ABC's George Stephanonopoulos carried a eight-out-of-nine record [1]
of declaring the Democratic presidential candidate the winner into
Wednesday night's Obama-Romney presidential debate. Surprisingly, the
Clinton administration veteran affirmed that Mitt Romney scored points
on President Obama: "I think Governor Romney definitely more crisp in his presentation tonight....he was able to be aggressive without being offensive."
Stephanopoulos later claimed that "Governor Romney will get the boost that challengers usually get coming out of these debates," while downplaying President Obama's own performance: "I didn't see any knockout punches....didn't see breakthrough moments or major mistakes by either candidate." [audio available here [2]; video below]
Three minutes after the end of the debate, Diane Sawyer turned to the Good Morning America
anchor for his immediate reaction. After making his "crisp" assessment
of Romney and predicting a "boost" for the Republican, Stephanopoulos
added, "The big question: did he do anything to dramatically change the
trajectory of the race?"
Back
in 2000, the ABC personality thought Al Gore won the first debate, but
crowned then-Governor George W. Bush the champion of the second: "Governor Bush had a very, very strong night tonight and probably won the debate, in part because...he looked so surefooted on foreign policy." One wonders why Stephanopoulos wouldn't give such a clear assessment about Romney's performance.
The transcript of the relevant portion of the segment with Diane Sawyer
and George Stephanopoulos on ABC's coverage of Wednesday's Obama-Romney
presidential debate:
DIANE SAWYER: And let me turn to you right now, George. Nobody knows
politics better than you. Here it is - bottom line - was there a clear
winner tonight?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I think Governor Romney definitely more crisp in
his presentation tonight. He was leaning into the debate, where
President Obama was a little bit more laid back. I also think he was
able to be aggressive without being offensive. So, even though there
were – I didn't see any knockout punches-
SAWYER: No-
STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't see breakthrough moments or major mistakes by
either candidate. I think Governor Romney will get the boost that
challengers usually get coming out of these debates. The big question:
did he do anything to dramatically change the trajectory of the race?