Source: The Huffington Post

ABC Hosts Heckled After Debate: "The Crowd Is Turning On Me"

The Huffington Post | April 16, 2008 10:17 PM

Reflecting what seemed to be the main consensus of the night - that ABC botched this debate, big time - Charlie Gibson tells the crowd there will be one more, superfluous commercial break of the night and is subsequently jeered.

"OH..." he declares, hands raised in defense. "The crowd is turning on me, the crowd is turning on me."

Visitors to ABC's site weren't much kinder. Here's a sampling on page 1:

"...This is AWFUL. Thank goodness for Jon Stewart and Comedy Central. He does a better job of interviewing and asking relevant questions of his guests in 5 minutes than these 2 yahoos have in more than an hour. ABC should be ashamed. George should be ashamed. Charlie should be ashamed. This isn't a debate. This is a hit job."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/16/abc-hosts-heck...

any questions about reactions to or from McCain were irrelevant

over the coming commercial.

Stephanopolis(?) and Gibson lost a LOT of fans tonight. What a disgrace of a "debate"... nothing more than a ganged up hit job on Obama. Not a question of substance for almost the whole "debate". Reminded me of what the National Enquirer would ask if they ever hosted a "debate".
ABC = trying to replace Faux? Sure been looking like it lately.

Remember, the zombie of the network once known as ABC reaches past the confines of pay tv.
The fascists that now direct it wish to reach a wider audience.
As far as I'm concerned ABC stands for Air Borne Cigar!.
(theres a subtle WWII reference. 10 points to the first ot correctly id it.)

Where do I collect my 10 points?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_elect...

About the "debate"
Corporate media vomit bag, stinko, crappola, shit on a stick. One of the candidates could have scored major points by asking one of the moderators how many of their questions came directly from Karl Rove.

ABCess teevee...

a festering pocket of news "spinners". the last thing they want to do is reflect real journalism. that is SOOO dated.

I really didn't think it would be THAT bad. It was ridiculous. I turned it off after a while. Barack should not have agreed to debate in such a one sided format. The issues were non-existent.

ABC "news" only damages itself with a travesty like this. Their tabloid approach preaches to a choir which is already lost.

What this political season has made abundantly clear is that the bulk of the American electorate has awoken from the anesthetizing effects of the past eight, tragic years. People are paying attention and becoming engaged in the political process in a way that we have not seen in many years.

As a people, by and large we are smarter than this. ABC hasn't noticed. Ultimately - as we are already seeing in response to last night's sham of a debate - this will come back to damage them far more than either of the candidates.

It's a long time until November, when we WILL elect a Democratic president.

not if hrc gets her way.
I'm convinced that she is thinking that if she cant win, she will help put that god damned idiot in the WH...and I don't think I need to say who the "idiot" is.

The REAL rulers of this country have anointed HER for the job, and if they cant have her, the second choice WILL win.

Obama needs to be VERY careful if he wins, he might just have an "accident" or some "lone gunman" will do it for them.

Why waste voter's time so the networks can make big bucks off advertisers??

The political news is 90% on the Democratic side since there is no nominee yet. McCain is on the back pages. The media will try to keep this alive to keep their ratings up. If both parties had settled on their nominees by now, the public would go back to American Idol and forget politics until the fall. Not good for news ratings.

Even after all this stuff, Obama is even with McCain. Were anyone paying attention, he'd probably be behind after all this shit.

vast cheating machine to steal the election....again.

My thoughts exactly.

our days of free and fair elections are long gone. At this point we have only the illusion of democracy.

Hillary didnt even need to help them out

are all pretty proud today that their content is so highbrow. A new low in trash TV has been established.

We will continue to get this crap as long as corporations are doing the moderating.

- K&R

bring back the League of Women Voters. But, then the Republikans like corporate questions , particularily when the questions are submitted in advance. Ex. Schwarnezzer.

Sorry but let's not pretend it's only republicans that are corporate. We've got a whole corporate wing of our own.

but still it was better than ABC or CNN. The League of Women voters did the best under difficult conditions.

why don't they have Bill Moyers asking questions, the British Press would even do better.

I think it would be heads above the debates we have had to suffer through.

as soon as Ms. "I'm-down-with-the-common-folk-no-elitist-here-no-sir!" started pontificating. As hard as she tried to look and sound tough-but-sincere, she came off as a lying media tool. I'm sure it was all Obama could do to not look heavenward, roll his eyes and sigh (think Al Gore 2000).

Not so, last night. We watched the disgusting thing for about 10 minutes and then switched to Family Guy. Just disgraceful. But it's what you get from ABC.

It's strange, I hate Murdoch so much, but I do love the Simpsons and Family Guy...a debate led by Homer would be a smashing success.

Stewie!!

With Marge and Lisa occasionally cutting in, it would be fantastic.

had beer and pizza. We're Obama fans, and thought he scored a few points. No big deal on the Ayers question, he's bound to face it from McCainiac, anyway. By that point in time, it will be "old news".

Besides, we think he scored some points with his remarks about things done when he was eight years old, and about co-President Hillary's pardoning of the two Weather Underground members.

I love the smell of hot tar in the Morning.

They add just the right touch to hot tar.

I was going to make a comment about storming the stage with tar and feathers!

Well, don't forget the rail - to ride them out of town on!

with lots of splinters.

which speaks to leadership ability.

HRC simply came off as negative and nasty, playing old style politics. When she got her second wind, her weird inappropriate laugh came back and she made a weird Dick Cheney and starting sputtering disproven policy from the past. Obama's answers showed focus, intelligence and determination.

How the heck did you get that feeling. I think she did a good job.

the criminal in the White House.

I did find the question about the flag lapel pin, as to something the former Soviet Union would've loved.

Seriously, the other debates already covered all the policy stuff like healthcare. What else is vapid ABC gonna talk about? Hillary knows she can't out-talk Obama so she just had to play it safe and hope he implodes, which never happens.

I much prefer cunning linguists to master debaters

I can't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, the voting public has finally gotten fed up with the biased and shallow treatment the broadcast media has been Democrats and progressives. The broadcast media spent most of the Clinton administration quite willingly serving as echo chambers for right-wing and Republican propaganda, then spent the better part of Gee Dubya's terms in office toadying to Those On High. Might we ask, might we pray for, that people have not only become aware of corporate American broadcast medias' antics, but have gotten angry about it?

I think it's time and past time that these arrogant, condescending, and trivial, particularly trivial, corporate press-titutes get the message that we're throughly p!$$ed off at the sorry flow of tripe they call journalism and that we'd like to have real, UNBIASED reporting again.

The flag pin? Are you fucking kidding me? Is this what the American people care about? Are people going to say "I can't vote for him, he doesn't wear a flag pin!"? If that's the case, we're fucking screwed. Irrevocably screwed.

when I heard that I said what about Iraq, or Iran, or the deteriorating status of the country, no, all about a pin??? people are really dumbed down, 7 yrs of a moran in office and people are soft in the head. (excluding DU'ers of course)

Wonder why that isn't apparent to more 'Muricans?

My husband reports that the "sweet young thang" dental assistant 2 days ago was babbling about why she would not vote for Obama..
"He's not American, he's Muslim, and he doesn't wear the flag pin"..
Hubby said it was he could do not to chop down on her fingers.

I would have...

that she had just flunked my IQ test and I don't allow stupid people to stick their fingers in my mouth.

When will people realize that a flag pin in a rethuglicans' lapel is code for "fuck you, Americans". Good god, how obvious does it have to be for sheeple to realize this fact. I wear one upside down and boy, does that piss people off.

from people who have thoughts just like that one.

Too biased.

For once, a primary isn't settled by the time Pennsylvanians get to vote, and Gibson and Judas Maximus completely ignore the issues that matter to our commonwealth and country. The American Idol kiss-off show had more substance.

discuss the issues huh? that is what the American people want to hear, not all the attack stuff. Geez, the country is in the toilet and they are talking about the stupidest things.

DISGRACEFUL. HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME CHARLIE.

You guys are SOOOOO much better than FOX, I'm SOOOOOO glad I tuned in. All those deep, probing questions. I love the way you didn't rehash stuff we've heard 1000X before.

And there is that stupid woman asking why Obama didn't wear a pin. What a **** moron.


Charlie Gibson should just shut up and let the candidates talk.

...the "I'm ignorant and proud of it!" election with Newt Gingrich and his "Contract with/on America." Perhaps 2008 is simply a continuation of that?

Last time around it was the debate w/ Obama, Hillary, Richardson and Edwards and he tried to state as plain fact that the Surge was proven to have worked and went after the Democrats trying to insinuate that they were totally wrong on the surge and not supporting the troops or giving Iraq a chance to succeed.

It was sickening then and I told friends this debate will probably be no different. Good to know that Charlie and the good ol' "liberal media" didn't let us down.

Rp

Charlie the capital gains tax rate is not the only factor in the amount of tax revenue collected by the Feds you moron.

During the entire Bush administration we've never had a year that was as good as the best year under Clinton. Capital gains revenues have been way down.

the odd part is that this line of "reasoning" is born from the same people who don't think the government can or should be involved in any of this. Magically the feds are all powerful and can create wealth through the incentive of cut this one tax rate.

What a load of crap. Both of them should have thrown this right back in his face.

breaks -- the Networks are just Ad agencies or distribution units for Ad agencies -- surfaces are all they sell.

. . .surely I'm not the first person to say this:

How did political hacks in the guise of network moderators GET TO CONTROL QUESTIONS for candidates? END THIS AND DEMAND THAT ONLY THE PUBLIC SUBMIT QUESTIONS AS ORDINARY CITIZENS TO BE ASKED THROUGH NEUTRAL WOMEN'S LEAGUE OF VOTERS OR SOME SUCH.

SEPARATE CORPORATE NETWORK MODERATORS FROM PUBLIC ELECTION DEBATES. . .LIKE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.

Are you hearing us Dr. Dean. . .Vice President Gore. . .lead a BOYCOTT of network controlled debates. . .NEGOTIATE for televised debates ONLY IF QUESTIONS ARE OF, BY, AND FOR THE PUBLIC.. . .

otherwise, just have bus tours and town hall debates with local coverage.

This CHANGE is within reach far more easily than getting any improved public funding bill through Congress.

Let the revolutionary change. . .TAKING BACK THE COUNTRY begin with this!

WOW, they're getting killed for this farce. 9 out of the 10 posts I read ripped CG and GS. Whether you support Obama or Clinton, or even if you're undecided you have to be scratching your head at what you watched last night.

Some folks may have seen last night's "debate" on ABC last night.

What a sorry excuse for "news" ever that wasn't on FOX! Let this remind us how mainstream media was a full partner in getting us into an illegal immoral war and a full partner of the govt/corporate corruption that has devastated our country.

Oliver Willis shares his view of the debacle:

ABC's Hannitized Debate
Published April 16, 2008 in 2008 Election.
So ABC's debate moderator - Stephanopoulos - goes on Sean Hannity's radio show, and Hannity essentially hands him opposition research and the ABC "journalist" just repeats it in the course of a presidential debate. Yeah, the media's liberal.

>> ABC Hosts Heckled After Debate: "The Crowd Is Turning On Me"

>> The Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media

http://www.oliverwillis.com/index.php/2008/04/16/abcs-h... /


Andrew Sullivan describes the debate very aptly:

After The Freak Show
16 Apr 2008 10:55 pm

Matt:

I had thought the Clinton campaign couldn't sink any lower, but thus far she's really just been giving us the full GOP. Listening to her talk about Barack Obama is like reading a Weekly Standard blog post.

Josh Marshall:

Looking around other sites, I guess I'm not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty. Maybe the embargo on debate rebroadcast was a pro-human rights stand.

Dave Weigel:

I don't think the 40-minute early Obama pile-on was bad for him. I think the following round, where he seemed rattled and reliant on his script, was bad for him.

To believe it's worth junking the Clintons and giving him the nomination, a Democrat needs to think Obama is at least as resilient as Hillary. And he can take the attacks, but he can't get past them.

Taylor Marsh:

The truth is that Gibson and Stephanopolous asked questions that have been on people's minds, but nobody else in the media had the spine to bring up.

Mark Hemingway:

And the winner is...McCain in a landslide!

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/20...

It's amazing that idiots like this have the jobs they do.

We have had to endure these bullshit debates for months, I am glad the crowd booed..they should have thrown a tomato at George and Charlie.

I agree wholeheartedly, HOWEVER, it seems to me that at any time, a candidate with strong leadership ability could refuse to answer pointless, stupid questions and turn things around. Such as: "Considering x, y, and z, which are critical to America's well-being and future, why are you raising such a stupid question? I'm going to talk about x, y, and z. I dare you stop me." If Cinton and Obama can't demolish the frame that the R's create, then they're not doing their jobs. This is as good a time to practice as any. They could and should have had their Howard Beale moment on national television last night.

Does anyone think this is not hurting our chances? I had a friend who told me she was so disgusted at the entire democratic primary season she may not vote. Lord god - let's just continue to screw this up.

If we get McCain because some choose not to vote, I can guarantee they will vote in 2012.

That is, if we still have a right to vote.

for four more years. I'm so sick of this.

on another tread about the debate. Just sent this to Peter Salinger, head of ABC Election coverage. Post 11 on this tread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Mr. Salinger:

I have been a political activist for almost 30 years and I have watched many debates during that time, from national debates to local election debates, and never have I seen a more despicable performance by moderators than I saw last night. ABC had the opportunity to raise the bar here and actually discuss the issues with the candidates. Instead, you choose to be petty, abrasive, argumentative (Gibson took the capital gains issue personally, didn't he), I dare say, "tabloidish". The need to quote the Constitution to the public speaks of condescension on your part for your viewers ability to understand what is at stake here. Gotcha journalism is not something to be proud of; however, you took it to extreme and proved there was nothing to be proud about. The fact that Stephanopoulos was influenced by a biased right wing pundit to ask a question of Senator Obama just shows the very serious lack of ability on ABC's part to grasp what the public really wanted and needs to hear. In case you still haven't figured that out, we need to know what are these candidates going to do to solve the serious issues facing this country. Yet the debate was almost an hour old before anything of substance was asked.

I am certain had Peter Jennings still been alive this debacle would never have occurred. The reputation of ABC News was seriously damaged last night and I, for one, will never watch coverage by ABC of any news event again . Come of think of it, I don't watch any ABC shows at all. I suppose the entire network is in trouble, especially since Wolf Blizer is beginning to look like Edward R. Murrow in comparison. That is sad.

ABC News owes an apology to the citizens of this country for failing to provide the true journalism we deserve.

wonder if yelling at the FCC would do any good?

told him how shoddy they ran that debate. Thanks for the addies.

Here's Salinger's email addy for those in a hurry:

peter.salinger@abc.com

The questions got better after the first hour (which stunk). But by that time, many viewers had probably given up and gone away.

These TV people should never be called interviewers and should never be allowed to ask questions during a political debate. They have a vested interest in conflict and that's exactly what they try to create.

For the first hour they were asking questions based on sh** they made up in the first place and broadcast. When "these people" (broadcasters) find some ridiculous thing and blow it up to keep their own jobs, that is when those silly things became issues. Usually, we can hope, they are only issues in the fake little world of the broadcasters. The problem is that they don't recognize that we recognize their fictional slant on things. Our media has been just as incompetent at their jobs during the past eight years as the Bush administration has been incompetent at running the government. I wanted to hear what each candidate had to say about policy. I didn't want to hear about crap the media made up in the first place to cause conflict.

environment, social security, defense, education, trade equality, war, Iran, truth and fairness in the media, energy, the deficit, housing, immigration, torcher, corporate influence of our government, ...etc.

only throw food after it's been digested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kTctirEPns

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.

Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.

Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.

Repeat Chorus:

Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...

"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

Bill Moyers may be a Dem, but he doesn't coddle anyone and he knows how to ask a meaningful question in a respectful manner. He's also not going to give anyone a pass if they give a non-answer to his questions. That's what the people need to make up their minds this time around.

and should have been moderated by dems; Not pug fruitcakes and just for the record Cuddle Bum ain't no democrat.

who can't be objective. Moyers can.

they didn't want asked.

They weren't kind to Hillary either, for that matter.

Our candidates better get ready for the big time after the convention. The right-wing media assholes are just sharpening their knives with this debate - by August they'll have all their knives sharpened and ready to slice and dice up whoever the Dem nominee is.

End of story.

If you care about lapel pins and Reverand Wright, you'd have loved it. For the rest of us who want to hear reasoned debate about the burning issues of Iraq, healthcare, education, outsourcing, the environment, inflation and a host of other problems- IT WAS GARBAGE.

going to dump on our nominee during the general election.

You don't actually believe that CNN, FOX, MSNBC will be any better than ABC when it comes to the presidential and vice-presidential debates, do you?

guess so.

That's an un-called for smear.

They'll make up the stories on their own anyway. Hell, I'd rather open an account and have people funnel money to the candidate to run their own one-hour policy shows. After all, if Pat Robertson can get away with buying time on stations for political commentary, we surely can raise enough money to do the same for a campaign season.

Nothing would be more fun than to see the right wing reporters banned and yet still reach the public with one-hour conversations directly with the American people - without the media's edited interference. After all, if they sell Pat Robertson television time, according to my local station, they have to sell someone else time.

Neither Democrat should accept any "debate" moderated by the corporate media.

any of their channels.

Better to have PBS and local non-affiliated stations handle it.

As you say, they weren't kind to Hillary either...

We agree that this is the tip of the iceberg either way...

the obamababies can't handle it and are now whining...

that did not concern issues that affect the voters. They were questions that had been asked and answered to death of both candidates. The first question was "Would each of you pick the other for VP?" It went downhill from there.

The BIGGEST loser of the night was Gibson who used to be considered a journalist with integrity.

awwwwwww...

I think I have a tissue someplace for ya...

and neither should have been Hillary. Hillary looked bad jumping in there and reinforcing the right-wing talking points.

But I guess you are all right with Sean Hannity coming up with the questions for our presidential candidates.

You're not that much of an idiot are you?

Obama looked pissy.

His supporters acted like, well, like they act around here and like the followers of false messiahs and dictators often act. God forbid someone rough up their candidate a little.

I voted Edwards, by the way, even after he dropped out. He can take the heat.

What a disgrace. Those two bozos should be tarred and feathered.

Source: The Guardian

American television network ABC was accused of bias and triviality today in the wake of the latest debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

American television viewers and media commentators lashed out at the network, decrying the format of the debate, which they complained amounted to a venue for the candidates to reiterate political attacks rather than delve into substantive policy disagreements.

The network was also criticised for a perceived slant against Illinois senator Barack Obama, particularly because moderator George Stephanopoulos worked in President Bill Clinton's White House as an adviser and aide.

By mid-morning today, readers had left more than 12,300 comments on the ABC News website, most of them attacking the programme.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/17/uselections...

do they even have any non-substantive policy disagreements.