Frank Rich: Shoddy! Tawdry! A Televised Train Wreck!

"THE crowd is turning on me," said Charles Gibson, the ABC anchor, when the audience jeered him in the final moments of Wednesday night's face-off between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

I can't remember a debate in which the only memorable moment was the audience's heckling of a moderator. Then again, I can't remember a debate that became such an instant national gag, earning reviews more appropriate to a slasher movie like "Prom Night" than a civic event held in Philadelphia's National Constitution Center:

"Shoddy, despicable!" -- The Washington Post

"A tawdry affair!" -- The Boston Globe

"A televised train wreck!" -- The Philadelphia Daily News

And those were the polite ones. Let's not even go to the blogosphere.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[Gayrove]

I'm with Lempira and many others. Mr. Rich got it right. As for Herr Stephanopoulos who seems to want to be the Clintons' "Persian Boy", isn't he a striking example of George Tenet ethics? Are they related? They bring gifts, such as their "oops, I goofed" reverse spins, with an air of utter schoolboy sincerity

[Lempira]

took all of the words right out of my mouth
thank you
for confirming what the 17,000 peolpe who wrote to the ABC "news" web site also felt
this "debate" helped no one

[hank48188]

Frank Rich has become a real Obama cheerleader, just like Keith Olberman. The Debate was a train wreck, Obama ran off the tracks. Obama gives great speeches, but when it comes to being questioned he looks weak and unknowledgeable.

[Lempira]

Those flag pins are made in China
you should go out and buy one to show your patriotism

[LeftLeaner]

Again, the REAL explanation the "crowd was turning on him" was due to excessive commercial interruptions.

These distortions are going from bad to worse.

[ssmit98]

Fellow Obama supporters, this is for you:)

Breaking news! Hillary Clinton caught lying AGAIN!

http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=62012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exsmFDYyK4U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQZl0ao6vbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyhIBXNfqMA

[LeftLeaner]

Frank Rich's editorials have CONSISTENLY favored Barack Obama, so I take EVERYTHING he writes with a grain of salt - or two.

[Ping]

I take everything you write with a grain of salt or two or three.

[LeftLeaner]

I don't really care.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Maybe Comedy Central should run the debates for now on, to many hacks in MSN. I have a great idea for commentators, Louis Black and Jon Stuart; both of them could raise the level of political debate 10 fold.

[dutchess2]

If the next 100 people here send this to their local papers via e-mail...

Perhaps we can get the point across...

So do it!

[frappe]

Wonderful editiorial. The bias of the mainstream media has become painfully obvious for those of us with two eyes, two ears, and a brain. While watching that pathetic excuse for a debate on ABC, I was struck by the blatantly rude approach taken when questioning Barack Obama. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that I was watching something along the lines of a criminal interrogation during a "live" episode of some new "Crime TV" show.

I did notice that George Stephalococcus' Sunday morning interview with John McCain was much more focused on issues of substance. None of the slanderous, rude questioning that he heaped on Obama was in evidence. It was much more deferential. Bunch of mucus loving hypocrites!

[joja]

frappe --

A-men! Well put.

[OhCanada]

The best article I have read this primary season. Man it feels good to read something like this amid the maelstrom that is msm.

[missette]

And so it continues. Today, NBC was citing polls on who was ahead in Pennsylvania among, ta da, hunters, beer drinkers, and bowlers. I quess surveying, say, teachers, students (of voting age), the unemployed, truck drivers being hit hard by gas prices, small business men and women, service workers, what assembly line workers that are left there, farmers - demographics that matter, would have been too taxing for the networks. Better to continue promoting the candidate who's the most fun to have a beer with, since the one we have in office now gave brought our country to its current, glorious state of war without and a shattered economy. People, it is time to take back our country, not just from the status quo politicians but from their media enablers.

[KYSmiling]

Yeah, couldn't believe it when I saw that poll this morning. I just changed to the History Channel and tried not to hang my head and cry.

[joja]

Deliciously exquisite! What an absolute joy to read -- but then, the truth always is.

[bar1ed]

i did not watch the debate, gave-up on them a long time ago! --- a lot of junk, little talk of the issues --- but what was ABC to do? --- every stupid question had been asked before --- jewel, hair cuts, what kind of toilet paper do you use? etc., etc.. --- therefore, ABC had no choice, but to think out of the box. --- so what do they do? they bring in two clowns to ask two clowns stupid questions. --- and from what i hear and read, it was pretty funny --- sorry i missed it !

[tiredoflies]

Frank Rich has lost all objectivity and doesn't have the right to call anyone out on bias. You just have to read his columns to see his bias in all its glory.

Note to Obama supporters: Instead of going on and on about the questions asked, why are you not focusing on the answers Obama gave, along with how he expressed them? That is where the real answers lie regarding whether or not Obama is really ready for primetime.

[Horst]

Rich should go back being a theater critic. For years he was a shill for the Clintons...now with the wind changing, guess what?

[dawlishgal]

Rich WAS a "shill for the Clintons?" Yeah right, and Stephanopoulus was WHAT? Oh yeah, he was PAID by US taxpayers to be the CLINTON'S PRIME SHILL. And ABC chose him to "moderate" a debate...what is "moderate" supposed to mean in this context? Whatever it means, little Georgie sure didn't DO IT. Of course, now, as an employee of ABC, he is the paid shill of Disney, and, of course, he has to favor the candidate who will do the most for corporate coffers. And, we all know which candidate that is...the same one who promises healthcare (after arrogantly r refusing to compromise a decade and half ago, so we STILL don't have any). The same one who accepts more $$$$ from healthcare lobbyists than any other candidate.

[dawlishgal]

Baloney. Where are the REAL questions as to whether or not HILLARY is ready for primetime.

Turns out (according to Bernstein) that after SHE and her bad judgment and her worse behavior were basically responsible for the loss of congress in 1994, her presence was considered so toxic (even to her) that Bill's administration, with HER encouragement, replaced her as his main advisor with DICK MORRIS, for gawdssakes....the biggest political sleaze between Atwater and Rove. And still she is claiming those years of withdrawal from the fray as bleeping EXPERIENCE.

Anybody who fails to ask her how she justifies THAT is the one who is "biased."

[ObamaSeeChange]

The article by Frank Rich is spot on! The man is a saint among journalistic swine.