ABC's Kate Snow Puzzles Over Hillary Loss With 'Fascinating' Steinem

"Good Morning America" weekend anchor Kate Snow conducted a fawning interview with the "renowned," "fascinating" Gloria Steinem on Sunday's program. Leaving aside any mention of the feminist author's very liberal opinions or her controversial statements, Snow focused only on the issue of whether former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost "because she is a woman, because the system was stacked against her as a woman, because America is the way it is for a woman?"

Sounding like a disciple of Steinem, Snow also worried about whether Clinton's failure could harm women. She fretted, "And now that she's not made it, do you think there will be any kind of backlash, then, against women or against the women's movement?" Appearing to be in awe of the feminist, Snow closed the interview by gushing, "So fascinating. We could sit here all day." Perhaps if Snow had actually spent all day with Steinem, she would have found time to wonder if some of the author's more controversial and shocking statements had actually harmed Clinton, such as in March when she derided supporters of John McCain for touting his POW experience as an asset in the presidential campaign. Steinem also told the New York Observer that "from George Washington to Jack Kennedy and PT-109 we have behaved as if killing people is a qualification for ruling people."

It's also rather odd for Snow to speculate about an anti-Hillary bias, as she has been one of the senator's biggest boosters. For instance, on January 7, 2008, she rhapsodized about seemingly ordinary campaign details, such as going door to door and talking to reporters: "No subject is too small. No issue too dense. Hillary Clinton is taking question after question from voters, from reporters." See a November 30, 2007 NewsBusters post for a round-up of some of Snow's more embarrassing pro-Clinton bias.

Ms. Steinem also turned up on Monday's "American Morning" and was lauded as a "pioneering feminist."

(Thanks to MRC intern Peter Sasso for transcribing the segment.)

A transcript of the segment, which aired at 8:11am on June 8, 2008, follows:

KATE SNOW: We're joined now by renowned feminist and author Gloria Steinem. Good morning.

GLORIA STEINEM (feminist author): Good morning.

SNOW: Thanks for being with us. 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, she said. But she wasn't able to punch through. She wasn't able to make it all the way. So I think the question on a lot of people's minds is what does that say to our children? What does that say to young people?

STEINEM: Well, it's a huge victory. She really has permanently changed the perception of who a leader is. Um, I personally did not think that she was going to win from, from the beginning.

SNOW: Even though you supported her?

STEINEM: Yes, well, it's all the more reason to support her.

SNOW: Why didn't you think she would win, because she's a woman?

STEINEM: Well, it's never as simple as that. You know, each person is unique. Each situation is unique. But she is a woman who stands for the equality of women and all of the issues and frequently it's been a woman who stands against women who is the first one like Thatcher, you know who was a disaster for the women's movement. She really stands for change, and I think we -- there are a lot of people who look at her --a lot of men especially but not only, and feel kind of guilt. You know, I mean, therefore they're saying, maybe she's going to do to us, men are saying, what we've been doing to her or to women as a group and the same is true of race in some ways. You know, it's the guilt factor. You know, suppose black people are going to do to white people what has been going on in the past and that's a kind of sub-text all the time.

SNOW: And now that she's not made it, do you think there will be any kind of backlash, then, against women or against the women's movement?

STEINEM: No, actually I think it's really rejuvenated in many ways, both positively because she has been the example of grace under pressure. She certainly has expanded my idea of courage. I would have quit after Iowa. I mean--

SNOW: But what, do you think ultimately do you think she -- this is, I guess, the central question. Did she lose because she ran a flawed campaign or, you know, for many of the sort of political reasons that people have cited or did she lose ultimately, because, in part, because she is a woman, because the system was stacked against her as a woman, because America is the way it is for a woman?

STEINEM: Well, I would say -- yeah, I would say it's 40/60. I mean it's never one thing. It was a flawed campaign. That's true.

SNOW: 40 percent being the campaign and 60 percent being the woman?

STEINEM: Yeah, right, and, and, there are other parts of it, too. She is older in the way women are always older when they run for office or usually because they have to raise their children first. If Michelle Obama was running with two little girls, it would be much more difficult.

SNOW: We just saw her with that teary moment in New Hampshire, just one quick question. Do you think she let herself be a woman enough? Did she talk about being a woman enough or should she have actually been more forthcoming about her femininity?

STEINEM: Yeah, I think she should -- I think she should have been more forthcoming because it's just a fact of life and because you're reflecting the experience of half the country, but the forces on her to imitate a male commander in chief are profound, really profound.

SNOW: So fascinating. We could sit here all day. Gloria Steinem. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

STEINEM: Thank you

SNOW: Bill?