Let me be very clear about this

When the mealy mouth media spends the first third of the debate asking asinine questions about Avery, Rev Wright, Bosnia, Bittergunchurchgate...

they have completely prostituted their standing as journalists and should be relegated to the fox entertainment division.  I have to say that Obama did as fine a job as anyone could pointing out to these a-holes that at this point in our country's history, this obsession with E-politics undermines the seriousness and importance of this election.  Over and over he derided both Stephenpoopoluous & Glurbson for continuing Bush's dumbing down of America and Rove's please care about abortions & guns election strategy rather than face the important issues before us.

And as bad as all the ridiculous questions about Bitter & (to be fair) Bosnia, when they put that woman on the air to ask Senator Obama if he really was a patriot because he didn't wear an effing flag pin, I truly didn't realize just how far they had lowered their journalistic standards.  I am truly in awe...shock & awe at how low we could go.  How Barack could restrain himself from expressing the ridiculousness of thinking a person a non-patriot because of an effing lapel pin, is simply beyond comprehension.  His restraint & poise were amazing.

To be fair, even though Hillary sucked through this first third of the debate by debasing herself and jumping onto the pile of poo that was shoveled into the middle of the stage during that period, she did redeem herself (IMO) with answers to actual, serious questions that came later.  HOWEVER, the man standing beside her is our next President.  He handled himself with such grace and honor and made a decision to take the high road (with a possible cookie exception or two) and honored Senator Clinton as well as the audience and all of us.  He did not, and I fully agree with him in this, honor the two moderators who sunk to the lowest common denominator of corporate snake-i-ness.  If there had been a limbo stick on the stage placed one inch from the floor, George & Charlie could have easily made it under.

Here's to you Senator Obama.  My hat is off to you and my vote is guaranteed.

•  Tips

  for Senator Obama, a truly honorable and patient man.

  by pattisigh on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:28:51 PM PDT

•  Well, one good thing about it was that I got so

  angry I wrote a letter to [e-mail] and then made my first contribution to Obama.  Hey do folks know they have a whole website over there with blogs and everything?   lol  

  I guess the lesson is some of us, get comfortable in our patterns and need something like this to light a fire under our butts to do what we probably should have done a long time ago.

  If you interested here's the letter I sent to abcnews.
  *****************************

  Dear Editors,

  George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson just did the worst job of debate moderation I have ever seen.  

  Chosing to spend more than half of their time on ambush and "gotcha" politics before getting to any substantive questions leaves their reputations as unbiased "journalists" in tatters.  

  If Stephanopoulos can't do any better than pass on GOP talking points, he should resign as a journalist and join Fox's entertainment division.   Flag Pins?, Wright, Ayer, Bitter-gate?   One such question, perhaps, but 48 minutes?  

  Meanwhile, polls show voters are most interested in economics, jobs, health care, Iraq, etc.  

  Gibson was not only hostile but so emotionally stiff as to make on think he was ill.  If he was, he should have got a substitute.  Pedantically arguing about the capital gains tax issues as if he were some professor of economics was not only pompous, but unscholarly, as the academic discussion of such topics include more nuance, and context that Gibson was capable of providing.  He appeared to be more interested in self-aggrandizement than advancing the discussion or learning more about the candidates opinions.  

  Your public deserved much more than this.

  I hope the moderators, and ABC News will apologize to the candidates, the voters of PA, and the American public for squandering what may turn out to be the last debate of the primaries.

  ABC should probably reconsider whether you folks have sufficient commitment to serious news and journalism to stay in this kind of programming.  But, if this is something you want to continue to do, you clearly need better talent.   How sad to see how far you've fallen over the last 3 decades.  

  Your respectable journalistic forefathers are no doubt turning over in their graves.  

  by HoundDog on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:32:48 PM PDT

•  Why can't he wear a damn pin?

  I totally agree about the whole debate but, if it bothers certain dumb voters, why can't Obama just wear a damn pin once a week or so?
  It's almost as if he's saying that it's against his principles to wear one, only hypocrites do it.
  Just have a few pictures taken with a pin on once in a while and then we don't have to waste any more time on this topic. Would it be so hard?

  by choosinghope on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:33:06 PM PDT

  •  He wore a pin just the damned day before.

    And who the fuck cares?????

    by Mother of Zeus on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:35:55 PM PDT

    •  seriously

      if some idiot will only vote for someone who is wearing a flag pin made in China, then fuck them.

      by MadAsHellMaddie on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:36:52 PM PDT

  •  You're kidding, right? Please

    tell me you are kidding...

    by sick of it all on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:36:17 PM PDT

  •  Any nimnile

    can wear a pin.  It don't mean diddly and the a-hole republicans that wear them are as unpatriotic a bunch as this country has seen.

    If America's idea of who they will elect as President depends on a pin...well, that's how we got George Bush.  I wouldn't wear one either.

    by pattisigh on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:36:21 PM PDT

  •  Yeah, why can't he wear a $.99 piece of plastic..

    ...made in China to show everyone how much he loves America...

    piss off...

    by Aqualad08 on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:37:50 PM PDT

  •  no I wasn't kidding

    I just didn't want to hear about the bloody pin any more.
    But then I realized it's just the thin end of the wedge and he'd be asked to do something else he doesn't agree with next.
    So OK, I've seen the light. No flag pins for our guy. Sorry I spoke.

    by choosinghope on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:40:37 PM PDT

    •  Obama has wagered his entire campaign on the fact

      that he can talk to Americans like adults. God help us if he's wrong.

      by CalexanderJ on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:55:10 PM PDT

•  Why is anyone surprised?

  You complain about journalists prostituting themselves; this is America, they ALL do.  We haven't had a real journalist on TV since Murrow.  If you want journalism, you've got NPR radio (sometimes) the BBC and some print journalists.  And ever there, the ratio of good to crap is dying.

  We gets what we's pay for; a total lack of literacy and an overriding hatred towards the intelligentsia has created a nation on the precipice of ignorance.  And the rocks beneath our feet are beginning to loosen.

  by Dcoronata on Wed Apr 16, 2008 at 08:54:05 PM PDT