As already noted on NewsBusters, "Good Morning America" anchor Diane Sawyer conducted a fawning interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on such issues as Iraq. However, the ABC journalist also opened and closed the segment by obsessing over how Pelosi picked up lint from the floor of the Capitol Rotunda. For many people, this would be a minor detail. Sawyer, however, saw it as a historic event and teased her colleagues about it prior to the interview:

Diane Sawyer: I’m going to tell you what she did, I’m willing to bet, no Speaker of the House has ever done in the entire history of the United States of America. You want to guess? Sam? David? Robin?"

Later on, Sawyer giddily recounted the exciting event:

Diane Sawyer: "We're walking along with the camera, she looks at the carpet. It has lint on it, little scraps of paper. She can't stand it. She gets down and cleans the carpet so we could walk. And she looks up at me and says, ‘It’s just the bonus of having a female Speaker of the House."

Robin Roberts: "Yeah. Don’t think any of the guys did that. All right, Diane. Have a safe trip back home"

David Muir: "A clean rotunda on Capitol Hill."

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Roberts: "Got to love it!"

Some recent polls have shown that Nancy Pelosi is, thus far, enjoying relatively high popularity. And with members of the media gushing over the fact that she picks up trash, it’s not hard to see why.

A transcript of the January 19 lint conversations follows:

7:31

Diane Sawyer: "Coming up in this half hour, from down here in Washington, we’re going to have more of our interview with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. And we are going to talk to her, by the way, she commands the gavel right under that dome over there. And she got a chance to tell us what she’s learned about being a female, the first woman Speaker, what she, yes, what she thinks about those articles on clothes. And, I’m going to tell you what she did, I’m willing to bet, no Speaker of the House has ever done in the entire history of the United States of America. You want to guess? Sam? David? Robin?"

David Muir: "No. I can’t."

Robin Roberts: "Oh, come on! Don’t we– Give us another clue. Is there a little something else?"

Muir: "Little something?"

Sawyer: "You have to have a very eagle eye to do it."

Roberts: "Oh. I still have no clue. That’s a good one!"

7:52

Sawyer: "And by the way, she says her husband buys her clothes because she hates to shop. Are you ready for the answer?"

Robin Roberts: "Come on!"

Sawyer: "We're walking along with the camera, she looks at the carpet. It has lint on it, little scraps of paper. She can't stand it. She gets down and cleans the carpet so we could walk. And she looks up at me and says, ‘It’s just the bonus of having a female Speaker of the House."

Roberts: "Yeah. Don’t think any of the guys did that. All right, Diane. Have a safe trip back home"

David Muir: "A clean rotunda on Capitol Hill."

Roberts: "Got to love it."

—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.