Stephanopoulos Is In The Cut

Yeah, I came down hard on Geoorge Stephanopoulos a while ago. I came down on Our Man Georgie like stupid on Senator Patty Murray. In a very special Corsair, dated Halloween 2003, we wrote:

"Not since Attilla the Hun's aggressive campaign against the Roman Empire has anyone been so audacious and bold as George Stephaopoulos' very public transformation from the creepy giggling elf behind James Carville's Cajun strategist routine into a respected network news correspondent, or, as they say in the biz a "Wise Man." Imagine the massive thumos involved (George would appreciate the Greek philosophical reference) to think that you can go from the "the mouthpiece that turned" of the Clinton Years to Cronkite or Eric Sevareid, if you will, without paying the requisite dues. One wonders whether the appropriate response is to applaud or to be appalled at the cheek displayed."

Ouch. We were in rare spirits that day (Cutty Sark, to be precise), so cut us some slack.

George Stephanopoulos did a bang up job shoring up all that raw ambition into some decent content on This Week on Sunday.

The mop-headed Wise Man slogged through The Hague to give us the behind the scenes with Wesley Clark facing off in a smackdown at the Hague with Slobodan Milosevic. Then afterwards, he shuttled to Littleton, New Hampshire to follow the NATO General on the campaign trail.

The most arresting scene by far was when Milosevic, cross examing Clark, read from Peter Boyer's damning New Yorker article, confronting Clark about disparaging comments on his leadership (BTW: How the fuck does a war criminal at the Hague get a New Yorker subscription?!) by Amy Gen. Henry Shelton, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

With a slow, devious predator's smile, Milosevic asked -- through a translator -- "So your former superior talks about your character. Isn't that right, General Clark ... Why were you removed from your post prematurely?"

It was an evil moment. Tryants cornered, like rats, will do anything -- anything -- to survive, and Milosevic did as his slimy character dictated. Afterwards, outside, Stephanopoulos asked Clark if any of the testimony inside hurt his Presidential bid. Clark was upbeat but it looked as if he had been punched in the solar plexus by 50 Cent, or gotten "Alec Baldwined" in the most excellent Page Six (we love you, Page Six).

You done good George, you got us a memorable scene and you asked a hard ass question of a public figure seeking to become Master and Commander of the Universe. In 2004, we promise to go a bit easier on you and the "healthy" sex life he enjoys with wifey, Alexandra Wentworth.