George Stephanopoulos—“In Memoriam”

I was out last night, so I recorded the debate.  Judging from what I’ve been reading, I should just click “delete” and be done with it.  (More from Greg Mitchell.)

MORE: ”An open letter to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapoulos”

Posted by Kevin K. on 04/17/08 at 09:12 AM • Permalink

It was the worst debate moderation performance I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The open letter you linked is right on. Supporters of both candidates—hell, American citizens as a whole—should be outraged.

Well, Betty, from what I’ve seen, the Hillary supporters may have to finish doing their Snoopy dances before they get down to being “outraged.” They seem to think this was the best. debate. ever.

No kidding? I haven’t ventured into any loony bins today, but Hillary hardly turned in a stellar performance. They basically browbeat her into admitting that she flat-out lied about the Bosnia trip. I thought both HRC and BHO came off pretty badly. Any Democrat would have; it was as if Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity were moderating. For reals. Though they did pick on Obama a lot more, which no doubt explains the joyous reaction of the Hilldo faction. Mr. Cracker and I showed great restraint in not hurling our beer bottles through the TV screen. If you do watch it (not recommended), I’d be interested in your take.

It’s a beautiful day up here so I may just keep it that way and avoid watching the damn thing. Just knowing you guys were ready to take out a perfectly good television set (and wasting precious beer in the process) is about all I need to know. ;)

It was an attempted political lynching. Yes, those words are very strong, but accurate. This debate was not set up to help PA voters decide their candidate based on relevant issues. It was a fucking joke.

Well the positives to take i guess are that the rethuglicans have now played their hand. We now know what to expect in the GE...and it’s pretty thin on the ground (it always is). Sean Hannity’s talking points were aired last night and while it rattled Obama (purely i think because he is exhausted) i think the incredible backlash ABC is getting says a lot for how much they’re going to stick.

The silver lining is the opportunity now for Obama to sharpen his retorts to this nonsense. It starkly puts into contrast exactly the kind of politics Obama is looking to change, it was up there in prime time for all to see. And he’s started hitting that point home with his speech today. If he plays this smart and rises above it it plays to America as adults not children (the get that dirt off your shoulder moment today was incredible.) And while Hill was momentarily tarred with the Tuzla tarmac last night, the last two weeks shes been negative nelly. Last night only plays further to that, ganging up on the new kid with the same old tired politics everyone is sick of.

As Andrew Sullivan said today - “The merging of the Clinton campaign with the very forces that once tried to destroy the Clintons is a fascinating moment. It does indeed show that for the Clintons, anything is possible in the pursuit of power. There are no permanent enemies, no permanent arguments, no permanent principles. Just the pursuit of power by all non-violent means. This, of course, has been the guiding, polarizing direction of American politics since Vietnam. It is the kind of politics that defined the Clintons and their generation. It is the boomer war fought by proxy: red-blue; patriot-wimp; American-unAmerican; faithful-Godless. And you cannot help but notice a kind of liberation in the Clinton camp, as they finally thrill to the full experience of deploying the cultural warfare and marginalization that they have been so used to Republicans using against them.”

The American people aren’t stupid.

Also apparently Obama flipped off Hillary in his speech today. WE’VE GOT HIM!!!