ABC’s George Stephanopoulos was supposed to serve up softballs to President Joe Biden in a high-stakes interview he — and the rest of the establishment media — were supposed to treat as a low-stakes, low-pressure sit-down.
It still didn’t work. The president did better on Friday than he did his June 27 debate performance, but only by default, and some of the quotes were disjointed and weak.
At one point, if Biden’s words were taken at face value, he said he couldn’t even remember whether he’d actually watched his own implosive performance in the debate, which had taken place one week prior.
At another point, when asked why he should continue to lead the country into the future, he told Stephanopoulos he “put NATO together.” NATO was founded in 1949, when Biden was a child, just FYI.
And then, on Tuesday, Stephanopoulos dropped his own bomb on the Biden campaign: The “Good Morning America” co-host and anchor of “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” candidly revealed what he thought about the president’s performance over the past few weeks.
Bottom line, nine words: “I don’t think he can serve four more years.”
Unfortunately for Stephanopoulos, the former Clinton White House staffer and media veteran apparently didn’t know he was talking to someone who was either with or gave the footage to Hollywood vulture culture mainstay TMZ.
Given that Stephanopoulos hasn’t really been attached to scandal since he was the White House communications director for a president known for his frequent adulterous dalliances, he must not have expected much expect much when he “was out and about Tuesday afternoon on 5th Avenue, wearing workout clothes,” according to TMZ.
“Do you think Biden should step down? You’ve talked to him more than anybody else has lately,” the passerby said.
Do you agree with Stephanopoulos?
“The pedestrian didn’t have his phone pointed at George when the ABC News journalist gave his answer — the phone was pointed at the sidewalk, but it’s clearly George’s distinctive voice you’re hearing,” TMZ noted.
After a pause: “I don’t think he can serve four more years,” Stephanopoulos said.
“You don’t think he can serve four more years?” the pedestrian said. “All right, that’s an answer.”
BREAKING: ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos caught on video saying he doesn’t think Biden can serve another 4 years after his interview.
Stephanopoulos was intercepted in midtown Manhattan in footage released by TMZ.
Reporter: “Do you think Biden should step down? You’ve… pic.twitter.com/58FYwrWvqg
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 10, 2024
According to the New York Post, Stephanopoulos apologized after the video went live at 5:39 p.m. Eastern Time.
“Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have,” he said in an update posted to TMZ four hours later.
“George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News,” his employer noted in its own statement to the outlet.
However, all Stephanopoulos really did was simply watch what he saw before his eyes and state the reality of the situation (that used to be called “journalism”).
Take, for instance, this clip from the Biden-Stephanopoulos interview, where the president is asked about whether he’s up for the rigors of the office — and listen to the disjointed answer he gives:
Stephanopoulos: “I guess the question, the problem is here for a lot of Americans watching this, you’ve said going back to 2020, ‘watch me.’
Biden: “Yeah.
Stephanopoulos: “To people who are concerned about your age. And you know, 50 million Americans watched that debate. It… pic.twitter.com/qNUVCm8Wcd
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 6, 2024
Biden claimed he did “10 major events” after the debate, and even this was a lie, as Jim Geraghty pointed out in a fact-check of the president’s Stephanopoulos claims at conservative outlet National Review:
“Biden had six events over the next two days, mostly closed-door campaign receptions where the president made brief remarks to the friendliest crowd imaginable.”
This is only if you count Biden’s post-debate appearance at an Atlanta Waffle House after the debate as an “event,” mind you — which a candidate with a cold shouldn’t have been making, anyway.
And then there was this, which is impossible to fact-check inasmuch as none of the thoughts — aside from The New York Times poll, which he got incorrect — are especially coherent:
I’m not sure people realize how BAD that George Stephanopoulos interview was for Biden.
The way he answered that question-
– National Security Council?
– NYT had me down 10 points?
– He lied 28 times?
– The way the debate ran?THE MAN CANNOT KEEP A COHERENT THOUGHT! pic.twitter.com/jGFGkNEGSi
— Free (@KaladinFree) July 6, 2024
Really, Stephanopoulos’ only mistake in the video publicized by TMZ was saying he saw what we all saw and he managed to see live. No blandishment was necessary. Just tell people to watch the interview.
They’ll know just how true those nine words ring before the first half of the 22-minute experience is over, believe you me.
