Not "everyone gets mown down." It's just a hit job on the Democrats which ABC, with Limbaugh-fanboy Halperin at the helm, is apparently going to specialize in this year.

I was very pleased to see that both the McCain and Obama camps snubbed ABC for their presidential debates.

At the end of the day, you will only stop this corporate media nonsense by hitting them in the pocketbook. The only real way to get idiotic journalism is to make it unprofitable.

Unfortunately, merely shaming the participants is not enough, because their corporate masters have paid them a ton of money to sit on their pride and take it in the face.

Oh I see. Everyone does it. Fallows is not being original here.

Hey, he paid for that microphone...well, at least his bosses did. If they can't rip on politicians then why should they spend all that dough on the debates.

It's not like they really want the public to hear the politicians and come to believe any of them can solve the country's problems...namely the t.v. companies and the other Rich who are shipping jobs overseas and trading paper around to make money.

This is what happens when you take the debates out of the hands of the League of Women Voters and put it into the hands of the political parties and their t.v. company overlords.

If you want it done right you have to get multi-partisan public groups with some money to do everything.

awww... poor little dems.

They choose crappy candidates then squeal when journalists explore their candidates' crappiness on the public's behalf.

The way to prevent this is to stop choosing crappy candidates, rather than suppressing legitimate journalism.

These so-called debates provide heat but no light. There is no substantive discussion of any issue any more, hence Republiicans have a chance. Otherwise, the GOP wouldn't win a single election.

suppressing legitimate journalism

That was almost funny.
.

"journalists explore their candidates' crappiness"

a

Better trolling, please.

Better trolling, please.
Related, I've been trying to determine how one would redeem their McCain campaign "troll points". Does anybody know? E.g. is there a simple golf balls/comment ratio?

I occasionally view ABC, but with the sound off. I jot down who the sponsors are and carefully select which sponsor gets my letter.

The letter is short and sweet advising the sponsor that I will not be purchasing their product or service FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.

One person, one vote, one letter, but I hear others are doing this.

Gibson's either a liar, fraud, or Republican tool (if the latter then the first two go with it.) CG tax cuts may pay for themselves at really high rates and temporarily, but once down in the thirties or so how can we believe people would fling investments around say 1.5X as much at 20% as at 30%? Not only that, even if rough parity (which is what matters anyway) don't we want to encourage holding of e.g. stocks, to reward long-term perspective?

"suppressing legitimate journalism." The frightening thing is that so many Americans believe that what ABC did during the debate and what Fox does on a dialy basis constitutes "journalism." America is soooooo f*cked.

"suppressing legitimate journalism." The frightening thing is that so many Americans believe that what ABC did during the debate and what Fox does on a daily basis constitutes "journalism." America is soooooo f*cked.

It was violent and dehumanizing, but it was the culmination of a long process.

Sure. I wish the Dem candidates, their handlers and most immediate supporters would get a clue quicker instead of being lured in again and again for more of the same without any resistance. It really hurts our politics (and by extension, the nation) to have this kind of stuff going on. At least thousands of innocent American people die and/or live miserable lives as a result of how successful the Republicans are at politics.

A glib tongue is a sign of low character. Always vote for the loser of a debate.

Isn't Gibson a PC lib? I've certainly seen nothing but PC from him on the news, but I seldom watch him as I can't stand him.

Stephanopoulos was a Clinton man, but seems pretty fair hosting his political show.

Fallows watched all 29 debates in a row?! And his brain survived to write about it? He's made of sterner stuff than me, that's for sure...

CG tax cuts may pay for themselves at really high rates and temporarily,
No, the story is that Gibson was just confused and repeating a counterfactual right-wing talking point, which is the point.

CG tax revenue will go up after a scheduled CG tax rate decrease, because anybody paying any attention at all knows that the rate will go down and generally waits until after the tax rate drop to sell.
This "month-before vs month after tax cut" effect (of a discontinuity in rates) became a right-wing talking point that many commentators confused with a revenue-lowering longer-term effect.

Luther: Always vote for the loser of a debate.
Yes, that worked out so well in 2000.

Vote for Cynthia McKinney.

I see that the green moron racist supporters of McKinney, the stupidest person in America, have checked in.

Living in a nation like ours where one of two major elected political parties lies constantly to the voters but isn't held accountable for it by the media really is like living in a country that is being held hostage.

It's almost as if our nation is under a form of enemy occupation. The corporate media giants now own about 50% of all media outlets, and they are militantly hostile to the Democrats. They've also spent years kissing John McCain's ass and spreading lies about how "moderate" and "independent" and "maverick-like" he is when in fact he is a bitterly right wing fanatic in virtually all areas and exhibits dangerous mental instability. And yet, McCain is hanging close to Obama, which tells you something. And the same group of vote suppression experts and vote riggers is ready to steal the election on behalf of the Republicans if it gets close enough. Getting it close enough to steal is the job of lying thugs and idiots like Halperin, Gibson, and every piece of human garbage at Fox "News.

The Lincoln-Douglas debated didn't have moderators and are considered classics of the genre. Turn the moderators into timekeepers and let the candidates go at it.

Summary: ABC News' George Stephanopoulos falsely suggested that Sen. Barack Obama shifted positions on increasing U.S. troops in Afghanistan and is "now" aligned with the position of Sen. John McCain. In fact, Obama has been calling for increasing U.S. troops in Afghanistan since at least 2006.

Maybe George deserves some scrutiny:

On the January 20 edition of ABC's World News Saturday, ABC News chief Washington correspondent George Stephanopoulos equated being "pro-family" with being "a true conservative, true social conservative." Discussing Sen. Sam Brownback's (R-KS) January 20 announcement that he is planning to run for president in 2008, Stephanopoulos asserted that "there is a bit of an opening for [Brownback] on the Republican side" to "try to carve out his place as a true conservative, true social conservative, the man most committed to pro-life, pro-family values." Brownback opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Stephanopoulos is not the first media figure to suggest that "pro-family" positions are those espoused by conservatives...
media matters

The official website of McCain's gaffes and ridiculous statments,kind of great:
http://www.bi30.org/wordpress/flipflopper.htm
goodnight

If Gibson's thesis were correct and capital gains tax cuts raised tax revenues, why not cut them to zero and have infinite revenue?? What a fucking moron.

The Lincoln-Douglas debated didn't have moderators and are considered classics of the genre. Turn the moderators into timekeepers and let the candidates go at it. Posted by: tomeck

Turn back the clock to the time not so long ago when the League of Women Voters ran the debates and keep the idiot talking heads out of the mix. Bring in academics and business leaders to pose the questions.

Capital gains taxes on unearned income should, at the very least, be taxed the same as earned income. It stands to reason that reaping the benefits of already having sufficient surplus income to invest means that you can certainly afford to continue investing even if the tax rates are equal.

Like the success America-hating right wing assholes have had convincing the poor unwashed what-the-fuck-is-the-matter-with-Kansas masses that the inheritance tax will rob their children of their suburb split level and KAO membership, they were somewhat successful back in 2004 in convincing this same constituency and the one just an economic rung or two above it that capital gains tax was robbing them of all their income on their 153 shares of Costco.

What I don't get about the trickle down theory is why all that money saved in low taxes for the wealthy was never re-invested in alternative energies and in getting the U.S. independent of foreign states who are against our interests but happen to have oil. Don't the wealthy love America?