George Stephanopoulos’ future — and $105M contract — in danger

NYPost ^ | May 18, 2015 | Emily Smith

[maggief]

ABC has plenty of reasons to be freaking out over the George Stephanopoulos scandal — $105 million, to be exact.

[BunnySlippers]

Good.

He’s a wind bag and a waste of money!

[cynwoody]

“If [Stephanopoulos] stumbles, so does the network,” the source added.

I'll drink to that!

[Bullish]

ABC knew full well what they were getting when they hired him and he’s done exactly what they wanted. He’ll survive this because ABC would lose face by firing him.

[maggief]

Related:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/stephanopoulos-was-also-involved-with-offshoot-of-clinton-foundation/2015/05/19/251aade8-fda0-11e4-8b6c-0dcce21e223d_story.html

Stephanopoulos was also involved with offshoot of Clinton Foundation

May 19 at 12:07 AM

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/05/18/schweizer-stephanopoulos-worse-than-brian-williams/

“Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer argued George Stephanopoulos’ behavior is worse than Brian Williams’ on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

Earlier, Schweizer said of Stephanopoulos, “He certainly knew that he had donated to the Clinton Foundation and he also knew that — as I lay out in the article, he had participated in all these events. I mean, we’re not just talking about George Stephanopolous’ time — his money. We’re also talking about his time.

When asked if he thought there was collusion with the Clinton campaign on Stephanopoulos’ part, he responded, “I will say this. Somebody did tell me, that would have reason to know, that he went through the book in great detail, and made lots of notes, so he spent a lot of time going through this book. I don’t know if he had collaboration, but this was something that he was very, very focused on. Look, Sean, I don’t mind tough questions, but when it’s tough questions in the search of truth, that’s one thing. This is not.”

FLASHBACK:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18011.html

1/27/09

Power, politics, gossip on daily call

For years, Rahm Emanuel, James Carville, Paul Begala and George Stephanopoulos have spoken on the telephone almost every workday.

1/27/09

The conversations don’t begin with hello. They don’t end with goodbye. Most often they pick up with a low, drawling voice uttering something between a sentence and a grunt.

“Wahzgoanawn?”

For those accustomed to hearing James Carville only when he is trying to enunciate more clearly for television, that translates to: “What’s going on?”

So begins another morning in what may count as Washington’s longest-running conversation — a street-corner bull session between four old friends who suddenly find themselves standing once more at the busiest intersection of politics and media in Washington.

Carville calls White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Emanuel calls ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos.

A bit later, CNN commentator Paul Begala, who is not quite the early bird that his friends are, will complete the circle with a rapid set of calls to all three.

Different versions of this round-robin chatter have been taking place, with few interruptions, every workday for nearly a generation.

“I refer to it as the 17-year-long conference call,” said Emanuel, who starts calling his friends at 6 a.m. “You can tap into it anytime you want.”

(snip)

Under other circumstances, the morning calls between Emanuel, Carville, Stephanopoulos and Begala — pollster Stan Greenberg is another frequent member of the core group...

[pepsionice]

He was a campaign strategy guy....not a journalist. I could see him being brought to a panel and provide five minutes of discussion. Other than that.....he hasn’t show much talent at anything else and certainly isn’t worth $105 million. But they had to pay him that much...so he could pay his handlers the money to allow him to attend parties and functions where people ‘talk’.

[cynwoody]

A spokeswoman for former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who is flirting with a presidential run, said, “We’ve always found him to be fair.”

Please, spokesbitch, STFU and get your boss on camera saying it.

Should the Hildebeest wash out, it might come in handy to place your boy in the public's mind in in the location where he belongs!

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

I am going to contribute $100 to the Clinton Foundation, if $75000 gets you $105 million A hundred should get me a $100,000!

[Vinnie]

$105 mil??? Can he dunk?

[Cowboy Bob]

He should be in an orange jumpsuit.

Do they make them in children's sizes?

[MagnoliaB]

I agree with that. They thought they would have an ‘in’ into the WH if Hillbilly got in. They are just sorry the whole plan got exposed.

[SaveFerris]

Actually, $140,000.

If I typed that into the calculator correctly.

[snoringbear]

So, I’m wondering why Peter Schweizer wasn’t aware of this and dropped the tidbit on Stephanopoulos during the interview. Wouldn’t that have been great!

[MAexile]

He was a campaign strategy guy....not a journalist.

That's why he's there at ABC. It's part of the campaign strategy.

[ez]

Which only proves, since if he stumbles, the network stumbles, that ABC is part of the campaign also.

[Liz]

BACKSTORY CIRCA 2009---OBAMA TAKES OFFICE Seems phone calls were being made between Obama's then-COS Rahm Emanuel and ABC-TV's George Stephanopoulous.

Media Research President Brent Bozell, a vocal critic, made the claim that these were "strategy phone calls," and requested ABC to respond. "With each passing day, ABC's failure to speak to, and about, this issue tarnishes further the network's reputation as a legitimate news entity," Bozell writes.

ABC-TV responds to Brent Bozell

Dear Mr. Bozell,

Thank you for your letter regarding George Stephanopoulos. To be crystal clear, George Stephanopoulos does not advise Rahm Emanuel nor anyone else in the Obama Administration. He reports on the Obama Administration. He speaks to Mr. Emanuel, a friend he has know for nearly two decades, as a source, just as he speaks to countless sources across the political spectrum each and every day. That is his job as an anchor and reporter and one that he does according to the highest standards.

In your letter, and public utterances, you falsely assert that ABC News has been silent on this matter. That is simply untrue. Upon reading your press release last week, we reached out to the MRC to make it abundantly clear that you had totally mischaracterized the Politico story written by John Harris last Tuesday.

Indeed, Politico posted a story last Friday by Ben Smith pointing out exactly how badly you had mangled the facts. In that post, Harris stated that, " The calls are certainly a fascinating Washington ritual, but by no means do I think that George Stephanopoulos is participating in strategy sessions.

To my mind, he established his journalistic bona fides more than a decade ago, even as the Clinton administration was still underway, when he showed his willingness to report aggressively on Democrats as well as Republicans."

To give further lie to your claim that ABC News has not responded to your distortions, our senior vice president was quoted in the Politico story saying, "George speaks to Emanuel, but he speaks to plenty of conservatives and Republicans every single day -- that's part of his job.

The idea that there is some kind of daily conference call that George hops on is just nonsense and not true." Furthermore, last Friday, a reporter from CNS News, which was founded by you and continues to be directly affiliated with the MRC, contacted our media relations staff for a piece he'd been assigned to write on this very topic.

We cooperated immediately and provided him an on the record response. We have since learned from your reporter that his story was killed. You have said, "if the charges are false, provide the evidence. We will gladly accept it and consider the matter closed."

From the moment you issued your first press release on the Politico story last week - and numerous times since - we have made it clear to you and your staff that your assertions regarding Mr. Stephanopoulos and ABC News are false and based on a willful and knowing distortion of John Harris' original story.

Sincerely,

Kerry Smith, Senior Vice President
Editorial Quality, ABC News

[greedo]

What was Mitt Romney thinking, when he agreed to appear in a debate moderated by Stephanopoulos.

Livingstone Resigns, Denying Ill Intent

Vincent Foster Hired Livingstone, Stephanopoulos Says

[Liz]

OUTSTANDING POST BY FREEPER TRAVIS MCGEE: "Most viewers of the New Hampshire Republican primary debate, wondered why ABC-NEWS debate moderator George Stephanopoulos kept asking seemingly off-topic questions about the candidates’ views."

Georgio's "gotcha" question to Obama's opponent, Mr Romney, about birth control lasted weeks on the news cycle even though it was not an issue anywhere in the US.

We now understand White House War Room “General” Valerie Jarrett had been coaching hard-left suckups like Georgio to deliver the administration's “talking points” and strategic memes via the debate format....colluding in the effort to dupe America voters.

Clearly Democrat suck-up boychik Georgio (now an ABC-TV journo), who was a ruthless factotum in the Clinton White House, did not just happen to pick destructive debate questions. He was coached by cunning Obama White House conspirators......

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

wow, what will i do with all that loot, and i do mean loot!

[txhurl]

It’s hard to believe Cruz will be civil with the media hyena, but he will, because classy is as classy does.