On The Latest Democratic Debate Debacle
"The big winner is John McCain. Then Clinton who seemed at least awake. Then Obama whose calm was nonetheless trumped by obvious exhaustion ... The loser was ABC News: one of the worst media performances I can remember - petty, shallow, process-obsessed, trivial where substantive, and utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about. At the end of the debate, it appeared that the crowd was actually heckling Gibson. 'The crowd is turning on me!' complained Gibson. He has no idea. But he will soon enough."
- Andrew Sullivan, THEATLANTIC.COM
George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson of ABC news were the brunt of scorn and criticism after the last Democratic debate. An hour into the debate, they still hadn't asked a single question about the major issues of the election. The questions they were asking? Here's how it went -
Gibson: Governor Cuomo has come forward with a suggestion. He has said, "... pledge now that whichever one of you wins this contest, you'll take the other as your running mate, and that the other one will agree, if they lose, to take second place on the ticket." So I put the question to both of you: Why not?
Gibson: Senator Obama, you got talking in California about small town Pennsylvanians who have had tough economic times in recent years. And you said they get bitter and they cling to guns or they cling to their religion or they cling to antipathy toward people who are not like them. You said you misspoke ... Do you understand that some people in this state find that patronizing and think that you said actually what you meant?
Stephanopoulos: Senator Clinton, when Bill Richardson called you to say he was endorsing Barack Obama, you told him that Senator Obama can't win. I'm not going to ask you about that conversation; I know you don't want to talk about it. But a simple yes or no question: Do you think Senator Obama can beat John McCain or not?
Stephanopoulos: Senator Obama, do you think Senator Clinton can win?
Gibson: Senator Obama, you made a significant speech in this building on the subject of race and your former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright ... And if you knew he got rough in sermons, why did it take you more than a year to publicly disassociate yourself from his remarks?
Gibson: Senator Clinton, you have said that, "He would not have been my pastor," and you said that you have to speak out against those kinds of remarks and implicitly, by getting up and moving, and I presume you mean out of the church. Do you honestly believe that 8,000 people should have gotten up and walked out of that church?
Stephanopoulos: Senator Obama, two questions. Number one, do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do? And, number two, if you get the nomination, what will you do when those sermons are played on television again and again and again?
Stephanopoulos: Senator Clinton, we also did a poll today. About six in 10 voters that we talk to say they don't believe you're honest and trustworthy ... A lot them raised this honesty issue and your comments about being under sniper fire in Bosnia. Here's Tom Rooney from Pittsburgh. Rooney - "Senator Clinton, how do you reconcile the campaign credibility that you have when you made those comments about what happened getting off the plane in Bosnia?
And the questions go on and on. About halfway through the debate, they started asking Obama about his wearing/not wearing little American flag pins. No questions about any issues that actually matter. If you want to bore yourself to death, the debate transcript is here -
Transcript: Obama and Clinton Debate
Sullivan commented on the debate halfway through - "I have to say I am actually shocked at the appallingly poor quality of the questions: the worst of the campaign so far. Pure MSM process bullshit. Again: it's now halfway through and there has not been a single question on the economy, foreign policy, healthcare, terrorism, Iraq or any other actual policy issue in this campaign. How much longer can ABC News avoid the actual policy issues in this election?"
Andrew Sullivan: Live-Blogging Pennsylvania
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