No, just training by Sean Hannity

Given the nearly universal revulsion to the tone of last night's debate, it seems virtually certain that the proposed North Carolina debate -- which Clinton has accepted, but Obama has not -- might be worth doing. It seems unlikely that any sane moderator would dare to repeat ABC's fiasco.

Obama gets roughed up for a change and the "natives" are agitating like the sky had fallen. He had a bad night because he was out of his element: a teleprompter and prepared remarks... This sort of "damage control" won't work in the general election, y'know.

Sure, ABC (Anybody But Clinton) was awful, but so were Russert and the others before that. The difference between now and then? The others had piled on Hillary and not on Obama. Poor Chuck and George...they dared to touch the untouchable candidate. It looks like the "natives" are going to babysit him all the way to the White House...except that before then, he would have to escape the GOP attack dogs who won't be that squeamish. Stay tuned for so rough stuff ahead!

"Natives"?  

You make bad points.  The point that everyone was making is that the debate focused on emphemera, and we are all sick of it.  

So, then: do you think Russert and Steph were *good*?  That this was a good and important debate?  Do go on.

Natives, eh? And in quotes, no less. How ... provocative.

By the way, dschungu, Obama picked up four superdelegates yesterday and another today.

It appears that Obama supporters are unanimous on the awfulness of the debate. Beyond that, most people thought it was fun.

Sorry, dcshungu, but the reason the "natives" agree that last night's debate stunk was because nearly half of it was devoted to garbage that had been rehashed for weeks on end and had reached its expiration date. ABC owed both debaters -- and certainly the viewers -- a much more substantive exchange. You can't tell me that a question as dumb as "Senator Obama, are you proud of the American flag?" told us whether he would make a good Commander-in-Chief. Gimme a break. These are journalists and they're supposed to be a bit more responsible; not just regurgitate talking points from seanhannity.com.

It's (Almost) Unanimous opinion of Obama supporters  in the media AGibson & Steph Were Awful.

Duh?

I just wrote an F-U comment to ABC.  This is not something I have ever really done, and while I've found the past debates trivial, but this was a new low.  Specifically, I said that I expect all questions to John McCain to be of the same tenor illustrated last night.  To wit, I expect him to be asked--and ONLY to be asked--e.g., to explain comments by Rev. Hagee and other fundamentalist preachers who support his campaign, whether failing to know the difference between shia and sunni is a sign of onsetting dementia, and whether marrying a millionaire (drug-addicted) heiress will make it more difficult for him to earn the vote of a truck driver in Scranton.  I'll be waiitng...

When Georgr Stephanoupolos left the Clinton White House, I recall that there was some sort of breach in the relationship with the Clintons and that he was out of favor.  Watching the debate last night, I had to wonder whether George's relentless pursuit of Obama's gaffes was his way of trying to retrace his steps and effect a rapprochement.

Well, jmkerr, since Obama has the most votes and delegates and leads her in national polls, it is pretty clear that "most" people found the debates awful.  

Oh, sorry- only blacks and liberals found it awful.  My mistake.

BHLnyc, don't expect an answer to your question, because they have none. Hillary supporters remind me of Hitler in his bunker in 1945. "Roosevelt died, America will end the war" type fantasies keep them going. As to me, let me repeat, I have only a marginal preference for Obama over McCain so don't direct your whining at me at how McCain will win unless the ice princess is coronated.

Blackie, that would be, officially, the Lioness of Tuzla.

A whole group of Hillary supporters (academics and social workers ,mostly women, but not all) I know sent around an email to each other this morning trying to start a boycott of ABC.  

I spoke with a Hillary supporting friend this morning who was furious at the idiocy, she told me about the boycott - its not a partisan effort. I was encouraged to signed up and did.  They are a credit to heir candidate and have been all along.  

Some of them actually care about more (like the state of the country and the world) than demonizing Obama and his supporters and thrilling whenever something doesn't favor him, ala high school. "But he thinks he's so COOOOL.  I don't like the way he makes me FEEEEEL."

Vomit.

We agreed that Obama sucked last night and looked like he could pass out asleep standing there - AND that those moderators should be thrown off TV.  

JackR - as I recall, George S was wrong about almost everything when he was in the White House.  His instincts were awful.  I remember him looking in to the TV camera once in his post White House career and saying "Mrs. Clinton, do not run for the Senate - you cannot win."  No wonder Hillary decided to run and won in a landslide.  You're pretty safe doing the opposite of what George S. thinks you should do.

Since I moved out of cable's range and neglected to add TV to my satellite scrip, I'm now reading two or three times what I did before. Plus, I sometimes stand up and walk outside, and look around. Is that a new cat under the deck? Is Orion still overhead? And I don't have to wait until a commercial or show change for the TV to tell me that it's okay to get up and walk around.

You might want to give it a try. Put on a jacket and go for a walk. Meet someone new. Send a postcard to someone you haven't seen in years--everybody likes to get postcards.

There's another universe where giant voracious beasts that feed off thoughts have figured out how to insert their proboscises through the invisible membrane that separates their universe from ours. They access our minds through our collectively weakest mental link: the space between the television screen and our brains. Unbeknownst to most of us, their long prehensile feeding tubes wriggle through at this point and suck the power and beauty from our minds, leaving in the most extreme cases only a dessicated husk behind.

Just as leeches salivate an anti-coagulant during feeding to keep their bite wounds from closing up, so do the thought-suckers leave behind a mild slurry of slightly addictive unconscious impulses each time they feed. Soon, we are turning on the TV without being truly conscious of the action. Soon we are swooning amidst a stew of words and images: flag pins, "...economy...", applause, "...Iraq...", handshakes, "...Senator...".

Look, here comes Mommy to sit next to us on the couch and let us rest our heads in her lap. She's singing to us now, softly: "Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird. If that mockingbird don't sing, Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring..."  Our thumbs goes into our mouths, our wide eyes stare back at the brightly glowing rectangle where we can tell who the good people are because they're all clean and nicely dressed and they're friendly and polite.

Wandrey, could you link us up to that boycott effort? I'm in.

psantillana, I don't get ABC so I am in too. And it is a reason I missed the debate. Oddly enough I get all of ABC's shows, but come in on the studios own networks, like Sony TV, etc.

Ah, yes, they were "awful".  They dared to ask Jesus Obama difficult questions.  

Don't they realize, this is just not done?

Chan,

Please.

"Do you believe in the American flag?" This is what the voters want to know?

Get real.