Stephanopoulos Defends Having McCain On ABC Yet Again: “No Apologies.”
I just had a pretty spirited email exchange with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, who’s taking flack in the blogosphere for booking John McCain yet again for an appearance on his show this Sunday.
Stephanopoulos hit back, saying he has “no apologies” for booking McCain, despite this being his third appearance on the show this year. In response to critics who point out that McCain lost, Stephanopoulos also claimed, interestingly, that he’d repeatedly asked John Kerry to appear after his 2004 loss, but that Kerry refused.
After word spread of McCain coming appearance, Steve Benen tallied up the more than a dozen times McCain has made the Sunday shows this year. Other bloggers took shots at Stephanopoulos here, here, and here, questioning McCain’s relevance.
Asked to respond, Stephanopoulos emailed:
Our show this week is focused on Afghanistan and foreign policy. Our lead guest is the President’s Defense Secretary (after a week where the President was our only guest). McCain is the leading GOP voice on Afghanistan. We think it’s important for our viewers to hear that perspective…For a show focusing on Afghanistan, he is easily the right GOP guest. No apologies for inviting him.
Stephanopoulous also took issue with Eric Boehlert’s recent suggestion that networks hadn’t expressed nearly as much interest in Kerry in 2005, saying:
Boehlert is wrong to suggest that Kerry didn’t appear in 2005 because he wasn’t asked. We invited him repeatedly. He chose to limit his appearances.
When I asked Stephanopoulos whether as a journalist he saw more than a dozen appearances on all the networks combined as overkill, he declined to reply directly:
No comment on that. Just try to put on the best show for the week, every week.
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Update: Here are the responses from Steve Benen and Jamison Foser.
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Stepinfechit is useless. And John McLame is useless.
The whole thing adds up to completely useless.
What does John McLame know about anything? The campaign showed me that McLame is far stupider than I had realized.
by the way – good work, Greg, and I wasn’t banging my forehead on the keyboard over you – everybody every day is saying something different about public option – you’re just reporting it.
“When I asked Stephanopoulos whether as a journalist…”
…as a journalist.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
HHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAH!
McCain’s relevance is that he’s a neocon. And the media LOVES Neocons.
Tena, he doesn’t have to know anything.
http://www.foreignpolicyi.org/
He’s not “useless.” He is very very useful to the neocons as a tool for promoting their fascist extremist rhetoric to the American people in a dumbed down easy-going howdy-doody manner.
no worries Tena, I gotcha
As long as Georgie didn’t curse at you Greg on the phone.
Ethan – damn me, but you are so right. You really got it – that’s exactly what McLame is for.
This is from the Foreign Policy Initiative (PNAC 2.0) mission statement:
“The United States faces these challenges while engaged in military operations across the globe, including in Iraq and Afghanistan. The sacrifice of American lives and significant economic expenditure in these conflicts has led to warnings of U.S. strategic overreach, and calls for American retrenchment. There are those who hope we can just return to normalcy–to pre-9/11 levels of defense spending and pre-9/11 tactics. They argue for a retreat from America’s global commitments and a renewed focus on problems at home, an understandable if mistaken response to these difficult economic times.
In fact, strategic overreach is not the problem and retrenchment is not the solution. The United States cannot afford to turn its back on its international commitments and allies–the allies that helped us defeat fascism and communism in the 20th century, and the alliances we have forged more recently, including with the newly liberated citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan. Our economic difficulties will not be solved by retreat from the international arena. They will be made worse.”
Let’s see if there is any, ANY daylight in between that mission statement and McCain’s anti-Obama rhetoric. I’ll put money down that there is no daylight whatsoever. The key tells are: 1) doubling-down on the status quo in Iraq/Afganistan and 2) comments along the lines of “we shouldn’t let economic problems get in the way of our domestic terrorist neocon goals.”
Any takers?
If Steph was a SERIOUS reporter, he’d be looking into McCain’s role with IRI.ORG and how he ALMOST committed our military to a conflict in the Georgia republic – McCain’s “shadow government”, franchise of BUSHCO, INC and the Mayberry Mafia.
“If Steph was a SERIOUS reporter,”
Now I’m dying laughing – Stepinfechit as a serious journalist.
Hoohoo hahahahahahaha!!!
I’ll double the payoff on the bet if he actually uses the words: OVER-REACH or RE-ENTRENCHMENT.
Not wanting to detract from this hard-hitting piece of journalism, but what does this mean from the upper right corner of whorunsgov? Why would it be a relief?
“To the relief of some liberal groups, the Obama adminstration has decided against seeking separate legislation to authorize the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Instead, the president will retain that power by relying on the 2001 congressional resolution authorizing military force against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.”
John McCain can go on there and state his opinions as often as he wishes, as far as I am concerned.
He is a man of sound judgment, and should always be heeded, because he showed how farsighted and sound his judgment is, by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate.
You know; that great leader from Alaska, who wigged out of her Governor’s job, after just two years, half way through her first term, because it was just too hard.
Imagine how long she would have lasted as VP or President, if she could only survive two years as the Governor of the backwater state of Alaska. A place, by the way, that has a smaller population than several congressional districts.
So what new pearls of wisdom and judgment do you have for us now Senator McCain? Do you want to Palinize our Afghanistan Policy? Is that it; and maybe you could arrange to build a high Alaskan Watchtower, so that Granny Palin can keep an eye on the Taliban from her home, now that she has loads of free time.
Now that we know McCain is going to be on we can watch a different station for our Sunday opinions.
He tries to put on the best show every week?
EPIC FAIL
Media double standard: Obama, the president, goes on all the shows in one weekend, and that’s overexposure. McCain, not even the Senate minority leader, goes on these shows several times a month, and that’s OK because he’s a “leading GOP voice.” Ha!
What!
You mean you are not greatly entertained by the weekly sight of George Will doing his prim lip pursing act, or occasionally drop words of his baseball wisdom on us, because he is a life long Chicago Cubs Fan.
Of course it it always a special treat, when ever Cokie Roberts shows up, sporting her Polygamist Compound Woman’s Hair Do.
The word here is “flak.”
“Steve Benen tallied up the more than a dozen times McCain has made the Sunday shows this year. Other bloggers took shots at Stephanopoulos here, here, and here, questioning McCain’s relevance.”
Echo chamber much?
“He is a man of sound judgment, and should always be heeded, because he showed how farsighted and sound his judgment is, by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate”
LOL!
he is easily the right GOP guest.
Stephanopoulos would do well to consider that this can also be described as “cranking up the old Wurlitzer” again………..
There are other minds out there than the irrelevant publicity hound with an attitude.
“There are other minds out there than the irrelevant publicity hound with an attitude.”
You could have just said: ‘There are minds out there…”
Considering McLame’s “looking for his puppy” wandering during the last debate; I’m not sure there’s much actual mind there.
Tena, John McLame may be far “MORE STUPID” than you thought, but he’s definitely not “stupider”. Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black, here!
You could have just said: ‘There are minds out there…”
“Tena, John McLame may be far “MORE STUPID” than you thought, but he’s definitely not “stupider”. Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black, here!”
Hahahahahaha!
Yeah.
Thanks for the English lesson. This is a blog board and a conversation. I’m not writing this **** for the Law Review or an appellate brief.
Ahhhhh! Tena, ignorance is bliss!
“Ahhhhh! Tena, ignorance is bliss!”
Yes, and you’re trolling for reactions.
Dude, you can’t bother me with this because I was an English major in undergrad, went to law school and was an appellate lawyer. I know what good English is.
You’re just making troll noises.
“It will be McCain’s third appearance on This Week in five months.”
Whoa! Three times in five months!
That doesn’t seem too controversial to me. Move along – nothing to see here. (Let’s not forget that McCain is a national hero.)
You think folks are going to tune in to see Stephen Biddle?
You think folks are going to tune in to see John McCain?
Oh Tena, you mean “you know what IS good English”!!!!!! You ol’ English major you.
“Oh Tena, you mean “you know what IS good English”!!!!!! ”
Thank you again – you are a genius. Will you follow me around and be my permanent editor? Please – I don’t know how I’ve made it this far without you – obviously, it was all blind stumbling and good luck.
I wonder if we are going to see a panel of the discredited George Will, Liz “baby Dick” Cheney, and former McCain staffer Steve Schmidt balanced by Cokie Roberts on the ummm…left.
Good question, flounder – especially vis-a-vis Baby Dick Cheney. Where did the Cheneys go?
Wonder if there will be talk in the MSM of McCain being over-exposed?
Bets?
@oddjob: “You think folks are going to tune in to see John McCain?”
I won’t! I DO believe that almost all programming is manipulated in the quest for viewers.
# John | September 24th, 2009 at 03:39 pm
Tena, John McLame may be far “MORE STUPID” than you thought, but he’s definitely not “stupider”. Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black, here!
……………………..
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/stupid
“ompact Oxford English Dictionary
stupid
• adjective (stupider, stupidest) 1 lacking intelligence or common sense. 2 informal used to express exasperation or boredom: your stupid paintings! 3 dazed and unable to think clearly.
— DERIVATIVES stupidity noun stupidly adverb.
— ORIGIN Latin stupidus, from stupere ‘be amazed or stunned’.”
No Tina, not a genius and I’m certainly not a professed English major and appellate lawyer who has just made two profound grammatical errors in her previous two messages.
Shame on you !
Goodbye!!!! Oh, by the way, was that the Harvard Law School that you attended you ol’ “Appellate Lawyer”.
To use your words HAhahahoohoo!
Move over Tena…I’m reallly banging my head on the keyboard…I don’t care if it’s McCain…Obama..his Secretary of Defense…this is sooo deja vu!!!
We just broke up a terrorist threat focused apparently once again on New York. Can anybody tell me which Marine or Army Division in Afghanistan accomplished this victory over Terrorism? Didn’t think so…the FBI is not the 101st Airborne. Used to be in that division and so I love them but they can’t help us here…terrorism is a POLICING problem not a military problem!!!!
The domino theory was wrong…we shouldn’t have been in Vietnam…and invading foreign SOVEREIGN nations does not help fight a CRIMINAL enterprise.
Again the only differences between the mafia and Al-Qaeda are motivation…money versus religious domination..their religion..Catholocism.
We didn’t invade Sicily or Italy to stop the Mafia which would have made as much sense as invading Iraq and Afghanistan to secure ourselves against a criminial enterprise like terrorism. When I see the first Al-Qaeda aircraft carrier on the horizon then I listen to John “we were wrong in Vietnam so let’s double down and screw up again in Afghanistan” McCain!
# John | September 24th, 2009 at 03:39 pm
Tena, John McLame may be far “MORE STUPID” than you thought, but he’s definitely not “stupider”. Seems like the pot is calling the kettle black, here!
……………………..
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/stupid
“compact Oxford English Dictionary
stupid
• adjective (stupider, stupidest) 1 lacking intelligence or common sense. 2 informal used to express exasperation or boredom: your stupid paintings! 3 dazed and unable to think clearly.
— DERIVATIVES stupidity noun stupidly adverb.
— ORIGIN Latin stupidus, from stupere ‘be amazed or stunned’.”
Sorry to go OT, but I think this is interesting:
“The Massachusetts GOP will get its day in court in their attempt to stop the appointment of Paul Kirk to Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat — but the immediate signs don’t point to a win for them.
A spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Court, where the case was filed, has just told me that there will be a hearing tomorrow morning at 8 a.m., presided over by Judge Thomas Connolly.
I asked whether an ex parte temporary restraining order against the appointment had been issued — which can often happen in time-sensitive election cases, in order to stop a legally questionable outcome before a hearing has been conducted. There has not been any such order at this time. Kirk is set to be sworn in tomorrow.”
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/massachusetts-gop-challenge-to-senate-appointment-to-get-hearing—-but-no-ex-parte-restraining-orde.php
What I find interesting is that they didn’t get a TRO. In Texas, if you don’t get a TRO, the chances of getting a permanent injunction is slim to none. I don’t know what the Mass. courts/statutes say, but they can’t be far off the standard for a TRO in Texas, which is they have to be able to show harm based on an actual cause of action that has a likelihood to actually be heard.
Flounder, $1000 he doesn’t get called BOORISH.
Ethan – I’ll put up another $1000 that he doesn’t get called boorish and furthermore, that noone else is accused of being boorish, either.
Got me there Tena.
Liam – thank you. He gave himself away with the second comment in which he jumped me for ending a sentence with preposition.
The ignorant insist on stilted forms of correct English because they don’t understand that language evolves and in order to show how smart they are, they use unnecessarily awkward, if correct, construction. Things like that get edited out of good prose.
# Ethan | September 24th, 2009 at 04:15 pm
Flounder, $1000 he doesn’t get called BOORISH.
………………………
Peggy Noonan will probably call him one of her “thousand points of light”
Remember when she wrote that piece of new age drivel, along with; “a kinder gentler nation” for Bush One.
I love when she puts on her “I am soooo sincere” face, with a long dramatic pause, before she emits one of her little brain far*ts.
True to Republican Christian Family Values form, Peggy was divorced after five years of marriage.
Will we be ending our dumb adventures in Iraq & Afghanistan? These were dumb wars a year ago & even dumber today.
I don’t watch ABC, so really don’t care. In the end it’s all about ratings. I guess the networks think McCain’s a draw ?? It’s a business afterall. Same reason Obama is on Time’s cover once a month.
Tena | September 24th, 2009 at 04:21 pm
Liam – thank you. He gave himself away with the second comment in which he jumped me for ending a sentence with preposition.
……………………….
@Tena,
Creative language can be smothered in the crib, by strict rules of grammar. People like that John guy, use Grammer like a puritanical language corset.
If we Irish paid any attention to those constipated minds, we would never have given the world James Joyce, Johnathon Swift, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde etc.
Irish Women. Did you hear that you hear that Deirdre O’Riordan just gave birth to twins?
Second Irish Women. Are they Identical?
First Irish Women. Ah no, I think just one of them is.
Edit:
@Tena,
Creative language can be smothered in the crib, by strict rules of grammar. People like that John guy, use Grammer like a puritanical language corset.
If we Irish paid any attention to those constipated minds, we would never have given the world James Joyce, Johnathon Swift, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde etc.
Irish Women. Did you hear that Deirdre O’Riordan just gave birth to twins?
Second Irish Women. Are they Identical?
First Irish Women. Ah no, I think just one of them is.
You guys all know that McCain has been the ‘go to guy’ for all the news shows for years and years? Was considered one of the smartest balanced senators by the media until they had to make him into a raving neocon for the election?(And congratulated him for returning to the old sensible Mac right after…)
HAR HAR!
dang this it too funny!! ohhhh boohoo what did McCain take one of Obama’s spot?
I can understand that whosis wants a GOPer to talk about Afghanistan along with the Secretary of Defense, but wouldn’t it be better to get someone who knows something about the subject? No one can argue with a straight face that McCain knows anything about anything. How often has he even been to Afghanistan and where does his “expertise” come from. Certainly not from experience. He isn’t even clear on the location of the countries we are involved in in the Middle East! Is whosis trying to favor the Democrats by having a fool present the position that we need to invade with everything we’ve got for no particularly well defined reason.
“Imagine….if she could only survive two years as the Governor of the backwater state of Alaska. A place, by the way, that has a smaller population than several congressional districts.”
You are all a bunch of Liberal trash so out of touch with real America (rational people not on the west or east coast). You can only push you socialists beliefs, gay pride parades and left thinking energy propoganda on the majority so much before people will fight back!!! 2010 and 2012 WE WILL GET OUR AMERICA BACK!!!
Stephanopolous… I’m with you i would invite someone with a military background and intimate knowledge of Afghanastan and actual foreign policy when discussing thoe subjects.
The only irony I see is trying to push through a healthcare policy on the coats of an overweight, alcoholic, drug addicted, patholigcal lying (yes he killed someone) corrupt (yes he broke every campaign law there was), dead sen.
Ethics of american journalists has been an oxy-moron for decades. No wonder most americans are either dumb or confused.
McCain is a celebrity and loves the attention. His campaigns suggest that he is better at that than being credible/realistic POTUS candidate. Kerry does not provide such Cheez-Wiz guest material.
I’d think he would be a popular guest even w/o running for President.
yeah, we should probably just ban republicans from the airwaves. only obama should appear on the airwaves. he doesn’t seem to be getting enough coverage from the establishment media. BTW, did you notice the poll out today … 90 percent (!) of americans believe that the media played a strong role in getting obama elected. 80 percent believe that the media are actively promoting his political agenda. oh, well, citizens are just idiots anyway. ban the republicans! all obama, all the time!!
Awww, poor lil liberals bummed out because McCain got some airtime. You should be thankful, as it took the minds of the 5 viewers of Stephanopolous’ lame show off of the fact that they elected a complete nutpouch as president. Nice work weenies! Enjoy it, your guy is a one termer and then it’s back to Chicago to continue doing nothing and claiming that he did everything! 2010 and 2012 are going to be very telling election years!
Hear about the latest in Mafia Wars? There is a new book circulating that is supposed to promise free cheats working or some kind fo thing… I’m not sure it works, but… you can find it here: http://ultimatemafiawarscheats.blogspot.com :/ Tell me if it does work though.