WASHINGTON - MoveOn.org is taking aim at ABC News over Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, arguing the network’s moderators trivialized the issues in the campaign by asking “gotcha” questions. 
The liberal activist group, which supports Obama, has posted a petition on its Web site and promises to run an ad protesting ABC if it gets 100,000 people to sign the petition.
During a nearly two-hour debate, Obama frequently found himself on the defensive as the moderators grilled him about his fiery pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his relationship with a 1960s radical and his failure to wear a lapel flag pin.
The Illinois senator was also asked about his remarks earlier this month to a San Francisco fundraiser in which he said small-town Pennsylvanians “cling to guns or religion” because they are frustrated with their economic woes.
Clinton, his Democratic rival, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, have criticized Obama over the small-town voter comments. Obama has said his words were ill-chosen.
“Moderators George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson spent the first 50 minutes obsessed with distractions that only political insiders care about –verbal gaffes, polling numbers, the stale Rev. Wright story, and the old-news Bosnia story,” MoveOn.org said in a statement.
The group also accused the moderators of “channeling Karl Rove” for asking Obama if he loves the American flag.
In Raleigh, N.C., Obama also expressed frustration with the debate, saying “it took us 45 minutes before we started talking about a single issue that matters to the American people.”
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
- Photo credit: Reuters/Tim Shaffer (ABC News’ debate)
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Hi, the moderators were a disgrace. If you were to review the questions from the past, for years, that came up in any of these debates , I think we would find that the questions had nothing to do with the reality of the real issues.
- Posted by HERB CLARKWhen the media talks about the economy, they are talking about the macro economy; GDP ,exports vs imports etc.
Most us us live in the micro-economy world, which is light years different from the macro. when we lose our job, there is no magic way to be retrained to get a new one. you can’t just pick up and move. etc,etc
the USA is in bad shape. people are more than bitter ,
small towns or big cities.
All small towns have lots of guns. I used to live in one. I had mine. Best wishes—-Herb
So here we are Mrs. Clinton blames Obama for not distancing from Rev Wright (an ex Marine with three letters of commendation) but she herself defended her husband who cheated on her, abused women in the White House, and was impeached. She tells Obama about his association with foul men but what about the hunderds of midnight pardons of Bill Clinton gave on the eve of his departure from the white house. She calls him an elitist but forgets her own background. She tell him that she is short of experience when she herself has been in elected office just athird of that time.
What a gutter-ball!
- Posted by go now obamaSo here we are Mrs. Clinton blames Obama for not distancing from Rev Wright (an ex Marine with three letters of commendation) but she herself defended her husband who cheated on her, abused women in the White House, and was impeached. She tells him about his association with foul men but what about the hunderds of midnight pardons of Bill Clinton gave on the eve of his departure from the white house. She calls him an elitist but forgets her own background. She tell him that she is short of experience when she herself has been in elected office just athird of that time. What a gutter-ball!
- Posted by go now obamaBesides giving very little insight into the candidates’ positions, it made for a boring debate. The thing it most revealed was Hillary’s witchy side and Obama’s desire to move to the big picture and his willingness to rise above it and look for agreement.
- Posted by Michael WortmanI’ve always believed that moderators were supposed to be neutral (i.e. unbiased). It appears that such was not the case at this debate…could it be that the moderators were pro-Clinton? It would seem that way.
- Posted by Paul E. Truesdell Jr.This is not American Idol. We need real discussions on a new health care system, and a real plan on how to get out of Iraq. Now.
- Posted by jim sackingerWhat would Edward R. Murrow think if he had listened to that debate.
- Posted by Michael FitzgibbonsIt is amazing how low the news networks ?
yes well done bringing up these issues. America needs a president that is concerned about all the American people.
- Posted by JackThe present choice we have is to pick the lesser of evil.
Where are the people going to be represented with our present choice of candidates, democrat or republican.
Shoring up Social Security, Universal Health Care, Jobs and Wages that allow a family to survive and prosper. And why shouldn’t somebody cling to their religious values. Are we not suppose to be a nation who trust is in God. I for one am very displeased in the choice of Candidates Give me a candidate who is God fearing and Loves America (the people).
Was last night’s debate supposed to be a joke or did it just turn out that way because of the incompetent moderators ? Charlie Gibson and George ( can’t enough of those good years that I worked for the Clintons ) Stephanoupoulos. Did anybody notice that Chelsea had her own lighting to try and make her look good and even a soft filter in front of the lens….Do you think that maybe she had her own camera devoted to only her close ups ?How can McCain possibly lose this election. He has such a commanding grasp of economical issues . His way to fix the problem of soaring gas prices is ” Let’s give the people a tax holiday.” I am afraid that it is John McCain who needs a holiday
- Posted by RonABC staged this debate like a price fight, beginning with “trailers” of previous trash talk. The assumption all along seems to have been that the audience consists of morons interested only in seeing blood. No doubt some in the audience liked it, but it will be a long time before I tune into ABC news or This Week with George Stephanopoulos again. This strategy may temporarily raise ratings, but its eventual outcome will be that ABC ends up with the moronic audience it courts. Of course, it may be that I’m just an elitist!
- Posted by Gerald KaiserHooray for David Brooks of the New York Times! Finally, Brooks has come around to this red skinned woman’s tough traditional American Indian point of view. I do enjoy watching Brooks and Shields on PBS. Those two are quite the pair to draw to.
I much enjoyed last night’s debate between Obama and Clinton. I understand many sissified Americans are upset, as is expected. I am not sissified nor upset. This debate last night provided America a chance to observe the behaviors of both Obama and Clinton when confronted with surprise questions and confronted with tough questions. These are a type of questions which will be foremost during our general presidential election. Be sure, the republican party will raise all these issues and much more. Both Obama and Clinton must be prepared to tackle seemingly silly personal topics. Any weakness displayed in dealing with these types of questions will be votes lost.
My personal take is Obama stuttered, stammered and stumbled over his words being taken by surprise. Obama was not prepared, not ready for unexpected topics.
Clinton, such a wonderful performance, such wonderful dodging of personal issues! Clinton did not hesitate, she was articulate, assertive and did not miss a beat. Clinton made a point to diplomatically chastise Stephanopoulos. Clinton was clearly prepared for anything.
This debate was a critical display of how each candidate, Obama and Clinton, will react and will conduct themselves when subjected to surprising and stressful issues.
Obama fell apart. Clinton proved herself cold, calculating and cutthroat. Clinton is no sissy!
My congratulations to ABC news for daring to broach issues which have sissified Americans tugging at their hair while anxiously screaming, “This is not fair!”
All is fair in love and rock & roll.
Job well done ABC, my feather is off to you!
Okpulot Taha
- Posted by Purl GurlChoctaw Nation
i don’t understand why obama is such a sore loser and gets so vicious after losing a debate. the debate was very informative.it seems he doesn’t like to be asked tough questions but thinks nothing of throwing them out. it has to be a 2 way street. i am a democrat and i would vote for whatever democrat got in. after hearing him dismiss every legitimate question as silly and ridiculous , i am feeling that myself and many other democrats that i talk to everyday will now turn to the republicans if obama wins. if he wants the democrat vote he has to own up to some of the tough questions asked. he calls hillary clinton a liar but doesn’t explain the true relationship of 20 years that he has with reverend wright and farakhan. he likes to dismiss all these questions
- Posted by DONALD STEINthank you
don s
I am a senior, registered Democrat, and was really interested in hearing about the “issues” not the trival questions put to the candidates last night in the debate. I tuned out about half way through, realizing the moderators cared nothing about substance! What a waste of everyone’s efforts!! I wish the media would get a clue about what Americans want to know and forget about obsessing on ratings.
- Posted by Ruth De VoreIf you cannot take politics from someone on the same party, how are you going to take it from someone on the opposite party?
You going to cry now?
- Posted by johnABC will not apologize for it’s outrageous behavior moderating this so-called debate.
Move-on is in their rights to call them out on it in a public forum.
Only false patriots consider a Chinese-made flag pin a relevant issue to Americans.
- Posted by elmergEven giving the most generous spin to all that B.O. has said, and granting his authenticity and talent, if he is elected in 2008, one may predict enormous disappointment. He has made so many improbable promises to young people, they will expect improvements rather quickly, and thus they will be disillusioned with Obama in short order.
Worst of all, Obama, with his naivete, is likely to be led into being hoodwinked by leaders to whom the U.S. is opposed (e.g., in Iran) in just the way we see jimmy Carter in his post-presidency: he’ll think he’s made friends, but we will be the dupes—and so will Israel.
In the mean time, there will be constant flare-ups at home caused by semi-radical activists that Obama will invariably have to put in positions of high power, and such a build-up of activities to uphold “African-American” values, “African -American” History (in the schools), African-American religious leadership (as part of his government as in his current campaign) and the like, that we will start seeing other “tribal” activities (e.g., if they can have church’s freely claiming to support African American values, then how can people object to those who openly support White values).
The result? A one-term president, soundly defeated by the Republications in 2012.
If Obama can just give himself 4-8 years to grow some savvy and depth for the politics he could be great; but if he runs and is elected (itself somewhat doubtful) the opportunity will have been lost!
- Posted by Hatshepsut1988That was a dirty debate. I have more respect for Obama now than Hillary Clinton. I could have gone either way, but Hillary was going right along with ABC’s slimy attacks couched as serious issues questions. ABC blew it. Debates are supposed to be above the weekly back-and-forth personal scandal fray. ABC was not only NOT above it, they were part of it, trying to find more juicy gossip. Lame, Lame, Lame.
- Posted by Atlas, PAWhat on earth is all this “indignant” reaction to ABC’s debate about? Please people, we are talking about looking at hiring someone (and it is that) to do the toughest job in the world and we are afraid to ask the really tough questions that linger in the minds of many, many people? I can read about the plans of both people on their websites, ad nauseum, and I can read the opinions of those plans or things less tangible about the candidates in columns, but I want to see how these people can handle the really tough, revealing questions that show a person’s character, on-point, without a speech or teleprompter. This was a very tough, stark (no applause - love that!) debate that pushed issues we have with both candidates and those that will certainly be pushed by the Republicans. This is not a job for the faint of heart, or light of spirit, otherwise we all would be applying. Then again, looking at how Obama’s income quadrupled since he started running for President in 2007, maybe it would be a good move financially for alot of us. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
I sat thru the entire debate and tried very hard to keep an open mind. Afterall, one of these two people could be the next President. The only problem I had with the moderators was not nailing the candidates on a direct answer to a specific question, or even an indirect answer would have been nice. All in all, I think Hillary won this one. She seemed to maintain her composure (a good thing when times are tough as a President) and answer most of the questions, more so than Obama. She did loft a few bombs his way and one can argue it was personal, but I thought maybe there’s another reason: maybe she really knows that if he is the nominee, that the Republicans will make mincemeat of him with his questionable ties to Rezko, Ayers, Wright, and his revealing comments behind closed doors when cameras aren’t rolling and teleprompter is off. If the Republicans can destroy the character of two very good, credible men (Gore, Kerry) without much to work with, what on earth will they do to this guy? Afterall, isn’t it MOST important that we elect anyone except a Republican who still thinks Sunni’s and Shiites are reversed and thinks GWB’s policies are “OK”?!
- Posted by Sunny FloridaTwo seasoned media men who made a specticle of themselves.
What an embarrassment.
- Posted by Catherine HoughtonThe debate was not a debate. I’m not sure if ABC copied the tactics of Fixed news. It thought it was Hannity and O’reilly doing the debates.
- Posted by Aria Arari