PRETTY BOY GEORGE IS A POLITICAL HACK!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

GEORGE IS A POLITICAL HACK!

by Steve Fair

     George Stephanopoulos is the well-known anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America and the host of This Week with George Stephanopoulos.  Many Americans may not remember that before he became the chief political anchor for ABC, George was one of President Bill Clinton’s top advisors.  Stephanopoulos was the 1992 communication director for Slick Willie’s first presidential campaign.  He, along with James Carville is prominently featured in the 1992 Clinton campaign documentary, The War Room.  After Clinton was elected president, Stephanopoulos was given the title of Senior Advisor and given the office right next to the Oval Office.  When he left the Clinton administration to become a broadcaster, he was replaced by Rahm Emanuel.  Stephanopoulos is a graduate of Columbia with a BS in political science.  He also has a Masters in Theology from Baliol College, a part of Oxford University.   George is the son of a Greek Orthodox priest, Robert Stephanopoulos, who reportedly wanted his son to follow him into the priesthood, which is probably why George studied theology.   

     George left the Clinton administration shortly after Clinton was re-elected and joined ABC in early 1996.  Roone Arledge, President of ABC said at the time: “Stephanopoulos is one of the best known and most articulate presidential advisers this country has ever seen.  His vast knowledge of Washington politics and policy will be an enormous asset to ABC News.”  ABC initially said he would not be used as an analyst and not report news or question guests. Because he was viewed as a partisan at that time, ABC said he would never question guests or report on politics. Stephanopoulos’ role was to be nothing but a commentator, but after nearly twenty years, George’s role changed at ABC.  He became the face of the network and the chief political anchor. 

     On January 7, 2012, Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer co-moderated a Republican primary debate at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.  There were six GOP candidates on the stage and during the debate; Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked Mitt Romney whether the former Massachusetts governor believed the U.S. Supreme Court should have overturned a 1965 ruling that a constitutional right to privacy bars states from banning contraception.  Stephanopoulos would not accept Romney’s answer that it was ‘state’s rights’ issue and asked Romney nine questions on the issue.  Romney finally said the question was, ‘preposterous.’ During the fall general election campaign, the Obama campaign used the question and Romney’s answer to imply Republicans were waging a ‘War on Women’ and wanted to ban contraception.

     Last week it was revealed that George has given $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation during the time he was supposed to be a ‘nonpartisan’ at ABC.  When it was discovered, George went on the air and apologized.  “Over the last several years, I’ve made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Foundation. Those donations were a matter of public record, but I should have made additional disclosures on air when we covered the foundation,” Stephanopoulos said.  What he didn’t reveal is that he not only gave the Clinton Foundation money, but he participated in three panel discussions sponsored by the Clintons- all while presenting himself as a neutral party in politics. 

     It has been reported that Stephanopoulos was pulled as moderator for a scheduled GOP debate in New Hampshire next year because of his ties to the Clintons, but that is simply not true.  Reince Priebus said, “George Stephanopoulos was never going to moderate a Republican debate anyway. I’ve made it very clear, and I’ve made public statements about this, that the issue for me, even more so than the donation, was the fact that he worked for Bill and Hillary Clinton.”  

     The RNC has taken control of the Republican primary debate process.  The days of using liberal moderators in Republican debates, whose sole goal is to embarrass GOP candidates and further the liberal cause are gone.  There will be nine(9) sanctioned debates in the 2016 GOP primary with three other possible debates.  The first debate is in August 2015 in Ohio and Gorgeous George will not be moderating any of them.    

     Stephanopoulos’ memoir is, “All too Human: A Political Education.  The title most likely is a nod to Friedrich Nietzsche’s, “All too Human.”  Nietzsche was a German philosopher in the late 1800s whose best known quote is that, “God is Dead.”  But Nietzsche IS dead and most certainly rejected that philosphy shortly after breathing his last breath.  Much of Nietzsche’s work is reveled in liberal circles.  In his book, Stephanopoulos says , “ Í came to see how Clinton’s shamelessness is a key to his political success, how his capacity for denial is tied to the optimism that is his greatest political strength.  He exploits the weaknesses of himself and those around him masterfully, but the taps his and their talents as well.” He loves the Clintons.  Bill is his mentor. 

    Fact is, George Stephanopoulos is nothing short of a Hillary Clinton surrogate and a political hack.  As long as ABC allows him to masquerade as an objective journalist, host political news shows and interview candidates, their creditability is questionable.