World News anchor Diane Sawyer, who once summarized Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign by connecting the Democrat to Jesus Christ, has landed the exclusive first interview as the potential 2016 candidate promotes her book, Hard Choices. Sawyer will talk to Clinton for a one-hour special airing on June 9. According to Politico [1], the former Secretary of State will also appear on the same day's World News and live on the June 10 Good Morning America.
A look back at Sawyer's reporting on Clinton reason reveals the reason she was chosen. On June 4, 2008 [2], as the politician's presidential bid ended, the then-Good Morning America host quoted from a 1 [3]7th century poem [3] about Christ: "This woman, as we said, forged into determination and purpose her whole life. As someone said, 'No thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.'' [MP3 audio here [4].]
In 1999, she fawned over Hillary Clinton, "every bit as dazzling as" her husband:
'She emerged on health care, only to beat a very bruised retreat. She clearly hated being thought of as just Bill Clinton's wife. But ironically, it would take his scandals, finally, to free her. Finally, last November 1998, Hillary Clinton showed the world what she could do on the campaign trail without him. Political mastery, every bit as dazzling as his, the thoughtful speech, unapologetically strong, emboldening Democrats, electing Senators. So her friends say she has really earned this campaign, this moment, if she chooses, earned it by changing herself, searching, stumbling, and at the end, by standing, not by her man, but by herself.'
— Sawyer on Good Morning America, March 12, 1999.
Based on her dreams, Sawyer is also a fan of the other Clinton.
'After pepperoni pizza and banana milkshakes once, I dreamed about Bill Clinton.'
— Sawyer talking with her Good Morning America co-host Charles Gibson about a study which claimed sleeping Republicans have three times as many nightmares as sleeping Democrats, July 10, 2001.
[For more on Sawyer fawning, see a Media Research Center Profile in Bias [5].]
Even the liberal Politico understood the reason Sawyer received the interview. Writer Dylan Byers explanied, "Primarily because [ABC] promises to be a softer interview."
In June of 2003 [6], the network offered another one hour special, promoting Living History, Clinton's previous book. A tease for the Barbara Walers-hosted program described "Hillary Clinton's Journey: public, private, personal."
As the show opened, an announcer promised, "An unprecedented journey from her childhood days where her values and dreams were shaped, to the campus years when she was swept away by politics and [over photo of her with Bill] passion."
Walters offered this softball to the Democrat: "I can barely remember a week went by when one of you wasn't being criticized and investigated."
In 2007, GMA devoted 26 minutes [7] to a Hillary Clinton infomercial disguised as a "town hall" forum.
If history is any guide, viewers should have low expectations that Sawyer will ask hard questions on June 9.
— Scott Whitlock is Senior News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Scott Whitlock on Twitter. [8]