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Excuse me TPM readers ... I have a question ...

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I've been following American politics for a bit, but I realize how little I still know, so can someone tell me why it was okay for George Stephanopoulos to be one of the questioners during the debate?

I just found out that the guy was a presidential adviser to Bill Clinton and also his communications director!!!

Isn't there a conflict of interest? Isn't it a big deal?
Please school me on this.


Comments (2)

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I don't know much about Stephanopoulos's career once Clinton left office, but as Ken Olbermann mentioned tonight on his top segment, Stephanopoulos has been refashioning himself as a straightforward television journalist since then and has been doing a decent job at it. However, Olbermann went on to question whether Stephanopoulos should have 'recused himself' from the debate. Whatever street cred he had as a 'serious and unbiased journalist' was certainly destroyed by the severely biased nature of the debate questions, and his serving as a mouthpiece for right-wingnut Sean Hannity in going after Obama.

Keith Olbermann.

But yes, Mr. Stephanopoulos is ABC News's Chief Washington Correspondent. He has his background in political science, and was a Rhodes scholar studying theology. He began as more or less the Clinton white house's unofficial press secretary for that administration's first term, before being promoted to a more policy-oriented position. He resigned in 1996. He's been a political commentator since then.

He has the credentials, and his ties to Clinton are 12 years past. Should he have recused himself? Maybe. Could he have asked better questions of both candidates? Most definitely.

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