Back in 1996, ABC president Roone Arledge hired deeply partisan Democrat hack, George Stephanopoulos, to be the network's political analyst and contributor. ABC promised that he would not cover news but would only provide commentary as a seasoned and professional pundit. After I laughed uproariously at the news, I knew that all major network news programs would be biased against Republicans. I knew this way before Bernard Goldberg wrote his book Bias in 2001 because of what happened in 1992 on the Larry King show.
Before that I had an epiphany about the bias during the Republican convention coverage by the networks of the Bush vs. Clinton presidential race. I had discovered C-span which did not have commentary; just cameras covering the events. I would switch back and forth between NBC and C-span whenever there was a minority speaking passionately about the GOP and patriotism. All the networks would cut away from the stage and the anchor, I believe it was Brokaw, would comment on how the convention was attended by a largely non-minority crowd. The camera would then sweep over the crowd of whites waving American flags with nary a black person in sight presumably because they represented a non-urban state.
Any convention speaker that exposed the lie that Republicans were bigots and racists was never shown on the networks. Only C-Span gave a clear, unvarnished view of the event. One also had to read the tabloids to learn about the scandals in the Clinton Arkansas record like Bill's alleged mistress Gennifer Flowers. The mainstream press and the astute machinations of campaign manager George Stephanopoulos kept the dirty linen laundered and that was never clearer than the week before the 1992 election.
The polls showed that George H.W. Bush was closing in on Bill Clinton and the president was being interviewed on the Larry King show. Bush was managing to hold his own until King opened the show to incoming callers. What were the odds that the fourth caller to get through the very busy lines would be George Stephanopoulos!!!!
KING: Let me, we have a call from Little Rock from, from George Stephanopoulos, who is, who is-- BUSH: Oh no, oh no. Go ahead.
KING: He is Governor Clinton's campaign manager. This is an open phones session. He dialed in directly. It wasn't a secret number. Go ahead, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, you asked us to find out what the smoking gun was. What this memo clearly shows, this memo by Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense, is that on January 7, 1986, let me quote from the memo: "The president decided to go with an Israeli-Iranian offer to release our five hostages in return for the sale of 4,000 TOWs to Iran by Israel." In other words, it was clearly an explicit deal of arms for hostages.
That was a neat trick, wasn't it but not a surprise when it came to CNN. A 1992 satellite feed caught Larry King talking to Bill Clinton during a break saying that Ted Turner was a big fan of Clinton and that he would work well for him. Well CNN and the other networks are still carrying the water for the Clintons and the Democrat Party.
When will conservatives learn that it's useless to get their message out by appearing on the networks and cable stations like CNN and MSNBC. Mitt Romney was sabotaged by CNN's Candy Crowley during the second debate with Obama. Having George Stephanopoulos have anything to do with the 2016 Republican debates will be a case of deja vu.
So Mr. Stephanopoulos has tarnished his credibility by not revealing that he gave $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation while interviewing the author of the book exposing the improper donations to that non-profit. In a sane and just world, he would be fired and thrown to the wolves. But this is a world where the inmates are running the asylum and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up running the network.
Here's a tip for the RNC and any Republican candidate. Spend your money on ads to bypass the biased networks. Place them on MTV, BET and Univision and the syndicated programs. Do not let CNN anchors (except Jake Tapper) anywhere near the debates. I suggest moderators should be Sharyl Attkisson, Neal Cavuto and Hugh Hewitt.