The ABC News sponsored debate of the democratic presidential candidates held on 4/16/08 was a disgrace. Never, in all my life have I seen such a debacle from a major news service in the United States. Stephanopholus and Gibson managed to sink to the lowest level of tabloid style entertainment in leiu of their responsibilites as journalists. Needless to say, it will be quite some time before I ever turn the television to ANY ABC affiliate again.
Just so you know, the trust as a valid venue for US journalism, that took this network many years to build, was shattered within an hour of this broadcast.
ABC news should be ashamed of this program, and most of all, of its representatives who participated in this slanted debacle of sensationalistic smut.

CHOOSING A BETTER WORD

Obama did choose the wrong words "bitter" and "small-town". People living in small towns are UPSET, but many living in urban ethnic - racial - economic enclaves are also upset with the policies of our government. They are upset because of job losses and a lack of government aid to bring in new jobs and help retrain workers for the new jobs. Frequently seen responses to declining career opportunities and out-of-touch government is to retreat to more focused perspectives and simpler models of our complex politico-religious system; models that worked well 40 or more years ago.

Translate "small town" to focused perspective and one would have been more accurate.

Leadership should help broaden perspectives and work to improve public education, expand career opportunities, and reduce the costs of health care and social security. This should be aimed to help people adapt to life in this new electronic age. We must also reduce our dependence on a consumerist economy coupled with conspicuous consumption. Telling people to "buy and buy' is not helping. It is a wasteful and inauthentic way of life today, though it might have worked when we were a nation of immigrant farmers mainly from Europe 80 years ago. Conspicuous consumption helped people show that they had made it into mainstreams of life in America, usually by the third generation.

There is much more about broadening perspectives and people with focused perspectives in my book "Countering Polarization" available at the CSU Bookstore and Boulder Book Store.

ABC News does a good job hosting and asking the question. Unlike Kaite Couric who I suppose will ask Hillary Clinton soft ball questions like "How are you feeling and were you treated harshly? Her primary questions were soft a dopey to Hillary Clinton.