One the evening of April 16, 2008. ABC News hosted what was advertised as a debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The hosts, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, quickly made it clear that this was a misnomer. Instead, it was a carefully rehearsed right-wing talking points trashing of Obama. For over an hour the moderators pursued every piece of made-up, fake, tabloid trash talk parroted by the media over the past few weeks and months, while never coming near asking questions that should matter about the state of the nation in a presidential election.

First my comment posted to the abcnews.com website in the comments on the so-called debate last night, hosted by the drooling fools Stephanopoulos and Gibson:

ABC proves once and for all how what tabloid, brain dead trash the so called ‘main stream media’ have become. You spend the entire hour trolling for gotchas on issues that are literally made up,fake, spun by empty headed pundits of the press and the beltway. And you IGNORE the issues that are MAKING AMERICANS BITTER! Namely the police state put in place by the Bush/Cheney regime, with full time surveillance and trashing of the rule of law, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. You IGNORE the admission by a sitting president that he and his co-ruler and their cronies planned, discussed, and implemented a program of TORTURE of prisoners of war, right in the White House. A repudiation of EVERY THING MORAL AND ETHICAL America has ever stood for. You are nattering naboobs (sic) of a chattering, overfed, self-satisfied, isolated pundit class that has overseen the conversion of the American corporate owned media into shills for the progression towards an Orwellian state by the WORST ADMINISTRATION IN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA. We teeter on the brink of financial collapse, almost TEN TRILLION DOLLARS in debt. Our financial systems are collapsing, and Congress and the Fed IGNORE THE LAW to bail out their buddies on Wall Street, meanwhile refusing to acknowledge the total failure of deregulation. You, and your commentators, are a sickening boil on the the American body.

Below a good summary from americablog.com of commentary on the pitiful state to which ABC News (and I use the term with derision and scorn) has stooped.
Does ABC love America as much as you do?

You are corporate lackies of the ruling class, no more, no less. Faux Noise Network is proud of your performance last night.

If you are wondering why more and more Americans are turning away from the networks and cable television for news, well, then look in the mirror. You don’t do news anymore. You do propaganda that would make Leni Riefenstahl proud.

The post above was emailed to ABC News to the following addresses:

Peter Salinger (THE MAN IN CHARGE OF ELECTION COVERAGE) Director, Special Events & Sports 212.456.5105 peter.salinger@abc.com
Cristi LandesManager, Programming 212.456.5107 cristi.d.landes@abc.com
Wayne Fisk Director, Programming 212.456.5327 wayne.fisk@abc.com
Jeff Fitzgerald Executive Director, Operations 212.456.5554 jeffrey.t.fitzgerald@abc.com
Heidi Oringer Executive Director, Entertainment 212.456.5541 heidi.b.oringer@abc.com
Jon Newman News Coverage 212.456.5100 jonathan.m.newman@abc.com
Joyce Alcantara Assignment Manager 212.456.5106 joyce.a.alcantara@abc.com
Jim Kane Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief 212.222. 6604 james.f.kane@abc.com
Andrew Kalb Executive Director, Programming 05.567.2269 andrew.l.kalb@abc.com
Robert Garcia Executive Director, News & Sports 212.456.5103 robert.garcia@abc.com