- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 34,478
- Reaction score
- 17,282
- Location
- Southwestern U.S.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Key Observations:
* The president of PP described the organization that took the undercover videos, The Center for Medical Progress, as a "militant" organization on 4 separate occasions, implying/inferring that the organization was radical, extreme and violent. That was not only never challenged by Stephanopoulos and allowed to stand as fact, but no description of the organization other than hers was ever offered at all.
* The president of PP described the 2 videos as deceptive and on 5 separate occasions as "highly edited" even though the full, unedited versions of those videos were released within 24 hours of the release of the shorter versions. Stephanopoulos allowed her to use that excuse without challenge 4 of the 5 times she said it, and the closest thing to a challenge he ever made was after the 3rd time she said it, when he said
"I take your point that the videos were heavily edited, although the entire videos have been available."
In other words, he allowed her to premise every answer she gave based on "highly edited" videos, when he had in his possession the full length, unedited videos where those women said those exact same things he pointed out.
* Concerning the 2 PP women on the videos, George asked:
"How were they reprimanded?"
She answered "They have been reprimanded for their tone" and without being interrupted, spent the next 23 seconds singing the praises of PP and how wonderful an organization they were. She never answered the question and of course George let it go and moved on to the next question, as if he never asked it in the first place.
* Only 1 clip was presented to her from the 2 videos for comment, and it was the one where the woman was joking about wanting to own a lamborghini. Stephanopoulos never presented any of the clips that directly related to PP making a profit from aborted fetuses, or that they change the abortion techniques/procedures in order to harvest organs.
Here's the big one...
* The president of PP made an incredible, totally outrageous statement about The Center for Medical Progress, accusing them of being
"...behind the bombing of clinics and the murder of doctors in their homes and in their churches."
What's even more incredible than that statement itself, is the fact that Stephanopoulos not only didn't interrupt her right then and question her accusation, he never called her out on it at all. He allowed that malicious, inflammatory and totally unsubstantiated lie to stand as fact.
_________________
The following exchange is the closest thing in this entire interview to credible journalism by George Stephanopoulos I could find, but as you will see, it still falls short of the mark:
Stephanopoulos has the unedited tapes, but never shows a clip of the women describing how they would alter the procedure, nor does he challenge her when she says that the tapes were edited and the women were taken out of context in order to make it look as though they said those things. He had the evidence, the proof, right in his hands and instead of holding her feet to the fire, simply allowed her justifications, her allegations and her excuses to go virtually unchallenged.
Breaking down the interview:
7:45 - Total time of the interview
6:02 - Total speaking time for Planned Parenthood president
0:13 - Video evidence presented to PP President for comment
Breaking down PP president's comments:
2:49 - Time spent attacking The Center for Medical Progress and/or validity of video
2:18 - Time spent promoting & describing how wonderful Planned Parenthood is
0:55 - Time spent addressing allegations & answering the questions.
(continued)
* The president of PP described the organization that took the undercover videos, The Center for Medical Progress, as a "militant" organization on 4 separate occasions, implying/inferring that the organization was radical, extreme and violent. That was not only never challenged by Stephanopoulos and allowed to stand as fact, but no description of the organization other than hers was ever offered at all.
* The president of PP described the 2 videos as deceptive and on 5 separate occasions as "highly edited" even though the full, unedited versions of those videos were released within 24 hours of the release of the shorter versions. Stephanopoulos allowed her to use that excuse without challenge 4 of the 5 times she said it, and the closest thing to a challenge he ever made was after the 3rd time she said it, when he said
"I take your point that the videos were heavily edited, although the entire videos have been available."
In other words, he allowed her to premise every answer she gave based on "highly edited" videos, when he had in his possession the full length, unedited videos where those women said those exact same things he pointed out.
* Concerning the 2 PP women on the videos, George asked:
"How were they reprimanded?"
She answered "They have been reprimanded for their tone" and without being interrupted, spent the next 23 seconds singing the praises of PP and how wonderful an organization they were. She never answered the question and of course George let it go and moved on to the next question, as if he never asked it in the first place.
* Only 1 clip was presented to her from the 2 videos for comment, and it was the one where the woman was joking about wanting to own a lamborghini. Stephanopoulos never presented any of the clips that directly related to PP making a profit from aborted fetuses, or that they change the abortion techniques/procedures in order to harvest organs.
Here's the big one...
* The president of PP made an incredible, totally outrageous statement about The Center for Medical Progress, accusing them of being
"...behind the bombing of clinics and the murder of doctors in their homes and in their churches."
What's even more incredible than that statement itself, is the fact that Stephanopoulos not only didn't interrupt her right then and question her accusation, he never called her out on it at all. He allowed that malicious, inflammatory and totally unsubstantiated lie to stand as fact.
_________________
The following exchange is the closest thing in this entire interview to credible journalism by George Stephanopoulos I could find, but as you will see, it still falls short of the mark:
George: "The tapes appear to describe times when the clinics adjust the abortion procedure to better harvest... the fetal (inaudible)."
PPP: "It's absolutely not done... (switches to PP infomercial mode)"
George: "It does appear that is what's described in these tapes"
PPP: "It's because these tapes have been edited..."
George: "So when these doctors are talking about, and this gets graphic, but there talking about less crunchy ways to perform these abortions, so these organs can be preserved, what's happening there, are they just lying?"
PPP: "No, that's absolute... All of this is taken out of context... (then talks about women donating the fetal tissue and how wonderful that is)"
George: "(on the donation of fetal tissue) As long as the procedure is never altered, and you're stating that unequivocally?"
PPP: "That's right."
Stephanopoulos has the unedited tapes, but never shows a clip of the women describing how they would alter the procedure, nor does he challenge her when she says that the tapes were edited and the women were taken out of context in order to make it look as though they said those things. He had the evidence, the proof, right in his hands and instead of holding her feet to the fire, simply allowed her justifications, her allegations and her excuses to go virtually unchallenged.
Breaking down the interview:
7:45 - Total time of the interview
6:02 - Total speaking time for Planned Parenthood president
0:13 - Video evidence presented to PP President for comment
Breaking down PP president's comments:
2:49 - Time spent attacking The Center for Medical Progress and/or validity of video
2:18 - Time spent promoting & describing how wonderful Planned Parenthood is
0:55 - Time spent addressing allegations & answering the questions.
(continued)
