Barack Obama wanted 15 minutes of air time on Sunday night, the most heavily watched night of the week, to speak to the nation about the San Bernardino shooting. It was appropriate for the president to request it, and for the networks to grant it, but everyone knew he would say nothing new of substance because on the matter of Islamic terrorism, he never does.
And he didn’t. And in so not doing, he wowed the press again. The stenographers underlined his good intentions.
George Stephanopoulos, a former Bill Clinton operative and generous donor to the Clinton Foundation, on Sunday interviewed Hillary Clinton and only offered a quick, meager explanation of his conflict of interest. The This Week anchor began his discussion by briefly informing viewers: “[A] reminder for everyone watching, I worked for President Clinton, made charitable contributions in the past to the Clinton Foundation.”
While NBC’s Lester Holt was wondering before President Obama’s speech Sunday night if it would “be a defining moment for this presidency,” his counterparts on ABC and PBS picked up where he left off afterward by enthusiastically praising how “struck” they were by “a stern and direct” Obama “laying out" what Obama called "a strong and smart strategy” to deal with terrorism.
George Stephanopoulos, a former top operative in the Bill Clinton White House, a man who donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, will interview Hillary Clinton on Sunday’s This Week.
ABC on Thursday exploited the mass shooting in California as a way to tout the gun control advocacy of celebrities and politicians. Good Morning America reporter Jon Karl highlighted Barack Obama’s “frustration” at the inability to pass new restrictions. Correspondent Michael Strahan read tweets from “actor and gun control activist” Amy Schumer, including this one: “It doesn't have to be this way. Join the movement and help us. #Endgunviolence."
The journalists at ABC on Wednesday didn’t hesitate to exploit the shooting in California as an opportunity to promote gun control. As details were still unfolding in the San Bernardino shooting, George Stephanopoulos lamented, “[Obama] spoke after Sandy Hook. Always coming out to call for more measures to make it more difficult the people to access to the kind of weapons to pull off the mass shootings. It has been one of the great frustrations of his presidency.”
Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday badgered Chris Christie over his opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the country. The co-host scolded Christie as “coming in for some criticism by one of your predecessors in New Jersey.” Highlighting moderate Republican governor Tom Kean, Stephanopoulos chided, “He says some of your rhetoric and your cracking down on refugees, Syrian refugees here in the United States is actually helping ISIS.”
While awaiting President Barack Obama’s remarks on Wednesday concerning national security as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, ABC News chief anchor, former Clinton staffer, and Clinton Foundation donor George Stephanopoulos couldn’t help but repeatedly gush over the President’s supposedly “forceful rhetoric” on ISIS following the Paris terror attacks.
On Sunday's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly brought up the debate over whether to bar guns from people on the federal terror watch list or the no-fly list without delving into any of the arguments against doing so.
The ABC host brought up the issue with both guests Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, and raised the issue again during the Roundtable segment, but never noted either the specific criticisms that the list gets from both the left and the right, or the argument against tipping off suspects under secret investigation which barring them from purchasing guns would cause.
As of early this morning, Matt Drudge was carrying a link to a story headlining how President Obama is "under fire for saying ISIS 'contained' just hours before Paris attack."
Well, Obama is under some fire, but Drudge's link is to coverage at the UK Daily Mail. That's unfortunately unsurprising, because there is little to no mention of Obama's naive, foolish and callous statement in the U.S. establishment press. So Obama may be "under fire" from people who are paying attention, but low-information news consumers (and voters) who didn't happen to see the original Thursday interview will likely remain unaware of it. In one such example of convenient oversight, the Associated Press published a Thursday evening story on that interview, and decided that its only newsworthy element was Obama's immigration-related criticism of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Former Democratic operative turned journalist George Stephanopoulos on Thursday and Friday threw softballs at Barack Obama, setting the President up to attack certain Americans as bigots and to trash Ben Carson. On Thursday's Nightline, the journalist asked about Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation plans. Stephanopoulos wondered, “So, what do you think when you hear people cheer for that?” Obama sneered, “I think is that there's always been a strain of anti-immigrant sentiment in America.”
On Wednesday, all three network morning shows interviewed Florida Senator Marco Rubio following Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate and grilled him on GOP opposition to illegal immigration. On NBC’s Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie proclaimed: “One of the most heated exchanges...came over immigration, and Trump's vow to deport 11 million illegal immigrants. Some on the stage suggested that is a gift to Democrats....I asked him if he agreed that his party’s handling of that issue is alienating the Latino voters.”