ABC This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos traveled over to CBS on Wednesday to tape The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his new Hulu documentary on young campaign reporters. But, before he could do that, the former communications director for Bill Clinton lamented there are no consequences for hypocrisy anymore because politics has become a team sport.
Colbert was dismayed that Republicans refuse to abandon Herschel Walker when he asked, “If Herschel Walker is elected to the Senate, what is the damn point? Because it really means that nothing means anything anymore. There are no consequences-- there are no consequences at all for hypocrisy then.”
Initially, Stephanopoulos side-stepped the question, “It’s been a mind-blowing couple of weeks, there’s been no question about that.”
Trying again, Colbert asked, “You used to work in politics. Were there ever consequences for hypocrisy?”
This time, Stephanopoulos went fully partisan, “Oh, sure. I mean, people used to be in fear of being called out for flipping positions or, you know, lying about paying for an abortion, if that's in fact what happened. And you used to pay a price for it. But it-- one of the most chilling things about the last several years, I mean, going back to the Access Hollywood tape, is how people can process new information that they would normally be troubled by, but if it's about their team, they close ranks.”
Nobody who used to work for Bill Clinton should accuse anyone of closing ranks for “their team” unless it includes a mea culpa over how Democrats responded to Clinton’s impeachment that included allegations of actual crimes, not to mention Clinton’s own history of sexual assault.
Stephanopoulos was on for two segments and these remarks occurred during the second. Earlier, during the first, Colbert, who has a self-imposed moratorium on using the words “Donald Trump,” asked:
One of the things that Maggie talks about-- if I call her Maggie, Miss Haberman talks about in her book, is how difficult it has been over the years to report on that fella because anything you say about him, especially fact-checking his lies, ends up reinforcing what the original assertion he made was, and the fact-check, you know, the-- what is it, a lie will go around the world while fact's still putting on his shoes—or something like that. And that you reinforce the lie by talking about the fact check. And I'm just curious how you've learned to deal with that.”
The man who now fancies himself as a journalist then expressed concern that by even covering Trump, his profession was, at least somewhat, responsible for him, “Nothing has bedeviled me more over the last seven years. I mean, this has been the biggest possible problem is, at what-- at what-- point do we become complicit in all this simply by covering him? And I think that's a fair question.”
After Colbert replied that when he got elected it was impossible to avoid him, Stephanopoulos continued, “But there are things that we did learn, like things we would never do now. We used to just sort of broadcast his words, and then if he lied, we'd say, ‘Oh, he-- that's a lie.’ Now, at least on my shows, if what he says is factually untrue he won't show it.”
Stephanopoulos still doesn’t get it. The lack of trust in the media is why no one takes their fact-checks seriously because attention to factual details only seems to go one way.
These segments were sponsored by Lincoln.
Here is a transcript for the October 13 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
10/13/2022
12:07 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: One of the things that Maggie talks about-- if I call her Maggie, Miss Haberman talks about in her book, is how difficult it has been over the years to report on that fella because anything you say about him, especially fact-checking his lies, ends up reinforcing what the original assertion he made was, and the fact-check, you know, the-- what is it, a lie will go around the world while fact's still--
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- putting on his shoes—or something like that. And that you reinforce the lie by talking about the fact check. And I'm just curious --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Nothing has--
COLBERT: -- how you've learned to deal with that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Nothing has bedeviled me more over the last seven years. I mean, this has been the biggest possible problem is, at what-- at what-- point do we become complicit in all this simply by covering him? And I think that's a fair question.
COLBERT: Well, the crazy thing is when he was elected president of the United States, one of the things that chilled me was oh, now there's no not talking about him because he's the most important person in the world.
STEPHANOPOULOS: But there are things that we did learn, like things we would never do now. We used to just sort of broadcast his words, and then if he lied, we'd say, "Oh, he-- that's a lie."
COLBERT: Yeah.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, at least on my shows, if what he says is factually untrue he won't show it. We'll say he's lied again about the election.
COLBERT: Oh, that's good, that's good. Sure, that’s nice, that is, that’s a good answer.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That's a start, you know? But--
COLBERT: But it's just the fact-check, not the assertion.
...
12:17 AM ET
COLBERT: If Herschel Walker is elected to the Senate, what is the damn point? Because it really means that nothing means anything anymore. There are no consequences-- there are no consequences at all for hypocrisy then.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: It’s been a mind-blowing couple of weeks, there’s been no question about that.
COLBERT: You used to work in politics.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yeah.
COLBERT: Were there ever consequences for hypocrisy?
STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, sure. I mean, people used to be in fear of being called out for flipping positions or, you know, lying about paying for an abortion, if that's in fact what happened. And you used to pay a price for it. But it-- one of the most chilling things about the last several years, I mean, going back to the Access Hollywood tape, is how people can process new information that they would normally be troubled by, but if it's about their team, they close ranks.
