Reaction to the Democratic Debate

Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog:

Wow. What the hell was that? Seriously, I'm a bit stunned. The level of discourse has reached a new low -- a very new low. To be clear, I don't think the debate was a disaster for Obama. He did fine. I think it was a disaster for our political system.

It was the worst debate ever. Gibson and Stephanopoulos were horrible. The questions were literally right out of right wing talk radio. Atrios provides an opportunity for action:

Complain about this atrocity.

Main ABC switchboard: 212-456-7777
Comment via the ABC Web site here

Daric at Shoot the Messenger:

9:38 If anyone wasn’t bitter before this debate, they are now.

Oliver Willis:

So Abc’s debate moderator - Stephanapolous - goes on Sean Hannity’s radio show, and Hannity essentially hands him opposition research and the ABC “journalist” just repeats it in the course of a presidential debate. Yeah, the media’s liberal.

Matthew Yglesias:

I had thought the Clinton campaign couldn't sink any lower, but thus far she's really just been giving us the full GOP. Listening to her talk about Barack Obama is like reading a Weekly Standard blog post.

Greg Mitchell at Huffington Post:

Then it was back to Obama to defend his slim association with a former '60s radical -- a question that came out of rightwing talk radio and Sean Hannity on TV, but was delivered by former Bill Clinton aide Stephanopolous. This approach led to a claim that Clinton's husband pardoned two other '60s radicals. And so on. The travesty continued.

Josh Marshall at TPM:

Looking around other sites, I guess I'm not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty. Maybe the embargo on debate rebroadcast was a pro-human rights stand.

DeDurkheim at Rising Hegemon:

Do candidates who engage in a scorched earth policy of attacks and innuendo really believe that they are helping themselves? Are they really moving the process forward? Is attacking intelligent, honest, and courageous discussion a good idea?

Count me out. I have reached a point of disgust that leaves me utterly dispassionate about the Democratic party.

Nicole Bell at Crooks and Liars:

An hour into the latest Democratic Debate and overwhelmingly, the consensus is that ABC is doing a fine job… of completely ignoring the issues that concern Americans and focusing on minutia that is hurting the race, the Democratic party and the American electoral process.

Me, here:

George Stephanopoulos puts out a very fraudulent, kinda Gonzo-vibe of fake gravitas that really makes swallowing bullshit from him all the more odious and vile. The media remains deeply hooked on believing that they're fooling someone into thinking this is acceptable. Obama was strengthened tonight because of the media's reliance on foolish memes that he clearly transcends with his dogged pursuit of the intellectual high ground. Hillary Clinton hurt herself by brazenly feeding the lamestream media beast that everyone in America is coming to despise.

Jgraz's Official Fuck You ABC thread at Democratic Underground:

Worst fucking debate ever. Gibson and Stephanopoulos should be fired.

Icee Award* to Jgraz.

*The Icee Award won best fictional award from a fictional Antarctican blogger at South Pole Fest '07. The Icee finished third in '06.