Full Ginsburg Explained

The "Full Ginsburg" is a term used in American politics to refer to a person who appears on all five American major Sunday morning talk shows on the same day: This Week on ABC, Fox News Sunday on Fox, Face the Nation on CBS, Meet the Press on NBC, and State of the Union on CNN.[1] State of the Union replaced Late Edition on CNN in January 2009.

The term is named for William H. Ginsburg, the lawyer for Monica Lewinsky during the sexual conduct scandal involving President Bill Clinton. Ginsburg was the first person to accomplish this feat, on February 1, 1998.[2]

Completed full Ginsburgs

Name Office Reason for appearance Date

William H. Ginsburg
Attorney for Monica LewinskyRepresenting his client, Monica Lewinsky, as the Lewinsky scandal eruptedFebruary 1, 1998

Congressman Rick Lazio
Nominee for U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election, U.S. Representative from the State of New YorkMay 21, 2000[3]

Secretary Dick Cheney
Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States, former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Representative from Wyoming2000 Republican National ConventionJuly 30, 2000

Senator John Edwards
Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, United States Senator from North CarolinaApproaching presidential electionOctober 10, 2004

Secretary Michael Chertoff
Secretary of Homeland SecurityHurricane KatrinaSeptember 4, 2005

Senator Hillary Clinton
Junior senator from New York, candidate in 2008 presidential electionHer presidential bidSeptember 23, 2007

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Health and Human ServicesSwine fluMay 3, 2009

Secretary Janet Napolitano
Secretary of Homeland Security

Dr. Richard Besser
Acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Former President Bill Clinton
Former President of the United StatesHaiti earthquakeJanuary 17, 2010[4]

Former President George W. Bush
Former President of the United States

Dr. Rajiv Shah
Administrator of United States Agency for International Development

Lieutenant General P.K. "Ken" Keen
Deputy commander of United States Southern Command

Rep. Michele Bachmann
Member of the U.S. House of RepresentativesHer presidential bidAugust 14, 2011[5]

Jack Lew
White House Chief of Staff2012 federal budgetFebruary 12, 2012[6]

Susan Rice
United States Ambassador to the United NationsReactions to Innocence of Muslims and the
attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi
September 16, 2012

Timothy Geithner
United States Secretary of the TreasuryFiscal cliff[7] December 2, 2012

Jeb Bush
Former Governor of FloridaPromoting his book Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution[8] March 10, 2013

Marco Rubio
United States Senator from FloridaImmigration reformApril 14, 2013

Daniel Pfeiffer
Senior advisor to the president for strategy and communicationsAddressing the IRS Tea Party investigation, Associated Press records seizures, and investigation of response to the 2012 Benghazi attackMay 19, 2013

Secretary John Kerry
United States Secretary of StateAddressing possible military action against Syria by the United StatesSeptember 1, 2013

Denis McDonough
White House Chief of StaffSeptember 8, 2013

Jack Lew
United States Secretary of the Treasury2013 United States government shutdownOctober 6, 2013

Secretary John Kerry
United States Secretary of StateAddressing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and Operation Protective EdgeJuly 20, 2014

Denis McDonough
White House Chief of StaffFollowing up on the 2015 State of the Union AddressJanuary 25, 2015

Robert Sumwalt
NTSB Board MemberDiscussing the 2015 Philadelphia train derailmentMay 17, 2015

Paul Ryan
Speaker of the U.S. House of RepresentativesDiscussion of his role as the new Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives November 1, 2015

Marco Rubio
United States Senator from FloridaHis presidential bid[9] February 14, 2016
His presidential bid[10] February 21, 2016

Ted Cruz
United States Senator from TexasHis presidential bid[11] February 28, 2016

Tim Kaine
United States Senator and former Governor of VirginiaHis vice presidential bid[12] September 18, 2016

Rudy Giuliani
Former Mayor of New York City2016 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump presidential campaign[13] October 9, 2016

Jay Sekulow
Member of President Donald Trump's legal teamChief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice[14] [15] Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner's meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya[16] [17] July 16, 2017

Mike Pompeo
United States Secretary of StatePresident Trump canceling secret talks with the Taliban[18] September 8, 2019
President Trump ordering the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the highest military commander in Iran[19] January 5, 2020

Pete Buttigieg
Former mayor of South Bend, IndianaHis presidential campaign[20] February 9, 2020

Anthony Fauci
Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious DiseasesCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States[21] March 15, 2020

Senator Joe Manchin
United States Senator from West VirginiaInflation Reduction Act of 2022July 31, 2022
John LauroAttorney for former President Donald TrumpFederal prosecution of Donald Trump (election obstruction case)August 6, 2023

John Kirby
Biden administration White House National Security Communications Advisor 2024 Iranian strikes in Israel[22] [23] [24] 14 April 2024

People who have completed multiple full Ginsburgs

Name Number of
full Ginsburgs
Dates
Marco Rubio3April 14, 2013
February 14, 2016
February 21, 2016
Jack Lew2February 12, 2012
October 6, 2013
John KerrySeptember 1, 2013
July 20, 2014
Denis McDonoughSeptember 8, 2013
January 25, 2015
Mike PompeoSeptember 8, 2019
January 5, 2020

Variations

On September 20, 2009, President Barack Obama, to promote his health care reform proposals, did what The Politico called a "modified Full Ginsburg" when he appeared on five programs, opting for Univision's Spanish-language Al Punto to be his fifth program appearance instead of Fox News Sunday.[25]

Obama also appeared on Monday, September 9, 2013, with reporters from each of the five networks, plus an extra sixth, to discuss possible military intervention in Syria.[26] He appeared with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room,[27] with ABC's Diane Sawyer on ABC World News,[28] with NBC's Savannah Guthrie on NBC Nightly News,[29] with CBS's Scott Pelley on CBS Evening News[30] and with Fox's Chris Wallace on Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier,[31] in addition to PBS's Gwen Ifill on PBS NewsHour.[32]

The first person to appear on all six shows in the same week was former governor of Florida Jeb Bush, who achieved the feat on March 10, 2013.[33]

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio became the first person to appear on seven Sunday talk shows the same day, on April 14, 2013: all English-language shows listed above, plus Univision's Al Punto and Telemundo's Enfoque, both American Spanish-language shows.[34] [35]

Notes and References

  1. News: Jay. Newton-Small. Lexicon . https://web.archive.org/web/20071013133727/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1666276,00.html . dead . October 13, 2007 . the full Ginsburg DEFINITION The ful gins-burg n. The appearance on all five political TV talk shows on the same Sunday morning. . . September 27, 2007. September 25, 2007 .
  2. News: Clinton makes the Sunday talk-show rounds. . Puzzanghera. Jim . . September 24, 2007. September 25, 2007 .
  3. "Lazio's Coming Out Party" Slate. May 22, 2000. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/pundit_central/2000/05/lazios_coming_out_party.html
  4. News: the talk shows. The Washington Post. January 17, 2010.
  5. Web site: Bachmann Takes Post-Straw Poll Victory Lap on Sunday Shows . National Journal . August 14, 2011 . August 14, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120406062054/http://www.nationaljournal.com/bachmann-takes-post-straw-poll-victory-lap-on-sunday-shows-20110814 . April 6, 2012 .
  6. News: Today on the trail: Candidates off the trail, on the airwaves . Washington Post . February 12, 2012 . February 12, 2012.
  7. Silva, Mark (November 30, 2012). Geithner's `Full Ginsburg:’ Sunday. Bloomberg. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  8. Book: Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution. 978-1476713458. Bush . Jeb . Bolick . Clint . March 5, 2013 .
  9. News: Eight Rubio take-aways. . Rubin. Jennifer . The Washington Post . February 14, 2016. February 14, 2016 .
  10. Web site: Alex Conant on Twitter: ".@MarcoRubio going on all 5 Sunday shows tomorrow to celebrate 2nd place comeback in SC. 2nd week in a row he'll do full Ginsburg. #history" . Twitter.com . February 20, 2016 . October 9, 2016.
  11. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEWS_SHOWS?SITE=AP Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
  12. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEWS_SHOWS?SITE=AP Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
  13. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEWS_SHOWS?SITE=AP Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
  14. Web site: Trump's Legal Team is Preparing for War . www.vanityfair.com . June 12, 2017. July 18, 2017.
  15. Web site: Jay Sekulow, Trump's unlikely lawyer. www.washingtonpost.com . July 18, 2017 .
  16. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NEWS_SHOWS?SITE=AP Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
  17. https://www.axios.com/trump-lawyer-if-russia-meeting-nefarious-why-did-secret-service-allow--2460274736.html Trump lawyer: 'if Russia meeting nefarious, why did Secret Service allow it?'
  18. Web site: WATCH: Top Moments From Pompeo's Sunday Show Blitz After Trump Cancels Taliban Meeting. September 8, 2019. November 27, 2020.
  19. Web site: US kills Iran's most powerful general in Baghdad airstrike. January 2, 2020. AP NEWS. November 27, 2020.
  20. https://www.mediaite.com/tv/mayor-pete-is-everywhere-on-tv-this-week-even-tmz-live/ Mayor Pete Is Everywhere on TV This Week, Even… TMZ Live?
  21. https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Guest-lineups-for-the-Sunday-news-shows-15130423.php Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows
  22. Web site: 2024-04-14 . Transcript: John Kirby, National Security Council spokesperson, on "Face the Nation," April 14, 2024 - CBS News . 2024-04-16 . www.cbsnews.com . en-US.
  23. Web site: Staff . Fox News . 2024-04-14 . 'Fox News Sunday' on April 14, 2024 . 2024-04-16 . Fox News . en-US.
  24. https://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/1-1-john-kirby-109216670
  25. Web site: The Politico. Javers. Eamon. September 18, 2009. Obama's Risky Full Ginsburg.
  26. Web site: The Politico. Byers. Dylan. June 8, 2014. The Syria Six.
  27. Web site: CNN. September 7, 2013. June 8, 2014. CNN's Wolf Blitzer to sit down with Pres. Obama on Monday, Sept. 9.
  28. Web site: Internet Archive. June 8, 2014. ABC World News With Diane Sawyer. September 9, 2013.
  29. Web site: NBC News. September 9, 2013. June 8, 2014. Savannah Guthrie's full interview with President Obama.
  30. Web site: Associated Press. Espo. David. Pace. Julie. June 8, 2014. Obama: I might lose congressional vote on Syria.
  31. Web site: Fox News. Wallace. Chris. September 8, 2013. June 8, 2014. Chris Wallace Previews Interview With President Obama.
  32. Web site: PBS. Bellantoni. Christina. June 8, 2014. Gwen Ifill to Interview President Barack Obama Monday. September 7, 2013 .
  33. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=8C187FBB-8F3A-4F85-9D95-72D1D95C299C Sunday talk show tip sheet: March 10, 2013
  34. http://www.politico.com/multimedia/video/2013/04/full-marco---rubio-hits-the-sunday-shows-mike-allen-reports.html 'Full Marco' - Rubio hits the Sunday shows, Mike Allen reports
  35. News: Rubio pitches immigration deal on seven television shows. April 15, 2013. Denver Post. April 15, 2013. Denver Post staff.