I keep saying this: The Sunday shows are not for the general public! They are for Washington insiders, which is why they're just one big merry-go-round of the same familiar faces, selling the same familiar "centrist" talking points. These shows are how the Beltway elite telegraph messaging to each other, presenting their public relations swill without opposition by smiling new-style newsreaders whose motto is "Afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable."
You know what's the tipoff? Look at the commercials. They're not selling consumer products, they're selling multinational corporate branding. The networks charge a lot more money to advertise on these shows, and as a result, the networks are highly unlikely to stray from the reservation. So am I surprised that This Week brings on William Kristol? Of course not. What took them so long? Via Media Matters:
On the February 2 edition of ABC's This Week, host George Stephanopoulos noted that Kristol was one of the network's newest contributors. Kristol announced back in August 2013 that he no longer had an exclusive contract with his previous employer, Fox News, and was now "free to inflict my insights on viewers of the other networks as well." Kristol's decade of "insights" at Fox included inaccurate predictions about the Iraq War, saber-rattling for war with Iran, dismissing legitimate military scandals, and smearing Democrats.
He was one of the worst of the media's Iraq War boosters, insisting that there was "almost no evidence" that "the Shia can't get along with the Sunni," and that "American and alliance forces will be welcomed in Baghdad as liberators."He also claimed that military sexual assaults were a "pseudo-crisis," helped lead a smear campaign against then-nominee for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, dismissed the devastating effects of the recent government shutdown by claiming "no one no one is going to starve in Arkansas," and claimed that Hillary Clinton only won the 2008 New Hampshire primary because "she pretended to cry; the women liked it."
In a statement to Politico, executive producer of This Week Jonathan Greenberger said Kristol is "'an original thinker' that will make their team stronger."
