Unless it's all tongue in cheek, this explains George Stephanopoulos's curious perseverance in trying to get Mitt Romney to comment on banning contraceptives (not exactly a burning campaign issue) at the debate in New Hampshire. He tells Stephen Colbert that it was done on a bet with Diane Sawyer:
COLBERT: OK, OK. Romney’s basically saying you’re a silly little child. And the audience is going, “We hate him, too.” What does it feel like at that moment?It's clear that the liberal moderators of all these debates view the GOP contenders as exhibits in a freak show, what with their crazy, throwback views on marriage (one man + one woman -- where'd they come up with that one?) and children (too many!). So Stephanopoulos and Sawyer connived to get the frontrunner and father of five to talk about contraceptives in hopes of making him look just a little weirder. The liberal media isn't quite ready to go after Romney's religion per se; that must wait until after he wins the nomination, when the bomb will do the maximum damage. But they can marginalize him a bit by indirectly calling attention to his big family and his presumed "outside the mainstream" personal views on contraception. They hoped he'd make himself look ridiculous and perhaps hypocritical in his answers and produce some juicy soundbites for use by the Democrats. I think it backfired on Stephanopoulos but he seems pretty pleased with his performance. Why the GOP contenders keep agreeing to debates with hyper-partisan moderators who are basically working for the Obama campaign is beyond me.
STEPHANOPOULOS: At that moment, I’m thinking, I really want to win this bet.
COLBERT: What was the bet?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Diane Sawyer bet me that I couldn’t get Mitt Romney to say “contraceptions are working just fine.”
COLBERT: Really?
STEPHANOPOULOS: I won.
COLBERT: You got him to say “contraceptions are working just fine.” Even though, from the number of children he has, he has no idea how they work.
As for Colbert, surely, as a humorist and the youngest of eleven children, he could have done better than that old clunker about Romney having "no idea" how contraceptives work. Parents of large families hear variations of the "Don't you know what causes that?" joke so often they make it something of a hobby to come up with fun comebacks. Colbert's parents, even in the 60's and 70's when he was growing up and large families were more common, must have fended off a good many lame you've-got-too-many-kids jokes like the one their son made. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but as a mother of seven I would be less than thrilled to hear one of my kids laughing at others for being open to life.
The Daily Caller has the video. Break out the giant condoms.
Hat tip to AS.
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If as you said the "bet" backfired, it was worth the candidates being in the forum. People need to see for themselves how bias the media can be. They are not going to just assume we are telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the bet was going to be whether Ms. Sawyer could remain in an "upright and locked" position for over an hour. She has some serious problems.
ReplyDeleteI actually thought Romney handled it pretty well but continue to wonder why the GOP'ers keep acquiescing to having the loony left moderate the debates.
Because the GOP establishment is NOT conservative. They want to be liked by the media. They want the "Like a god" sort of toadying flattery that members of the DNC get gratis.
ReplyDeleteRrrrrrr. Sorry, just annoyed. Why anyone thinks the little Yorkie that is Stephanopolis is credible as a journalist, I just don't know.