I never got a chance to see the debate but....

[kentuck]

Just judging from what I am reading here, it looks like Hillary won the debate? Obama was mediocre at best? The strongest debater of the night was Charlie Gibson? And ABC refused to share the debate with anyone else? IF it was as bad as some people say, I can understand why ABC would want to keep it under wraps. They did their job.

Am I wrong? What really happened? Can one unbiased person give an accurate description of what happened tonight? Or is everyone blind, and walking around an elephant, and trying to describe it to everyone else?

[anonymous171]

1. Imagine Russert, then imagine him being like 10 times more biased and disruptive.

[TexasLady]

2. fifty minutes of fluff

but the last thirty or so weren't bad at all.

as I posted earlier, the talk wont be about either candidate tomorrow. It will be about ABC.

[rwheeler31]

3. Obama talked sense after all the gottcha crap.

[KAZ]

4. What, you can't find the link in about 10 seconds? Net-noob.

Edit. Go watch it and get back to us.

[bklyncowgirl]

Sorry, I can't help you--I missed most of the first hour

I watched the first ten minutes or so streaming video at work. I then had to close up so I missed the next 30 minutes or so. By the time I got home they were talking issues more or less which meant the moderators were trying to get the candidates to pledge on one thing or another. (usually involving taxes--Charlie Gibson was absolutely horrified at the very idea of raising the capital gains tax--I guess he has investments)

Barack Obama looked like he'd rather be having root canal. Hillary Clinton would bomb Iran if the attacked anyone--with the possible exception of the ABC moderators. Clinton seemed more on her game but if what other people here are saying is true Obama just got worked over by Gibson, Stephanopolous and Clinton with 2x4s so maybe he could be excused for not being a happy camper.

The moderators got booed at the end but whether it was because the audience thought they sucked or because they announced a commercial break I couldn't tell you.

[TexasLady]

6. Id say that's a pretty fair assessment

:hi:

[parasim]

7. well, you luckily missed the worst of it.

the first hour was utter bullshit.

what was somewhat interesting (not enlightening in the least, but entertaining, none-the-less) was ABC's weird little real-time graph of positive/negative responses of some sort of "focus group" they had running from their website as the "debate" progressed. It was entertaining to watch it dip into the negative whenever the moderators were speaking and even funnier when it dipped even further when they ran the commercials...

[bklyncowgirl]

10. You know I did see that graph when I was streaming video at work.

That was sort of interesting but like I said I missed most of the bullshit.

[patrice]

5. Obama B+, Hillary B- The superdelegates were watching and there were some goodies in it for them.

Obama said he'd like to keep Affirmative Action and base it on economic class.

Hillary spoke code for letting Affirmative Action die.

Obama said he'd raise the cap on payroll taxes for people earning over 96,000.00 a year to insure Social Security.

Hillary LITERALLY said Social Security problems will just work out.

Hillary also said we should respond with anything all of the way up to nuclear weapons for attacks on any nation in the MidEast, even though we have no nato-style treaty with any of them and the pResident does NOT have the power to declare war. Fucking SCAREY that! She wants to keep the Unitary Executive. Fuck the Constitution (some MORE).

There WAS stuff said in this debate; a lot of people couldn't hear it because everyone was focused on lapel pins, but Obama did well under pressure and the SDs were most definitely watching.

P.S. The only reason I'm giving Hillary a B- is that she took advantage of Obama being somewhat pissed off by the STUPID questions (he WAS a little un-even in that part of it as a result of being annoyed).

P.P.S. Hillary ACTUALLY said something very definitely like: Forgive me for mis-remembering Bosnia, but never forget that Obama says you are bitter.

[keep_it_real]

8. They wouldn't even let Obama finish his statement, they interrupted him

But not Clinton but the young voters see through this and are not fooled.

[patrice]

9. P.P.P.S. Hillary said: Vote for me because I'm a Fighter.

Obama said: Vote for me because I'm a Uniter.

[doc03]

12. Wasn't GWB the Uniter? n/t

[quakerboy]

11. I am halfway through it

So far I have seen a lot of Gotcha on the part of the moderators, towards both candidates. The only really outstanding moment thus far was when Hillary used extraordinarily politic polite words to admit that she flat lied about the Bosnia thing and apologize in her own non-binding manner. Other than that, I have not been overly impressed with anything either has said. Other than that one shining moment, everything else from the candidates has been right in line with their campaigns of the past month.

[Danger Mouse]

13. George pushed a Hannity-spanwned question on Obama about his connection to Ayers of the WU.

He referenced a letter published by Ayers on 9/11 (but failed to mention that it came out BEFORE the attacks).
Hillary piggybacked on the WU-based attacks.
Take from that what you will.
HANNITY, for the love of God.

[doc03]

14. I only caught a few mnutes of it, then shut it off in discust

The question I heard was when that asshole Gibson asked them about raising capital gains tax? Then he answers it himself saying if you raise capital gains, revenues will go down. So unless you agree with him you are wrong, then he argues with them on their answer. It was the most bias I have ever seen by a moderator. They should have just had Rush Limbaugh or Hannity asking the questions.