Does anyone know why John Stossel is kept on by ABC's 20/20?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

The man has no charm, he's a pig not unlike Rush Limbaugh, has been caught in lies, and so on. And yet there he is. You'd think ABC were FOX News. Does he own part of the program? Does he produce it? Why is he kept on?

ABC's 20/20 is supposed to be a NEWS magazine, and yet right now Stossel has got a whole propaganda thing going on 20/20 meant to trash Obama's Stimulus package.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I guess for the same reason that blond bimbo is on The View....for comedy relief?

I remember hearing Al Franken tear Stossel a new one over a book that Stossel wrote a while back.
Virtually everything in the book was either a bald-faced lie, or a twisting of the facts to appear to agree with Stossel's view.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Exactly. There's nothing Stossel ever says that has an ounce of truth in it nt

[Stevenmarc]

23. I can attest to that

Years ago Stossel came in as a client at a business that I was also a client I was standing there as he was praising the owner for a great service and then later that night he went on the air with some incredible load of bullshit about the experience, an experience I had witnessed and bore no resemblance to what he was saying on tv. Basically he came in with guns loaded and found absolutely nothing, but not being the one to let facts get in the way, he just went with the story he had apparently already written.

[gratuitous]

2. My guess is he has compromising photos of some high up at Disney

Because it sure can't be because of any journalistic skills or his television appearance.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Yep, maybe he does! nt

[8 track mind]

22. LOL!

Mike Eisner doing naughty things with Winnie the Poo perhaps?

[UTUSN]

3. Because they don't want to fight the "Liberal" label. n't

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. He's been there forever

I don't understand it.

Whenever I've seen him, I have this overwhelming urge to slap him.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. I know! And he's not good at what he does. Does he own the place? nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. Because ABC is owned by Disney, and they've always been conservative

:shrug:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

14. I guess - but he's over the top, upfront, a-h right wing nt

[Historic NY]

8. He has a mustache & looks like & old porn star........hey

its a good enough reason. :shrug:

[Sarah Ibarruri]

15. hahaha! He does! nt

[kwassa]

9. I think that he is the worst excuse for a "journalist" in a major network news show.

It indicates the intellectual level of the viewership.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. Well there have been a couple of issues they discussed but when I saw that it

was Stossel who was presenting them, I KNEW it was going to be another ABC against Libs thing.

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. Thom Hartmann had that repuke, libertarian fruitloop on his show today.

He loves quoting Cato and Heritage.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

17. Oh? I love Hartman but why on earth would he invite Libertarian a-hs like that one? nt

[Elwood P Dowd]

27. He has these repukes on all the time so he can play with them and expose their insanity.

Stossel had interviewed Thom for a segment on that show and then put someone else on at the last minute.

[Cirque du So-What]

11. I've always seen Stossel as a 'poor man's Geraldo Rivera'

Stossel came to prominence during Geraldo's heyday, and I suspect Stossel tried to fashion himself in Geraldo's 'intrepid investigative reporter' mold. Sometime after Stossel got his dick knocked in the dirt for asking that wrestler if 'professional wrestling' was fake, he completed his transformation into a RW hosebag...and we know from experience that ALL the corporate media love them some RW hosebag.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

18. ROFLMAO! omg I just saw the clip!

For all those who haven't: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrX9Ca7LSyQ

Thank you! It made my day.

[Marr]

12. He tells rich men what they want to hear, that's why.

He's the television version of Ayn Rand. He tells wealthy people that they're superior, he says the poor are just lazy, and most of all, he says shallow self interest is the highest calling.

[1]

19. i'd guess because they don't pay him much and nobody watches 20/20 anyway...

a loss leader kind of thing because they have to put "something" on in the timeslot...

[8 track mind]

20. he's been on 20/20 for years

one thing i've always noticed about him is that he LOVES to play gotcha journalism. class "A" prick if you ask me.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. Because he's not on Jon Stewart's radar? n/t

[LaydeeBug]

24. I heard tell that Barbara Walters (closet conservative) saved his arse

and that is why he is safe. :shrug:

[LostInAnomie]

25. I watched that piece of shit last night.

His report on the recovery was the most biased load I think I've ever watched. He totally cherry picked stats about Head Start. He glossed over a ridiculously huge conflict of interest a woman that ran a private preschool had in not wanting publicly funded preschools. He never asked a group of "enraged" tax payers against universal pre-k (that had kids in preschool) if pre-k is so worthless why they have their own kids in it. He completely mis-stated the purpose of Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickle and Dimed", and then heavily edited their interview. He painted the American Enterprise Institute (a RW think tank) and an impartial fact checker.

Someone needs to take his ass off the air.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

26. His mustache doubles as a tarp.

[area51]

28. I would imagine ...

... Stossel is kept on b/c he's a nazi mouthpiece. He's so pro-business, and anti-American worker, he's just what the right-wing corps(e) wants.