saying of the one time belle of the GOP ball “The best thing Rick Perrry can do for himself and his friends and family is get out of the race and go back to Texas, adding “this man is evidently not up to this. He had plenty of chances to do it. He can’t debate. He can’t give a speech. He can’t hold a position paper. He can’t go on television….he’s in over his head.”

GMA host George Stephanopoulos served as a sort of straight man for Carville’s partisan punditry that likely reminded many viewers of the typically non-partisan ABC News offering that these two worked hand-in-hand in Bill Clinton‘s campaign and administration. Since tephanopoulos never really challenged Carville on his take — and there was never an opportunity given to a dissenting point of view — this segment is sure to give rise to the predictable charge of “liberal media bias” (thunder crack!)

Watch the clip below, courtesy of ABC News:

Rick Perry: I’m Not Going To Tell Pastor Robert Jeffress What He Can Or Can’t Say

Alex Alvarez — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:19:55 +0000

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos spoke with Texas governor and GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry about comments Perry’s wife, Anita Perry, made at a campaign stop in South Carolina regarding the “brutalization” her husband has suffered at the hands of the press and his opponents due to his Christian faith and conservative viewpoints.

Stephanopoulos asked Perry whether he agreed with his wife’s assessment of their situation.

I’ll tell you for sure that family members generally take these campaigns harder than anyone else, but I’ll stand by my wife. I think she’s right on both cases. My understanding is that she said I’m the most conservative candidate in the race and he’s a Christian, so I haven’t got anything I can add but that she’s hit me on my mark both times there.

Governor and Mrs. Perry’s comments about the press’ treatment of their faith come at an interesting time in their campaign. You’ll likely recall that Pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Perry at the Values Voter Summit earlier this month by announcing that “I think those of us who are born-again followers of Christ should always prefer a competent Christian to a competent non-Christian like Mitt Romney.”

Perry responded to Stephanonopoulos’ questions about Jeffress’ statements:

Look, I’m not going to say that he can’t say what he wants to say. The issue is, are we going to tell people what they can say and I’m not going to be one of those. This is a country where we truly have freedom of expression. And they are going to be people who say things about me, probably going to be people that say things about President Obama that are offensive to him and his family. But those folks who say those things are going to be the ones that you need to be asking the questions to.

Perry also talked about Herman Cain’s “9-9-9″ plan, agreeing with his wife’s take that it makes her want to call “911.” But he does find Cain interesting, “that’s for sure.”

Have a look, courtesy of ABC News:

Caption This: George Stephanopoulos Shares A Smooch With Boo

Alex Alvarez — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 18:49:29 +0000

You guys already know about a few things I really dislike, namely sharks and the ocean and the comedic stylings of one George Lopez. But, know what I love? Dogs. I love dogs so much. And I’ve always just really liked George Stephanopoulos. He seems like a nice guy who also happens to look a lot like my godfather, and I suppose I’ve always associated him with Easter presents and jellybeans.

So you can probably imagine my reaction to this photo posted by Boo, world’s cutest dog, on Facebook. Here, the famous pup is seen receiving a smooch from Stephanopoulos, whom “Boo” refers to as his “post White House de-stressor.” YOU GUYS.

My brain is just a series of puppy .gifs and sparkles right now, so I’m going to turn things over to you. Caption my favorite celebrity duo, Stephanoboolos.

h/t Yes, of course I follow Boo on Facebook.

President Obama Handicaps 2012 Presidential Race: ‘I Am The Underdog’

Zara Golden — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:37:43 +0000

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, President Barack Obama conceded that in the approach to the 2012 election, “I am the underdog.” And although readily willing to acknowledge that Americans are “not better off” than they were four year ago and that the flagging economy will be his biggest obstacle, he showed little sign of concern. “I’m used to being the underdog,” he explained confidently. “At the end of the day people are going to ask — who’s got a vision?”

“I don’t think they’re better off than they were four years ago,” Obama told Stephanpoulos, opting not to argue or convince otherwise. “I don’t think they’re better off than they were before Lehman’s collapse, before the financial crisis, before this extraordinary recession that we’re going through,” he continued.

Obama argues that it is “so critical for us to make sure that we are taking every action we can take to put people back to work,” and that his administration has made “steady progress to stabilize the economy,” an effort that he believes Americans recognize despite the “too high” unemployment rate. ”Here is the broader point,” he offered. “I don’t think the American people would dispute that at every step of the way, I have done everything I can to try to get the Republican party to work with me, and every time, they’ve said no.” His relations with the GOP, he admits, “have not been good over the pat several months.”

In the same interview, the President also addresses Bank of America’s debit fees (“This is exactly why we need this consumer finance protection bureau that we set up that is ready to go”), Solyndra (“Hindsight is always 20/20″), Al Qaeda (“I think that we are in a position where over the next couple of years, if we stay on it, that– it’s gonna be very difficult for them to mount the kinds of spectacular attacks– that we saw on 9/11.”), and his “evolving” views on gay marriage (“I’m not going to make news right now,” and “I’m still working on it”).

Read the full transcript of the interview here, or the cut segment, courtesy of ABC/Yahoo below:

Retired Justice Stevens Disappointed By GOP Debate Cheers, Says Capital Punishment Is ‘Wrong’

Zara Golden — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:32:31 +0000

On last night’s Nightline, retired Justice John Paul Stevens told George Stephanopoulos that in his 34 and a half years of service, “I really think that I’ve thought over a lot of cases I’ve written over the years. And I really wouldn’t want to do any one of them over.” Except for maybe one: the 1976 Jurek v. Texas case wherein the death penalty was upheld as not cruel and unusual. ”I think that I came out wrong on that,” he says.

“I thought the court was adopting procedures and rules that would confine the imposition of the death penalty into a very narrow set of cases. And they took special pains to have fair procedures. And over the years, the– I was disappointed to find they expanded the category of cases, rather dramatically later on,” Stevens explained.

Stevens, who was appointed by Republican President Gerald Ford in 1975, says that he was “rather disappointed” to hear GOP debate crowd cheer Rick Perry‘s execution record. “Maybe one believes, as certainly a lot of people sincerely do, that it is an effective deterrent to crime and will in the long run will do more harm than good,” he offers, admitting that he is not, in fact, one of those people. Rather, he suggests that capital punishment’s main function might be otherwise. “Being hard on crime has been– always– is politically popular, let’s put it that way,” he says.

And as for whether or not he would uphold President Obama‘s healthcare legislation if it passes through the Courts, he remained mum, offering only advice to current members. “If you’ve got a case to decide, just decide it on the merits,” he said, urging them to work within the realm of constitutional law and not politics. “I think that’s part of the job of a judge,” he counseled. “If a case is there, the judge, the court has a duty to decide it. I think they just have to decide it and not think about that particular consequence.”

Read the full transcript of their conversation here, or watch the video segment below:

David Axelrod: President Obama’s Jobs Bill Is ‘Not An A La Carte Menu’

Zara Golden — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:14:32 +0000

“The President has a package, and the package works together,” said top Obama strategist David Axelrod ABC’s Good Morning America, insisting, as the White House adamantly has, that congress pass the America Jobs Act quickly and in whole. “We want them to act now on this package,” he said. “We are not in negotiation to break up the package. And it’s not an a la carte menu. It’s a strategy to get this country moving.”

Beginning even ahead of the bill’s launch last week, its passing has been handled with this great urgency. The administration has been been busy reiterating that there is no reason for congress not to “act now;” while the president himself has repeating “pass this bill” again and again in all his public appearance. According to Politico, Obama has showed only slight inclination towards leniency, saying Monday that if only pieces of the package get passed through: “I will sign it, but I will then say, ‘Give me the rest, and I will keep on making that argument as long as the need is there to put people back to work the get the economy moving.”

To which Sen. John Kyl has retorted bluntly, ““I thought he was Mr. Compromise. … Maybe I was wrong about that.”

Watch Axelrod and George Stephanopoulos:

Report: Gov. Rick Perry And Trump Have Spoken By Phone On ‘Several Occasions’

Colby Hall — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:43:36 +0000

Though Donald Trump announced that he would not be running for president a few months ago, he has continued to make the sort of comments that have kept him in the political sphere (and brought him the public attention he craves.) For reasons that aren’t necessarily clear to everyone, there are some who believe that Trump’s political insight is worth heeding, and one such individual is GOP frontrunner and current Texas Governor Rick Perry.

OMG, Perry and Trump are quickly becoming BFFs over the phone! According to Politico’s James Hohmann:

Rick Perry has been speaking with Donald Trump by phone since wading into the presidential race, a Trump representative told Morning Score. Michael Cohen, the New York businessman’s special counsel, said the Texas governor has called on “several occasions.” Someone else familiar with the dialogue said Perry has spoken to Trump three times, adding that Perry’s daughter got on the phone during a recent chat. Perry spokesman Mark Miner said he would not discuss “the Governor’s private conversations.”

Hohmann goes on to rightly point out that, despite its face-value absurdity, an endorsement from Trump will likely have an impact on the GOP primary, which is odd since many believe Trump to be nothing of a publicity-craving showman. The fact that Perry seeks his good favor may be politically expedient in the short term, but there are just as many who would consider Perry’s taking Trump seriously as a flaw in his judgment.

To be fair, Perry isn’t alone in taking Trump seriously; the hosts at Fox and Friends seriously posited the absurd notion that Trump might make a good Treasury Secretary in another administration. If past is in fact prologue, a Trump managed federal reserve could very well end up filing for bankruptcy or seeking a bailout, just has many of his own businesses have done in the past.

In an interview earlier this month, Trump revealed to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos why he was a fan of the Texas Governor, and why he wasn’t so high on Mitt Romney, which you can watch below, courtesy of ABC.

George Stephanopoulos’s Secrets Revealed As Wife Takes Over Twitter Account

Mark Joyella — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:48:36 +0000

In the movie version of his life, George Stephanopoulos would be played by George Clooney. At least, that’s what the Good Morning America co-host’s wife, Ali Wentworth, told Stephanopoulos’ 1,724,844 followers this morning. “And I would be played by Gisele Bunchen,” she added. The summer “just for fun” stunt led dozens of GMA fans to tweet questions about the dark-haired host, and Wentworth was more than happy to provide the dirt. Like what? Well, we learned that the politically-obsessed Stephanopoulos is “more of a nude surfer,” and a guy who “loves to disco dance.” Also, “he never sleeps.”

Stephanopoulos, who was off enjoying the morning with the couple’s kids, will surely be delighted to know that his wife confirmed a long-held Washington rumor that the GMA anchor and Chicago’s legendary and not for the right reasons Rod Blagoevich don’t just look alike. “They are the same person.”

And if you thought George was the kind of guy whose idea of a good time was sitting around the dining room table and sharing exit polling data until late in the night, ha! Wentworth reveals his idea of a great day? He “turns on the soundtrack of GREASE and acts it out for us.”

When Mediaite asked via Twitter whether the power couple would do better on a reality show like The Amazing Race, or Survivor, Wentworth was quick to respond. “Survivor…story of our life in general.”

Read the entire thread here.