Washington Post Columnist Rips Liz Cheney & George Stephanopoulos

Is George Stephanopoulos losing his touch?

It is a scathing indictment of the golden-boy of Sunday political talk shows and the conservative princess who is heir to whatever bits of the Republican party is left.

Washington Post columnist Tom Shales explains in detail in his column why George Stephanopoulos (@gstephanopoulos) is officially scraping the bottom of the talk show barrel by inviting guests on like Liz Cheney who went head-to-head with Sam Donaldson on This Week with George Stephanopoulos last weekend in a battle of political wills that left blood on the floor.

Shales does not mince words in expressing his disdain for how Cheney presented herself on the show (all but calling her a bully):

“There was acrimony, there were scowls and, as is a habit of Cheney’s — honed during what was for her a sort of Chatterbox Summer — there was simultaneous talking that rendered both participants unintelligible. Cheney has a way of continuing to talk, charging forward in single-minded determination, when someone else has the floor, even if that “someone” might be moderator Stephanopoulos, who is supposed to set the agenda. She doesn’t just finish a thought, she doesn’t just finish a sentence, she’ll go right into a new paragraph and ignore all attempts to head her off.”

It can be argued that this is to be expected (and even wanted by the audience and, hence, the show’s producers) but Shales sees a broader picture in this exchange that points to the dumbing-down of what is supposed to be the last bastion of intellectual talk show discussion: Sunday morning political talk shows

Liz Cheney -- talk show poison?

After comparing Stephanopoulos to Jerry Springer (ouch), and comparing Cheney’s shoutfest to the unruly conservative protesters at healthcare townhall meetings nationwide who shouted-down politicians who attempted to bring peaceful debate to the inflammatory rhetoric, Shales (admitting that these types of shouting matches are the hallmark of a desperate show in a ratings battle with its competitor) serves a final death-blow indictment to Stephanopoulos:

“Yes, it’s a symptom, not a crisis, and maybe all is fair in love and political discourse. But is it discourse when the point is to keep the other person from being heard, even if you keep yourself from being heard, too? Stephanopoulos has to decide whether he’ll ditch dignity in order to ensure popularity, whether his will be a talk show people admire for its wit and wisdom or relish for its splats, kicks and smacks in the kisser.”

Political talk shows have long been the home of contentious and lively debates (though nowhere near as subterranean as the talk on shows like The Jerry Springer Show (the talk show version of cockfighting). So it’s unclear why Shales is calling out Stephanopoulos (as opposed to his more inflammatory cable counterparts) for trying to liven up Sunday mornings with someone who is clearly (like her or not) politically relevant (if only for her party – or her father). To be fair to Shales, she is being criticized elsewhere for her performance on Sunday. She has also been the target of scorn by fans of MSNBC who voiced their own disdain at the network giving the boorish Cheney too much airtime (a charge MSNBC chose to defend by saying Cheney is a “great guest”).

Should Stephanopoulos not have invited Cheney on the show? Should Cheney be placed on a talk show “black list” of guests not welcome because they’re… annoying (and if that’s the case, what about talk show hosts who are just as boorish, in-your-face and, to many, offensive?)?

Below is a video clip of the Cheney/Donaldson debate in question. Is Stephanopoulos roaming into the talk show gutter?

You can find Shales’ original article (”‘This Week‘: Talk Without Discourse”) here.