One of our favorite pastimes is yelling at the television on Sunday morning. Last Sunday, it was “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, on ABC. Stephanopoulos stated unequivocally that Mr. Trump and his supporters were feeding people who count themselves as Republicans “a big lie” that the election was stolen, and he tried to get Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) to simply state that the election was, or wasn’t, stolen.

Senator Paul wasn’t going to bite.

“Why can’t you say President Biden won a legitimate, fair election?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“George, where you make a mistake is that people coming from the liberal side like you, you immediately say everything’s a lie instead of saying there are two sides to everything,” Paul countered. “Historically what would happen is if I said that I thought that there was fraud, you would interview someone else who said there wasn’t. But now you insert yourself in the middle and say that the absolute fact is that everything that I’m saying is a lie.”

Stephanopoulos continued with the “party line:” “He [President Trump] said the election was stolen. This election was not stolen. [Emphasis mine.] The results were certified in every single state after counts and recounts.”

George Stephanopoulos can not say for certain that the election was fair and legitimate because he and his news organization have not independently investigated, following the hallowed traditions of CBS’s famed Edward R. Murrow, or the Washington Post’s Woodward and Bernstein. They were likely under orders not to because of what they might find. Move along…nothing to see here….

Senator Paul landed a few more punches as Stephanopoulos tried to argue the semantics of his statements. “I said it was a lie that the election was stolen,” Stephanopoulos said. “You say we’re all liars,” Paul responded. “And [the] premise [is] that you’re right and we’re wrong.

“Well, let’s talk about the specifics of it,” Paul continued as the host finally stopped trying to make his point. “In Wisconsin, tens of thousands of absentee votes had only the name on them and no address. Historically those were thrown out, this time they weren’t. They made special accommodations because they said, ‘oh, it’s a pandemic and people forgot what their address was.’

“So they changed the law after the fact,” Paul said. “That is wrong, that’s unconstitutional. And I plan on spending the next two years going around state to state and fixing these problems and I won’t be cowed by liberals in the media who say, there’s no evidence here and you’re a liar if you talk about election fraud.

“No, let’s have an open debate. It’s a free country,” Paul said.

Senator Paul made it clear that he voted to certify the election because he believes it would be wrong for Congress to overturn it. “But at the same time, I’m not willing just to sit here and say, ‘oh, everybody on the Republican side is a liar and there is no fraud,’” Paul said. “No, there were lots of problems and there were secretaries of state who illegally changed the law and that needs to be fixed.

“That’s the problem with the media today is they say all Republicans are liars, and everything we say is a lie,” Paul said. “There are two sides to every story. Interview somebody on the other side, but don’t insert yourself into the story to say we’re all liars, because we do think there’s some fraud and the election needs to be fixed.”

But Stephanopoulos, ever the faithful lap dog of the left, insisted: “Sir, there are not -- there are not two sides to this story. This has been looked at in every single state,” he said.

Trying to pin Paul down, the host asked: “Was the election stolen or not?”

“I think there was great deal of evidence of fraud and changing of the election laws illegally,” Sen. Paul said. “And I think a thorough investigation is warranted.”

With that, Stephanopoulos thanked the Kentucky senator and brought in Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who cheerily chirped that impeaching Citizen Trump is constitutional and necessary. Stephanopoulos let loose the reins and Klobuchar galloped forth unfettered that Trump incited insurrection on January 6 and should pay for it.