Althouse: "ABC has plenty of reasons to be freaking out over the George Stephanopoulos scandal

May 19, 2015

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

"The seven-year deal — which dwarfs the five-year, $50 million contract scored by since-suspended NBC rival Brian Williams — was supposed to keep Stephanopoulos in front of ABC’s cameras through 2021."

64 comments:

Rumpletweezer said...: It's real insensitive to use the word "dwarfs" when talking about George S.; 5/19/15, 10:28 AM
MadisonMan said...: And worth every penny.

Or something.; 5/19/15, 10:34 AM
Alexander said...: You know, for a party that loves to go on about how evil it is to make money, there sure is a lot of cash floating around.

It's almost like there's a not-so-silent for you peasants that's intended to be understood.; 5/19/15, 10:35 AM
YoungHegelian said...: Speaking of corruption, does anyone wonder just what it is about Steffi that makes him worth $105 over seven years to ABC? Like, you know, maybe ABC thought they were buying access to the Clinton/Democratic machine....

It's not like they pay their other talking heads that much.; 5/19/15, 10:35 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: That sounds like a lot of money until you subtract Hilary's cut.; 5/19/15, 10:38 AM
Skeptical Voter said...: I dunno----Steffi gets as much money in 6 years as De Andre Jordan of the Clippers will get in 5---and Steffi is too short to defend the basket.

Steffi is "vertically challenged".

He's also "morally challenged" but that's another issue.; 5/19/15, 10:43 AM
jr565 said...: George always seemed like a nice enough guy, but how could ABC not see the conflict of interest?; 5/19/15, 10:47 AM
MadisonMan said...: but how could ABC not see the conflict of interest?

You can't see what you're not looking for.; 5/19/15, 10:48 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: A million here, a million there, pretty soon you're talking real journalistic integrity.; 5/19/15, 10:51 AM
Patrick said...: Actually, the conflict of interest is EXACTLY what they were looking for.; 5/19/15, 10:52 AM
cubanbob said...: What was Disney/ABC expecting to get for the $105mm investment in the Clinton Corporation?; 5/19/15, 10:58 AM
damikesc said...: Speaking of corruption, does anyone wonder just what it is about Steffi that makes him worth $105 over seven years to ABC? Like, you know, maybe ABC thought they were buying access to the Clinton/Democratic machine....

They did never re-show that 9/11 movie, right? They don't even really acknowledge its existence.

And it's HILARIOUS seeing the same liberals furious over how sleazy Bill was when leaving the WH lining up to vote for Hillary.; 5/19/15, 11:19 AM
Jason said...: Liberals sure take care of each other, don't they?; 5/19/15, 11:28 AM
Kyzer SoSay said...: Sickening. How much fresh talent could that money have bought, and instead our corporate oligarchs spend it on a tool to enable access to the Clinton Crime Syndicate. Is there nothing about the Left that rises above moral and intellectual bankruptcy these days?; 5/19/15, 11:30 AM
Sebastian said...: "105 million, to be exact.""

Protection money. Crony capitalism, media edition.

"the conflict of interest is EXACTLY what they were looking for"

Because collusion is not a conflict.; 5/19/15, 11:38 AM
Brando said...: I dont' really understand why anyone at ABC would have thought he was worth that sort of money. It's not as though audiences would follow him to another channel.

Instead, spend a fraction of that on a halfway decent interviewer who looks good on camera, and a good team of staffers to prep them. It's not as though Stephanopoulos did any of the legwork himself.; 5/19/15, 11:59 AM
Brando said...: I am glad to see the Clinton Foundation being exposed for the access-buying scam that it really is. Maybe by the end of the year it'll be so tainted it'll drag down Hillary. What sweet justice if that happens!

If the Democrats scuttle themselves next year, they'll only have themselves to blame. They knew all this about the Clintons a while ago, and had their chance to find a replacement while there was time.; 5/19/15, 12:02 PM
garage mahal said...: Free speech is a wonderful thing ain't it?; 5/19/15, 12:11 PM
Roughcoat said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/15, 12:17 PM
Roughcoat said...: Re the 9/11 movie: They did show it. On two consecutive nights. I watched it. It was excellent. Wish I could see it again.; 5/19/15, 12:18 PM
damikesc said...: Re the 9/11 movie: They did show it. On two consecutive nights. I watched it. It was excellent. Wish I could see it again.

As I said, they never re-showed it. It was one and done and never mentioned again. Democrats threatened their broadcast license over it as well.; 5/19/15, 12:25 PM
Larry J said...: ABC News knew exactly what they were getting when they hired George Stephanopoulos. They can pretend to be surprised that he's a Clinton hack but only the truly gullible could believe them. He's one of many Democrat operatives who've been hired by the news networks over the years in numbers that vastly dwarf those of Republicans.; 5/19/15, 12:30 PM
garage mahal said...: Money buys access to people? LOLOLOLOL; 5/19/15, 12:39 PM
damikesc said...: Money buys access to people? LOLOLOLOL

Nah. Tech firms and schools just paid Hillary tons of money because she's such a spell binding speaker.; 5/19/15, 12:55 PM
Known Unknown said...: "It's almost like there's a not-so-silent for you peasants that's intended to be understood."

It's called Fen's Law.; 5/19/15, 12:57 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: We cut the Cable over a year ago, but we quit watching ABC for "news" when they hired George. It was a clear signal that the organization put political activism ahead of truth.; 5/19/15, 1:07 PM
Matt Sablan said...: Let's be honest. ABC was paying him for access, not journalism.; 5/19/15, 1:13 PM
MadisonMan said...: Free speech is a wonderful thing ain't it?

Is it really free if you're paying $105M for it?; 5/19/15, 1:24 PM
garage mahal said...: Tech firms and schools just paid Hillary tons of money because she's such a spell binding speaker.

Only a fascist would question this. It's the most freedom-y thing ever. Money. First Amendment. But I repeat myself.; 5/19/15, 1:27 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: I don't understand why this is a big deal. A network that serves as a Democratic house organ hires a Democratic operative. What is the 'news' here?; 5/19/15, 1:33 PM
garage mahal said...: Is it really free if you're paying $105M for it?

Better ABC paying it than us! Think WEDC.; 5/19/15, 1:34 PM
SteveM said...: The Clintons are going to be pissed off. ABC is paying $105M Steffi for his access to the Clintons, and Steffi has passed only $75K to the Clintons.; 5/19/15, 2:00 PM
garage mahal said...: Just think: If Steph had sent 75k to Club for Growth he would be a hero and a martyr. And ya'll would be fascists for even bringing it up.; 5/19/15, 2:10 PM
Matt Sablan said...: Garage: No. If the GOVERNMENT were trying to criminalize Stephanopoulus's speech, he'd be a martyr for free speech. The fact he chose to be a liar and a hypocrite with his free speech has no bearing on whether free speech is good or bad.

No one is calling for anything to happen to him save he face the same social consequences any journalist without his connections would be facing.; 5/19/15, 2:13 PM
garage mahal said...: The fact he chose to be a liar and a hypocrite with his free speech has no bearing on whether free speech is good or bad.

Dozens of media orgs and journalists gave to the Clinton Foundation. Murdoch gave over a million. But it's one particular media member that troubles you. Why is that?; 5/19/15, 2:21 PM
SteveR said...: ABC/Disney isn't paying him the money. We are, with all the sheeple purchases of products advertised on the network.

This is just staying in the game, they don't really expect to be held to any standards for the money they spend, by customers or shareholders.

Every so often the publicity catches up (e.g. Brian Williams) but mostly not.; 5/19/15, 2:24 PM
damikesc said...: Only a fascist would question this. It's the most freedom-y thing ever. Money. First Amendment. But I repeat myself.

Who's questioning it. Clearly, Hillary is the most compelling speaker in the history of ever.

Hell, why even HAVE bribery laws, amiright?

Dozens of media orgs and journalists gave to the Clinton Foundation.

Access isn't cheap when it's the Clintons.

And look how little they received for it.

More evidence you should ignore the media when it covers the economy.

But it's one particular media member that troubles you. Why is that?

I'm sorry, you must have missed that the media's image is the absolute shits amongst the public at large.; 5/19/15, 2:24 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal: And ya'll would be fascists for even bringing it up.

Fascism is having the SWAT team kick down the doors of people who donated time and money to opposition politics.

Fascism is approving the use of the SWAT team for this purpose.

You are the only one commenting here guilty of this.; 5/19/15, 2:45 PM
Matt Sablan said...: "Dozens of media orgs and journalists gave to the Clinton Foundation. Murdoch gave over a million. But it's one particular media member that troubles you. Why is that?"

-- Because he accused someone of bias for giving money to a politician and failed to disclose his givings on multiple occasions? The other media members never tried to hide it, let alone pretended to be unbiased journalists reporting on another party's potential conflict of interest.; 5/19/15, 3:03 PM
garage mahal said...: Fascism is having the SWAT team kick down the doors of people who donated time and money to opposition politics.

Cops kick down doors everyday. Are conservative donors a protected class? Under your logic there can never be an investigation into any campaign or PAC group.; 5/19/15, 3:23 PM
Big Mike said...: $105 million? That's a lot of money for a guy hardly anyone will want to watch.; 5/19/15, 3:26 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: garage mahal said...Cops kick down doors everyday.

garage is ok with SWAT raids & extraordinary gag orders as part of routine political investigations, you guys. That's the new normal. If you find that problematic YOU are the weirdo.
Weaponize politics, what could go wrong?; 5/19/15, 3:29 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: garage mahal said...
Dozens of media orgs and journalists gave to the Clinton Foundation. Murdoch gave over a million. But it's one particular media member that troubles you. Why is that?

Gee, do you think it's particularly galling in this particular case because this "journalist" specifically grilled the author over his ties to political opponents of the Clintons (to impugn his book's assertions) while the the journalist himself had a much larger and more troubling (recent) conflict of interest? Maybe, you know, that has something to do with it?; 5/19/15, 3:32 PM
garage mahal said...: garage is ok with SWAT raids & extraordinary gag orders as part of routine political investigations, you guys

Tell me who's house was raided by SWAT teams, when that occurred, and where this information came from. Can you do that?

(I bet you have no idea, that you heard it on a right wing blog somewhere); 5/19/15, 3:39 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal:Cops kick down doors everyday.

Not for campaign finance. What would be wrong with two uniformed police officers politely knocking?

Are conservative donors a protected class?

All donors of any stripe should not be subject to no-knock SWAT raids for campaign finance-related warrants.

Under your logic there can never be an investigation into any campaign or PAC group.

You think it is actually logically impossible to serve a warrant for a non-violent crime--which may not even be a crime, since it is constitutionally protected--in a on-violent manner.

This is what makes you a fascist. Not that you are a progressive, and not because you disagree. But because you approve the use of government-directed violence in the political process.

And what makes you a liar is that you pretend you can't understand the difference between what Stephanopolis and the Clintons have done--which no one here has even claimed is illegal--and what happened in Wisconsin.; 5/19/15, 3:43 PM
garage mahal said...: All donors of any stripe should not be subject to no-knock SWAT raids for campaign finance-related warrants.

Which donors had their houses no-knock raided, and how do you know that happened.; 5/19/15, 3:45 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal:Tell me who's house was raided by SWAT teams, when that occurred, and where this information came from. Can you do that?

Piss off, fascist troll.; 5/19/15, 3:45 PM
garage mahal said...: Piss off, fascist troll.

Wrong case, moron. You call people fascists and you have no idea what you're talking about. Not surprising coming from you though.; 5/19/15, 3:47 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal:Wrong case, moron.

garage, people here can follow the link and read what happened September 2011 in Madison, as well as other times and places.

And they can read what you said about it at the time.

Fascist troll.; 5/19/15, 3:51 PM
garage mahal said...: garage, people here can follow the link and read what happened September 2011 in Madison, as well as other times and places.

You have the two John Doe cases confused. The first John Doe had nothing to do with campaign donations.

YOU ARE AN IDIOT; 5/19/15, 3:56 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal: It doesn't matter if fascist trolls can read, because they lie about what they read.

Fascism is having the SWAT team kick down the doors of people who donated time and money to opposition politics.; 5/19/15, 4:01 PM
garage mahal said...: It doesn't matter if fascist trolls can read, because they lie about what they read.

Tell me which conservative donors had their doors kicked in by SWAT teams, and tell us how you know that. Try #2!; 5/19/15, 4:03 PM
damikesc said...: Cops kick down doors everyday. Are conservative donors a protected class?

They kick down doors everyday for the crime of political speech?

Can you name when and where?

I mean outside of Wisconsin. Unless it happens even more than has been revealed.

Under your logic there can never be an investigation into any campaign or PAC group.

They'll need more than unconstitutional laws to justify it, yes.

garage is ok with SWAT raids & extraordinary gag orders as part of routine political investigations, you guys. That's the new normal. If you find that problematic YOU are the weirdo.
Weaponize politics, what could go wrong?

Doesn't even seem to notice that the opposing party is in charge and if they felt it was as OK as he did, he might not enjoy life.

Just remember, garage, when the police come for you, you cannot whine. You think it's perfectly OK.; 5/19/15, 4:17 PM
Clyde said...: That's a shitload of money for a guy who probably can't hit a curveball. All of a sudden, A-Rod isn't looking quite so overpaid!; 5/19/15, 4:17 PM
garage mahal said...: Fascists are busting down doors of conservative donors, and the good fascists they are, we have no idea whose houses are being raided.

DAMN YOU FASCISTS!; 5/19/15, 4:50 PM
SteveR said...: garage calls someone an idiot.

the voice of authority; 5/19/15, 5:33 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal:we have no idea whose houses are being raided.

Well, it's hard to find out when everything just says "John Doe" on it, which is the point, but according to the Milawukee Journal-Sentinel some of the people we do have names for:

In halting the investigation last month, Randa cited the raids as among those elements of fact and the law that called into question the secret investigation, which is looking at whether conservative groups illegally coordinated with the campaigns of Gov. Scott Walker and GOP senators during the 2012 recall elections.

"Sheriff deputy vehicles used bright floodlights to illuminate the targets' homes," Randa wrote. "Deputies executed the search warrants, seizing business papers, computer equipment, phones, and other devices, while their targets were restrained under police supervision and denied the ability to contact their attorneys."

Randa was referring at least in part to the Oct. 3 raid of the homes of R.J. Johnson and Deborah Jordahl, who are consultants to the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

"Among the materials seized were many of the Club's records that were in the possession of Ms. Jordahl and Mr. Johnson," Randa wrote last month.

Johnson's wife, Valerie, posted two notes on her Facebook page shortly after the raid, citing the constitutional amendment protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. "You don't spend a lot of time thinking about this amendment until you realize it is being grossly violated," she wrote on Oct. 11, eight days after the raid.

Randa also wrote that on the same day O'Keefe and others with Wisconsin Club for Growth received subpoenas to turn over the club's records from March 1, 2009, until the present. The subpoenas were subject to a secrecy order.

Prosecutors responded that if sheriff's deputies had acted improperly in the raid of the homes, that was a matter to be taken up by the targets of the raids with the deputies, not prosecutors.; 5/19/15, 5:51 PM
HoodlumDoodlum said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/15, 6:17 PM
Jason said...: Boy, Garage is a good little lickspittle Stasi, isn't he?; 5/19/15, 6:18 PM
Kyzer SoSay said...: Finest kind. That's why we love to hate to love him.; 5/19/15, 8:09 PM
Drago said...: Hilarity always results when garage plays "grownup commenter"!; 5/19/15, 8:18 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/19/15, 10:51 PM
Gabriel said...: @garage mahal: You gonna came back and continue to try to brazen this out?

Or maybe you and some friends are busy looking up their addresses so you can engage in actos de repudio.

(I did consider that, but since their names were in the paper it's not like you couldn't have found them.); 5/20/15, 12:13 PM
mikee said...: I'm left wondering by this thread if garage is a paid sycophant, or really that illogical and poorly informed.

Paid sycophant I could understand, and not even be too upset about.

If he isn't getting money for this gig, I worry about his mental status and ability to function in public in our modern society.; 5/20/15, 1:10 PM