Worst. Debate. Ever.

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 5:34 AM on April 17, 2008.

Over the last year or so, we've seen debates that were pretty bad. We've seen a few that were embarrassingly bad. But at least in this cycle, I'm not sure if we've seen anything quite as train-wreck, cover-your-eyes bad as the spectacle on ABC last night.

What may prove to be the last Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama wasn't just awful on its face, it was hard not to watch wondering if moderators Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos were actually undermining the public discourse with their inanity. It marked a new low for the media freak-show. I was conflicted emotionally between anger at ABC for this travesty and pity for the network for having sunk so low.

It was evident very early on that we were in for a long night. The candidates, for some inexplicable reason, were given an opportunity to make opening statements -- in previous debates, hosts generally want to get right into questions, not hear mini-speeches -- which was followed by an immediate commercial break. Four minutes after getting started, it was time to hear a word from our sponsors.

When the returned, the first question pressed Clinton and Obama on whether they'd commit to taking the other as a running mate. The second was about the "bitter" flap. The third was about whether Clinton thought Obama was electable, and vice versa.

From there, in order, the topics were as follows: the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the Bosnia/sniper flap, lapel flag-pins, and William Ayers and the Weather Underground.

At one point, Stephanopoulos asked Obama, "[D]o you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?" In fact, Stephanopoulos asked it twice.

In a debate scheduled for 90 minutes, we didn't hear a question of any substance until the event was half over. Josh Marshall called it an "unmitigated travesty," which is as good a description as any.

At one point, about 20 minutes or so into the debate, Stephanopoulos seemed to encourage Obama to go after Clinton on the sniper story. Obama not only took a pass, which was gracious, but actually tried to explain that there were more important things to talk about.

"[T]he fact of the matter is, is that both of us are working as hard as we can to make sure that we're delivering a message to the American people about what we would do as president. Sometimes that message is going to be imperfectly delivered, because we are recorded every minute of every day. And I think Senator Clinton deserves, you know, the right to make some errors once in a while. I'm -- obviously, I make some as well.

"I think what's important is to make sure that we don't get so obsessed with gaffes that we lose sight of the fact that this is a defining moment in our history. We are going to be tackling some of the biggest issues that any president has dealt with in the last 40 years. Our economy is teetering not just on the edge of recession, but potentially worse. Our foreign policy is in a shambles. We are involved in two wars. People's incomes have not gone up, and their costs have. And we're seeing greater income inequality now than any time since the 1920s.

"In those circumstances, for us to be obsessed with this -- these kinds of errors I think is a mistake."

But it was a mistake the moderators insisted on making, over and over again. Put it this way: at 9:04 -- 64 minutes into the debate, and with just 26 minutes remaining, Stephanopoulos said, "Let me turn to the economy. That is the number one issue on Americans' minds right now." I couldn't help but laugh out loud. If it's the number one issue, why did Stephanopoulos wait so long?

To be fair, I'm not entirely unsympathetic to Gibson's and Stephanopoulos' challenge. Clinton and Obama agree on most policy issues, so the hosts' task was to focus on areas of disagreement in order to create some kind of television-worthy conflict. Regrettably, that's precisely what Gibson and Stephanopoulos get paid to do.

But the result was as dull as it was pointless, with a discussion that tells us nothing about the candidates, their visions, or their ability to govern. E & P's Greg Mitchell called it "perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years." The Washington Post's Tom Shales called it "step downward for network news," and noted that the moderators delivered "shoddy, despicable performances." Will Bunch noted, "Quickly, a word to any and all of my fellow journalists who happen to read this open letter. This. Must . Stop." Salon's Walter Shapiro added:

This is the way it ends, not with a bang but a whimper. If Wednesday night's fizzle in Philly was indeed the last debate of the Democratic primary season between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, it will be remembered for, well, not much of anything.

Broadcast to a prime-time network audience on ABC and devoid of a single policy question during its opening 50 minutes, the debate easily could have convinced the uninitiated that American politics has all the substance of a Beavis and Butt-Head marathon.

So, who won? I haven't the foggiest idea, but I'm quite certain we all lost.

Tagged as: debate, gibson, clinton, obama, abc, stephanopoulis

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.