Showing that they’ve learned next to nothing from the George Stephanopoulos/Clinton Foundation scandal, ABC allowed its chief anchor in Stephanopoulos to anchor its pre-game coverage of Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate.
Not surprisingly, the former Clinton White House official teamed with DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile to gush over how Hillary Clinton has “found her footing during the fall” and has been “battle tested” following e-mail server and Clinton Foundation scandals that rocked her candidacy earlier in the year.
Turning to Brazile, Stephanopoulos tossed this softball about Clinton having supposedly rebounded and moved on from both her 2008 loss and her numerous scandals:
What I wanted to ask you about is the Clinton campaign. She had kind of a rocky summer, a rocky launch, found her footing during the fall, and throughout this campaign she's shown she's determined to learn the lessons of eight years ago when she lost to Barack Obama.
Brazile immediately began by singing the praises of Clinton and how she’s “not just learned the lessons, but I think she has been tested in ways that no one expected her to be tested and she's come out of these tests as a stronger candidate.”
Declaring that the former First Lady “not only understands the mistakes that she made eight years ago,” but has also become “a candidate determined to reach out to voters in ways that they get to know her personally so that she can build trust with them and she can get them to go out and caucus and support her.”
Taking a shot at Republicans, Brazile closed by forewarning them that the GOP “will be surprised that Hillary will come out of this Democratic campaign when it's over because we have a long way before it's over” since “[s]he will come out battle tested.”
Following the Clinton lovefest by Stephanopoulos and Brazile, ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts did her part to cheer the candidacy of socialist Senator Bernie Sanders and how he “immediately set teeth on edge because he took on both parties in the House of Representatives and then when he went to the Senate [had a] very similar performance.”
Roberts also hyped an “eight-and-a-half-hour speech” in 2010 “railing against a tax deal that had been worked out with Vice President Biden and the Republican leadership” as an example of him “always...putting it to the leadership in a way that people would not have expected him to get this far.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from ABC’s Democratic Presidential Debate pre-show on December 19 can be found below.
ABC’s Democratic Presidential Debate
December 19, 2015
8:04 p.m. Eastern
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I'm here with a member of the Democratic National Committee, Donna Brazile, also our consultant as well and right now, the DNC is allowing Sanders to keep his voter files while the investigation continues. What I wanted to ask you about is the Clinton campaign. She had kind of a rocky summer, a rocky launch, found her footing during the fall, and throughout this campaign she's shown she's determined to learn the lessons of eight years ago when she lost to Barack Obama.
DONNA BRAZILE: You know, George, Hillary Clinton has not just learned the lessons, but I think she has been tested in ways that no one expected her to be tested and she's come out of these tests as a stronger candidate, a candidate who not only understands the mistakes that she made eight years ago, but a candidate determined to reach out to voters in ways that they get to know her personally so that she can build trust with them and she can get them to go out and caucus and support her, so I think she's a stronger candidate and the Republicans will be surprised that Hillary will come out of this Democratic campaign when it's over because we have a long way before it's over. She will come out battle tested.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Cokie Roberts here as well and talking about surprises, Bernie Sanders. You grew up in Washington, you covered Capitol Hill for years. He's been on Capitol Hill now for 25 years. The anniversary this fall. I don't think you could find a person there who would believe —
COKIE ROBERTS: Have predicted this?
STEPHANOPOULOS: — had predicted that he'd be such a force on the campaign trail.
ROBERTS: Right. Not a one. He came in 1990 as a democratic socialist. I mean, he's suing the Democratic Party. He just became a Democrat this year and he is the longest-serving independent in congress and he immediately set teeth on edge because he took on both parties in the House of Representatives and then when he went to the Senate, very similar performance including right after the Republicans had retaken the House in 2010, giving this eight-and-a-half-hour speech railing against a tax deal that had been worked out with Vice President Biden and the Republican leadership, so he's always been sort of putting it to the leadership in a way that people would not have expected him to get this far.
