Just what is George Stephanopolous's Job?
I usually listen to Sean Hannity at the start of my commute in order to get traffic & weather on the way home. Then I keep him on until he embarrasses himself, or worse, makes even me cringe with his frequently wrongfooted take on important issues. He's usually right, but he's frequently right for the wrong reasons and anybody who's ever argued with me knows that I'll jump on that every time even when I'm making enemies left & right.
But yesterday evening he had George Stephanopolous on and nailed him to the wall so subtly and effectively that I almost wonder if it was on purpose. I wish I had a transcript; maybe one will appear. What follows is all paraphrase.
Hannity was interviewing Stephanopolous about the campaign so far and he started by asking about the most effective way for Kerry to handle the charge of flip-flopping. Stephanopolous answered smoothly and persuasively, oh, just point out that if they think he's on the right side now, don't worry about the flip-flop because it's just part of the process of arriving at the right answer, etc. etc.
Then Hannity asked what Bush should do to counter some Kerry charge or other.
Stephanopolous answered, very quickly, that it wasn't his job to...
Hannity interrupted him, OK, I know, I know. Now, how should Kerry deal with Bush's painting him as a liberal?
Stephanopolous: Oh, that's easy. (Long answer, something about how Liberal isn't a bad word if you own the positions etc. etc.)
Hannity: Thanks. The Dems have been swinging at Bush for months now. How should he enter the fight without drawing charges of negativism?
Stephanopolous: I'm not going to get into...
Hannity: OK, thanks.
This went on until Stephanopolous had to leave. It was really hilarious.
Now, I know that Stephanopolous is a commentator and therefore need not pretend to any great even-handedness. But I suspect he would nevertheless claim not to be biased in his capacity as anchor of a weekly news program. That "It's not my job" and "I'm not going to get into" when the question was about strategies to help Bush, compared with the long-winded answers for how Kerry could deal with problems, was just priceless.
Semi-Update:
I just posted this on the "contact the show" form at Hannity.com:
I'm dying to know if your subtle skewering of George Stephanopolous was done on purpose on yesterday's show. You were talking with him about the campaign and you asked him about how Kerry should deal with charges of flip-flopping; George responded with a smooth and silky and obviously well-prepared answer. Then you asked how Bush should respond to some charge of Kerry's. George immediately responded, "Oh, it's not my job to..."
You interrupted (politely) with another question about how Kerry should respond to another Bush attack. And George was again perfectly willing to advise the Kerry campaign.
Then you asked another question about how Bush should handle some aspect of his campaign, and George again begged off!
His bias couldn't have been clearer if he'd had it tattooed on his forehead. Bravo, Sean! You're a great American.
If you have a minute, please leave a commenton my weblog at http://www.bovious.com/archives/main/000245.html to let me know if you did that on purpose. Forgive the criticisms of you in the weblog post, for they are made by one who has only your best interests and those of the country at heart.
All the best,
Brian Jones
Yes, sycophantic, I know. Let's see what ol' Sean has to say.