ABC News had George Stephanopoulos—the former communications director for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign—moderate its town hall on Thursday evening with current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
On its official biography page for Stephanopoulos, ABC News says: “Stephanopoulos joined ABC News in 1997 as an analyst for ‘This Week.’ Prior to joining ABC News, he served in the Clinton administration as the Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy.”
Before Clinton took office in January 1993, Stephanopoulos had served as the communications director for Clinton’s presidential campaign. That year, for example, the New York Times repeatedly referred to him by that title—including in a story about how the Clinton campaign was preparing their Democratic presidential nominee for that year’s October presidential debates.
An Oct. 8, 1992 New York Times story was headlined: “Candidates Train for a Key Debate.” It said:
“Mr. Clinton will spend most of the next few days in Kansas City, Mo., preparing for the debate, while Mr. Bush planned to begin full-time preparations on Friday at the White House.
“The Clinton campaign's communications director, George Stephanopoulos, said Mr. Clinton would hammer away at two points on Sunday: ‘Make sure people understand Governor Clinton's plans for the country. Make sure they understand the truth about the Bush record on the economy.’”
An Oct. 3, 1992 story in the New York Times was headlined: “Bush and Clinton Agree on Debates; Plan to Ask Perot” It said:
“The Bush campaign is clearly hoping that the frenzy of debates will shake the electorate and allow the President to gain ground.
“To that end, Mr. Bush earlier this week proposed four Presidential and two Vice-Presidential debates; Mr. Clinton had accepted the plan of the bipartisan commission, which advocated three Presidential debates and one Vice-Presidential debate.
“‘That's going to be a furious time frame for voters,’ said Charles Black, a senior adviser to the Bush campaign. ‘The whole race could change a lot.’
“Another senior Bush aide brushed aside questions about the Republicans' caving in on their insistence of a late date for the final debate, saying the Bush camp was pleased that ‘the debates didn't start in mid-September.’
“But the Clinton organization expressed pleasure with the outcome. ‘We're thrilled,’ said George Stephanopoulos, the Clinton communications director. ‘We got no late debate.’”