‘Pursue a Politics of Love’; ABC’s Stephanopoulos Drools Over Talarico

ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos was beyond giddy Wednesday after the blue tsunami that saw his friends in the Democrat Party sweep to massive congressional majorities and possibly over 30 governorships. But it was how he got to finish his portion of the midterms coverage that made him particularly pleased, as he invited Senator-elect James Talarico (D-TX) to “spell out” his “politics of love.”

It came as the last in a series of softball questions: “You said you want to pursue a politics of love. For a lot of Americans who may be hearing you for the first time this morning, spell out what that means.”

Talarico responded with a vague set of warm platitudes that end in socialism with government playing God:

I think we are all tired of this politics of division, this politics of hate, this politics of fear. I’m tired of being pitted against my neighbor. I’m tired of being told to hate my neighbor. My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas. He told me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments: love God and love neighbor, because there is no love of God without love of neighbor, and I’m called to love all of my neighbors, not just my neighbors who look like me or pray like me or vote like me, and that’s what this campaign was built on. A deep love for all of our neighbors, and it’s how we built this coalition that won Texas by looks like double digits. I think it’s a model for what politics can look like in our state and in our country in the years ahead.

Rewinding to the start of the interview, Stephanopoulos boasted he was going to talk to “the man who called himself David beating Goliath” ahead of a lame softball about how he won: “So, just a sweeping win for Democrats across the board in Texas. Your victory, the victory in the governor’s race, other statewide races. Just two years ago, Donald Trump won the state of Texas by 14 points. What determined the difference?”

Once Talarico recycled his message about his campaign being more than Democrats vs. Republicans, Stephanopoulos asked about the economy: “The question is now: How do you deliver on that promise of change, particularly on the cost of living?”

Of course, Talarico insisted he’ll be bipartisan, but anyone representing an area around Austin would beg to differ.

Stephanopoulos had a follow-up, but it wasn’t so much a probing one as it was a lament: “Hard to see President Trump reversing on either the tariffs or the war with Iran. How will you convince him?”

The second-to-last question was another joke: “Texas on the front lines for the fights over immigration and border security. You say both parties have failed. How do you fix it?”

The interview had a lead-in from a Texas dispatch via weekend Good Morning America co-host and Saturday World News Tonight anchor Whit Johnson, who gushed over the “historic win the size of Texas, as Talarico put it in his victory speech” marking the “the former teacher and seminarian” emerging triumphant over Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“Talarico telling his supporters overnight people are hungry for a different kind of politics, not a politics of hate, but a politics of love. It’s that message of unity and compassion that really resonated with people across Texas, Democrats and Republicans looking for change,” he added.

Johnson delivered a nearly identical report in the show’s first hour, which you can view below.

In the first report, he made sure to trumpet Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Talarico “head[ing] over to a Whataburger to shake hands and celebrate with supporters” overnight as “Democrats are now poised to sweep every single statewide office in the state of Texas.”