Stossel, “Give Me a Break” 3/15/2004
By Jan LaRue, CWA’s Chief Counsel
Journalist on ABC's 20/20 gives a pass to so-called gay marriage.
Over my better instincts, I agreed to be interviewed by John Stossel of ABC TV News’ 20/20 program on the subject of same-sex marriage. Trusting liberal media for fairness in editing a pre-taped interview when you’re a conservative, AKA, “radical, right-wing, religious bigot,” oops, and “wacko” too, is very dicey to say the least. Can you spell “hit piece”?
But this is John Stossel—a pretty fair guy, right? The one who complains, “Give me a break,” when he thinks something’s wrong or misleading or a ripoff, as in government waste. The promo for his book by the same name says, “He takes on such sacred cows as the FDA, feminists, and scare-mongering environmental activists and explains how he became the scourge of the liberal media.” But, as it turns out, not all “sacred cows” and not always a “scourge of the liberal media.”
On Friday, March 5, 20/20 flew me to New York for the interview. Everyone was very nice, including Stossel. The interview lasted approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Stossel had all of the questions his producer had asked me in a pre-interview by phone with all of my answers. She said they wanted me because I was “articulate, passionate about the issue and obviously knowledgeable.” She said John would take the “gay” position. No problem.
Lots of questions with lots of more than one-word answers, including among others: state laws, a marriage amendment, San Francisco, Massachusetts, effects on children, health risks related to homosexual conduct, decline of marriage in Scandinavian countries, the meaning of a government license and how it is viewed by the public, civil unions, what’s wrong with “five or 10 people getting married if they want to”? Stossel asked that and what’s wrong with same-sex marriage several times. Even the homosexuals I’ve debated don’t ask, “What’s wrong with 10 people getting married?”
When we concluded, I asked how long the segment would be. They said, “three minutes, if it airs.” What they didn’t bother to tell us before we agreed to the interview was that 95 percent of the program would be a nonstop puff-piece for “gay marriage.”
In this past Friday’s show, Barbara Walters interviewed Rosie O’Donnell and her lesbian partner, just back from getting quasi-hitched in a faux marriage in San Francisco. Where, by the way, after couples complete a marriage license application with a disclaimer advising, “Marriage of lesbian and gay couples may not be recognized as valid by any jurisdiction other than San Francisco,” the city collects $82 nonrefundable bucks plus $62 more for performing the ceremony. The marriages aren’t legal anywhere including Baghdad-by-the Bay and these officials know it.
Wouldn’t you think a guy “who takes on sacred cows like the FDA,” as in government, would include a government rip-off in his segment Friday night, titled, “Love and the Law”? One more time. San Francisco-law-government ripoff-law-fraudulent marriage-$82 . bucks-law-government ripoff-law multiplied hundreds of times. Can you do the math here? Many of the people who shelled out their money came from other countries and more than 22 states, and they actually believe they got married. Isn’t marriage a “sacred” enough cow for you, John?
more whining at
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/5374/LEGAL/family/index.htm
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