Is there anybody who can give an unbiased account of the debate

[Aussie leftie]

I didn't get to see it.

[dbonds]

1. Imagine a debate moderated by national enquire and you have the gist of it.

[tekisui]

2. I was a Democratic hit job,

George and Charles focused on tabloid distractions and avoided issues. They played the gotcha politics, and America lost. It was a sorry debate. Obama and Clinton did well to hold up against it.

[crispini]

3. It really was pretty bad.

You might be able to stream it from ABC somewhere?

Forty minutes of non-issue questions, and we all got so pissed off we couldn't hear anything else after that because they just kept asking about bullshit stuff. Seriously. Wright, the flag pin, the Weather Underground, all of that crap that has whiskers on it and is so bullshitty bullshit.

[rug]

4. No.

[abbyg8r]

5. It was brutal for both Clinton and Obama.

John McCain was the clear winner in this debate.

[rwheeler31]

6. Awful,biased, stupid, ugly, nasty, mean, right wing hit job,maddening

[PM7nj]

7. The GOP won. nt

[high density]

8. Charles Gibson played the Republican and Cato Institute angle

That's all you need to know

[Muttocracy]

9. NYTimes blog sounds like it was dumb

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/live-blogging-the-democratic-debate-6/

[MH1]

10. I'm not unbiased, but it was a hit job.

The first 45 minutes at least were every single smear that you can think of from the last few weeks:

- bittergate
- Wright
- Tuzla
- flag pin
- Ayers (the guy who was in the Weather Underground 40 years ago. That question was apparently given to Snuffy by Hannity.)

And they started with the stupid ass question about whether either would commit to putting the other on the ticket as vice prez. As soon as I heard that I knew it was going to be a garbage "debate".

[KAZ]

11. The moderators interrupted constantly, and spewed Puke..

.. talking points. The Dems lost.

[Nicole]

12. You didn't miss anything.

No real discussion of the issues.

It was like Hillary & Obama were cops at a train wreck, trying to get the spectators to move along.

Nothing to see here.

[MadBadger]

13. No

[Aussie leftie]

14. Would you say that it is like a taste of things to come

whether it be Obama or Clinton as the nominee. When the debates are on during the general election I'm sure the right wing journalists will not be focused on policy, but more so on non-consequential things that have nothing to do with politics.

[crispini]

16. Yeah, but this was fuckin' ABC.

Confine the inconsequential bullshit to the internet and the echo chambers. That's what we're here (DU) for. Don't drag it out into a proper presidential debate like that. For FORTY FUCKIN MINUTES. Absolutely disgraceful.

[mmonk]

Imagine a democratic debate on FOX news.

It was like that.

[qazplm]

15. lazy gotcha journalism

seems to me that we didnt need to hear about bosnia or wright or any of that stuff.

This was a chance for ABC to bring the campaign back to issues.

and they not only missed that chance, they completely tossed it aside in favor of going over every possible tabloid issue for Obama except maybe Rezko, and bosnia for Clinton.

for forty five minutes.

I can understand a quick talk about bitter. I can understand a quick note on Tuzla or some other balanced tough tabloid question to clinton.

then MOVE ON to substance!

[AteAlien]

17. Maybe I've just seen one or two too many of these, but

I was bored to tears, and get tired of feeling as though I'm being pandered to rather than feeling real life issues are being discussed. Even when real issues were brought up, it seemed I was listening to the same candidates I listened to 20 or even 30 years ago.

[JoFerret]

18. We are all biased but here goes

Clinton was on her game. Obama was a bit off his although he started well. She demonstrated great mastery of policy detail and was very well prepared. Her answers on the economy and Iraq were terrific. He was put on the defensive by some crap questions.
She proved herself better at evading and dissembling on guns(important ability for US politicians).

Obama fans feel it was an unfair debate but he won anyway (although they are calling ABC to whine and complain). Clinton fans think she was outstanding and that Obama fans are whiny losers.

Truth is: both candidates did great.

[Aussie leftie]

20. I'm looking forward to McCain enduring such scrutiny.

Sounds like the debate needed more professional format and questioner.

[JoFerret]

26. I think the format was fine

It did not have that false cosy intimacy and that allowed for the kinds of questions that were asked.
It was a good preparation for the fall. They were very civil to each other and did not have to pretend to love one another.

McCain will wither. These questions were OK. Some arcane ones as they tried to play "gotcha'. But the candidates both got the opportunity to bring up Iraq, Israel, middle east and etc. as well as more than the usual one line sound bite on the economy.

Both these candidates are getting a great work-out. It was a good debate - the whining notwithstanding.

[patrice]

19. They both did okay in a BIASED environment. Obama a little better than HC.

Perspective Depends upon the intelligence and knowledgeability of the listeners.

Obama gave a coherent approach to Affirmative Action based on social-economic class rather than racial quotas.

Hillary spoke code for letting Affirmative Action die on the vine.

Hillary said forgive me mis-remembering Bosnia but never forget BHO said you are bitter.

BHO scored points on raising the cap on the payroll tax. HC said it's all just going to work out for Social Security.

[crankychatter]

21. the debate was biased... it was not a debate

it was a media fry job

go anywhere but DU on the internet and even Clinton supporters are FURIOUS

[aaronbees]

22. ABC News spat on America .... eom

[BlooInBloo]

23. I'm just taking the average of each of the following blogs....

http://www.crooksandliars.com/
http://www.americablog.com/
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
http://www.dailykos.com/
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Opinion seems to be pretty much unanimous.

[bklyncowgirl]

24. I missed most of the nasty stuff too.

When I got back from work they were talking about Israel.

[jasmine621]

25. Hillary is being slammed for people asking questions about Obama's

actions, lies, and hypocrisy.