ABC News was mean to Prince Obama last night. For some unknown reason, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous broke with the MSNBC/CNN tradition and went after Barack Obama with the assault-style politics that is normally reserved for Hillary Rodham Clinton. And they took away his teleprompter!
The Obamabots are horrified. They are aghast. They are furious. And they are throwing a hissy-fit all over the shrillosphere.
Oh woe and gnashing of teeth! The young Prince was beaten by a girl!
Well boo-f%@king-hoo.
The same attack-style journalism that inspires cheers and raucous jubilation when it is fired at the girl draws gasps of outraged horror when it is dumped upon the young Prince.
Well, isn't that just too bad for the Precious. And welcome to the club, Obamabots. The U.S. media is sick and deranged, but for some reason surviving the derangement is a presidential test. Last night Obama finally got a taste of the treatment that Hillary Rodham Clinton has long been accustomed to. The untested Prince failed miserably.
Over at Obama Post, this atrocity is condemned as: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media! At American Prospect, we are told that THESE QUESTIONS ARE A DISGRACE! And Barack Obama's most loyal subject, Andrew Sullivan, calls it The ABC News “Freak Show”!
In the 10,000+ comments at ABC News, we learn that Obamabots WILL NEVAH EVAH WATCH ABC NEWS AGAIN!!!
Initial withering assessments of The Horrid and Shameful National Disgrace that has been wrongfully Imposed upon Poor Poor Prince Obama follow:
Riverdaughter: "Hillary Battles for Dem Nomination with Incoherent Token Male" and "How Hillary Clinton Destroyed The Democratic Party By Purposefully Knowing More Stuff Than Barack Obama."
Lambert: 50% of WCVB focus group believe Clinton won! Vs. 27% for Obama.
Jeralyn: Of course, the questions in this debate were no different than those in previous debates that lacked substance and seemed designed to put a candidate on the hot seat -- the difference was that this time (for once) it was Obama, not Hilary getting the heat. . Hillary was stronger, more confident, likable and, most importantly, more presidential. You could see her in that role. Obama came off defensive and a tad angry.
Taylor Marsh: [N]o one should be surprised that Obama had a nightmare night. He finally got real questions for which he should have had ready answers. Over the last year Barack Obama has gotten a complete pass on his record, his life and everything associated to his political rise. In fact, if Senator Obama had been subjected to the scrutiny that Hillary Clinton has been subjected to he would have turned to ash by now. So forgive me if all the blogospheric bellyaching permeating Democratic circles is not impressing me much. In fact, it's a laugh out loud moment.
The New York Times: [T]hroughout the 90-minute debate, Mr. Obama was placed on the defensive, explaining his association with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., as well as his connection to Bill Ayers, a Chicago supporter who was a member of the Weatherman Underground and is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Those issues were raised in a tough round of questions posed by Mr. Stephanopoulos and Mr. Gibson, who in many ways presented a mirror image of earlier debates in which two NBC moderators, Tim Russert and Brian Williams, repeatedly pressed Mrs. Clinton with tough and provocative questions.
Andrew Sullivan: It was a lifeless, exhausted, drained and dreary Obama we saw tonight. I've seen it before when he is tired, but this was his worst performance yet on national television. He seemed crushed and unable to react. This is big-time politics and he's up against the Clinton wood-chipper. But there is no disguising the fact that he wilted, painfully. . Obama has also shown a failure to be resilient in this grueling process. And so this was indeed a huge night for the Republicans, and the first real indicator to me that Clinton is gaining in her fundamental goal at this point: the election of John McCain against Barack Obama. How else will she rescue the Democrats from hope?
Marc Ambinder: Keeping the score card, there's no way Obama could fared worse. Nearly 45 minutes of relentless political scrutiny from the ABC anchors and from Hillary Clinton, followed by an issues-and-answers session in which his anger carried over and sort of neutered him. . it seemed as if he was surprised by the pace of the questions and all the air was gone from his answers. There was no fight. . [ via ]
BELIEVE Graphic: Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a town hall meeting in Carrollton, Texas, Monday, March 3, 2008. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam).
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