Cleveland Rocks?

Has NBC, and by extension MSNBC, lost all journalistic credibility? Has bias become so lucrative for networks through ratings that journalistic integrity is fading into the twilight? I honestly thought that Brian Williams and Tim Russert would impart some level of professionalism in the debate where a majority of their programs have shown nothing but bias towards Senator Obama. Then to see the play by play afterwards on MSNBC when reporters were congratulating one another for pushing Senator Clinton into a corner while others in the news room were quickly researching all of the Senator’s previous debates to dispute any points she had made – some of those same reporters have had to ask themselves at some point, “is this really worth it?”
I commend Senator Clinton for having the courage and preserverance to participate in this debate for the sake of the American public who would like to make an informed decision rather than be led to the trough by sycophants who were once in the business of being journalists. I am disappointed that NBC and MSNBC did not have the courage to make this a fair debate. Fox News now has a friend in the perverse myth that they now call “journalism” and we as the American public, not being given a fair and balanced debate forum between the candidates, are the ones who pay the price.
-Concerned

I thought both did a good job. I did not detect any bias from the moderators. Clinton is having a hard time getting footing in these debates because Obama is, first and foremost, very knowledgeable and prepared, but he is also very likeable and disarming. Every time she tried to go on the offensive, he completely disarmed her. She did what she could and was very impressive herself, I thought, but Obama is just a force. It really is a shame their candidacies couldn’t be spread out, because they are both compelling.

It seemed that Hillary had to school him on all issues. Hillary got the tough questions and Obama said I agree with EVERYTHING hillary says. Then the Farrakhan slip…hmm poor Obama talk about fumbling on words…and Hillary came and scooped him right up and showed him how a really president speaks.
Obama has a great deal to learn when it come to speak and being a decisive president. I think he is really scared to offend anyone etc. It show he needs to learn more and cleary not the right candidate for president. Why did they not ask him about Kenya and the poverty bill.
well the media have tanked hillary’s campaign and the republicans are rallying around her. I am glad she looked presidential and spoke with poise, but Obama needs to take lessons from her.
The media this morning criticized Hillary for losing her cool? so what all these metrosexual anchors need to become men, I think she is more of a man then most of these anchors on TV. They could never survive the smearing and dirt they have poured over her.
Hillary rocked and schooled Obama

I think Hillary should challenge Obama at the Octagon. I would love to show Hillary take him on at a duel :D
I think Hillary spoke well, and got her points across. I am beginning to think Drudge dictates the morning news and the rest of the BORG one mind track media follows him. Why show the photo of OBama in the debate, tacky and very unprofessional. I think there both came out well but it showed that Hillary has more indepth knowledge of the facts and rules/regulations. I wish OBama would wait a few years and grew some meat on his bones.
This man slipped on many occasions and kept following along Hillary. I constantly saw 3 men arguing with Hillary not really Obama creating his own ideas but constantly going after and telling Hillary how wrong or right she was.
I got tired of listening to the same Barack speech, I wish he would be more innovative and spoke with strength instead of going after Hillary on every point.
Cleary if I would scale the debate it tipped towards Hillary but the media will slam hillary calling her every word possible in the book and then throw her in the gutter. Obama will be hailed as the cool calm collected man. I don’t think so but the media worship will overshadow hillary and obama will get the debate again.
There is no win for Hillary and OBama has been declared the debate champ and the stump champ, he is the man of the hour. I don’t know what to say but keep fighting Hillary you looked intelligent and extremely strong.

I would just like to say how proud I am that this debate was held here in Cleveland, Ohio. Now on the matter of them joining forces I have no idea how that would work.I’m really not thinking about that. As a Clinton volunteer i’m doing everything I can to get Sen. Clinton elected, and I think obama’s people are doing the same.

Linda MacDonald, I have said this all along and continue to believe it, that should Sen. Clinton win the nomination she will have to ask Sen. Obama to be her running mate. And he will accept! But if Sen. Obama wins the nomination, even if he were to ask Sen. Clinton to be his running mate there is no way that she will accept second seat. In full disclosure, as many of the regular readers know, I am a conservative Republican, and will vote for Sen. McCain in November. But I believe the absolute strongest ticket for the Democratic Party is Sen. Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson. It is so much better than a Clinton-Obama ticket (which would be a very formidable ticket).
Having said that, if the average voter gets beyond the charisma and charm and really looks into Sen. Obama’s message and agenda, I believe Sen. McCain and the Republicans will win in November. That’s because I do not believe the average voter is ready for the “change” from capitalism to socialism.

I will not vote for any ticket that has this phony Obama on it. Look at the latestpoll. Obama 46%, Clinton 46%. He has split the Democratic Party and a lot of Clinton voters like myself will never support him.

Clearly, no KO’s. Each held their own. Clinton dominated in sheer number of words uttered, but did not dominate with brilliance,nor really convince me that she knew any more than Obama. Her succinct answers reflect decisiveness, but not necessarily good decision. I believe his comments actually reflect more accurately the complexity and difficulty faced by any
incoming Prez. Let’s face it, folks, there are no easy answers, and the incoming Prez will have a lot of Republicans in the COngress to persuade. Obama has a much better chance to doing this than Clinton.

I agree with everyone and just wanted to add this, The media have thrown Hillary to the gutter, Barack Hussain Obama, oops am I suppose or allowed to say “Hussain” or will the media throw me to the wolfs?
What wrong with this? that sums up how skewed, biased, sick the media is and tx all candidates except for BHO

I don’t think she won the debate on points…I think she lost it on the many faces of Hillary displayed. She simply does not look Presidential to the American public. As a Republican I am voting for Obama. I, like so many others in this country, have to make a choice for the best person for the job and all the blatthering Obama haters aside, he is the best candidate when one looks at all sides of this very important job. Yes, content and ability need to lead the decision but ability to withstand, stand up and give the people confidence in you are attributes that Obama embodies. OBAMA 08

This says it all, Check out today’s MSNBC Vote after The Cleveland Democratic debate.
Who do you think did better? Did it change your mind?
Cast your vote on the debate
Who won the debate? * 142488 responses
Hillary Clinton won.
21%
Barack Obama won.
64%
Neither won.
15%
Did the debate help you decide who to vote for? * 138589 responses
Yes, my mind’s made up.
50%
No, I still can’t decide.
5.5%
It made me lean toward Hillary Clinton.
11%
It made me lean toward Barack Obama.
30%
It made me want to look elsewhere.
4%
Will Ralph Nader’s entrance into the presidential race hurt the Democrats? * 139003 responses
Yes, once again Nader could siphon off just enough votes to hurt the Democrats.
22%
No, Nader doesn’t have the sway he once had.
78%
Will Obama and Clinton combine forces to create a “Dream Team”? * 140259 responses
Yes, Obama-Clinton.
10%
Yes, Clinton-Obama.
8.5%
No, there’s no way either of them would bow to accept the other as running mate.
81%
I guess this is self explanatory.

James – I think our conclusions are the same. I always try to give the benefit of the doubt (even if they are outliers). Bottom line is the math scenario isn’t looking good for a comeback. Clinton needs to win both; a TX loss and OH win is still a death-knell.

Firefighter – I might remind the Catholic Church dogma asserts that if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your saviour, you cannot get into heaven. Does this mean support from Catholics should be rejected? The Jewish faith believes they are God’s chosen people. Should we reject their support? One can embrace the majority of one’s faith, and find comfort in a particular church without being lock-step with all of their beliefs. Obama has been clear in demonstrating that he he can be faithful, yet have differences with specific doctrine and policies.

Commander Guy,
Critique a comment with reason and make yourself sound reasonable. Any rational person who saw the debate last night knows that Obama is completely lost when it comes to American/World politics and America’s economy. You know focus groups dont lie, especially Frank Luntz’s. In every debate, Obama follows Clinton’s lead on every question and says she is right. Stop being the Clinton-hater and accept that whatever Hillary comes to talk in a debate, she wins because she knows what it takes to reason and fight for America.
Matt

Obama in these debates is like the kid looking over the smart girl’s paper and copying her answers during a test.

Hillary Clinton proved to be unsuitable for president of a World Super Power
Can someone please supply that woman with a manual on world events and the basics of diplomacy?
When asked by the moderator, she could not name the leading candidate for president in the Russian elections. She could only rant about the elections being rigged.
Firstly she should be informed of the names of presidents of world powers. Being familiar with all countries in the would and their viewpoints and relationships with the United States might be asking too much, but she should at least be familiar with the major players, and members of the UN Security Council.
Her remarks about the forthcoming elections in Russia were naive and uncalled for. Having insulted Russia, the Russian Government, and the Russian people who are in support of their country and their leaders, this candidate risks starting out on day one from a position of ignorance and arrogance.
The element of grace was totally absent.
The United States needs a leader with the wisdom of a world perspective, and the good manners, dignity and decency worthy of a great nation. We need a leader who can recognise all sides of an argument and all viewpoints and bring the world together in reconciliation.

I think both Hillary and Obama will be detrimental to our country’s interests if either one of them is elected, even worse if they are on the same ticket. In the debates I have to say Obama is the winner. He is a smooth talker. He should be a boxer because he knows how to bob and weave on all the issues, especially on personal attacks.. When he gets in the ring with McCain he will feel the knockout punch! You can only dance so long until you get tagged. Obama’s day is coming and hopefully his supporters will realize he is just a slick talker with empty promises and no clue how to run our country.

It seems impossible that anyone could come away from watching the Cleveland debate with the feeling that Hillary Clinton won. On the issue of Health Care, supposedly her strongest suit, both sides came away even. On NAFTA and Iraq, she came off looking foolish and disingenuous (in particular when she complained — as she did so often in the Ohio debate — about Sen. Obama’s opposition to the war not counting for whatever concocted reason). On Foreign Policy, she said little to impress and a little more not to by dismissing Mr. Putin’s successor after she failed to properly address him, referring to him instead as “ahh…whatever”. This is hardly what I expected from a person who claims she will not need a foreign policy manual. As for Sen. Obama, he was gracious and, as always, conceeded points even when he did not necessarily need to (ie Clinton’s absurd “reject” assertion”). This is the reason why Sen. Obama resonates and people want to vote for him, because they see someone who can compromise…contrast this with Sen. Clinton. In the end, it really does come down to a person who commands respect (Sen. Obama) and a person who demands it (Sen. Clinton). Those who demand respect always feel the greatest resistance — this is why everything seems so easy for Sen. Obama. It is not that he is a media darling, people just respect him, and when people have a mutual respect for each other, things get accomplished.

Jake,
I can’t find the URL. But if you can, post it, please:
Brian Williams on SNL saying counseling the candidates on the first debate, admitting that the media has already picked Hillary Clinton as the nominee.
Run that beside the latest SNL debate where the position is reversed.
Does SNL think the media is biased for or against her? Or that the media can change its mind like any voter?
It’s just a curiousity though that SNL had Hillary as media-darling at one point too. And in some ways, their latest skits promote her as their darling….hehe.

Commander,
Now you calling the debate a draw?
Answer this question people…If Obama is such a motivational and smooth talker, why hasnt he convinced Bush on a one-on-one meeting to get out of Iraq? Isnt this the kind of idea that he is always talking about? Is there no motivation to do this?
If the smooth-talking Obama cant convince Bush, a conservative, how will he push/propose/make any kind of treaty/imposition on a Radical Country’s Head of State?
Matt

Sen. Clinton raised the question of “curiosity” during the Democratic debate in Cleveland. It is a question wholly without merit, but worth exploring nonetheless in relation to her dualism in this campaign. During the debate she conceded that she had, in fact, opposed a measure by voting for it. In the course of the evening, she was revealed to have supported NAFTA in Texas, and opposed it in Ohio, just as she wished to take credit for her husbands accomplishments while in office while distancing herself from the distasterous policies of the same administration. She went on to say that while she is a fighter, she was unable to meet the campaign promise she had made during her Senate run to create 200,000 new jobs in New York because she had expected Al Gore to be President and would have been able to do so if a Democrat had been in the White House. She opened the debate attacking Sen. Obama and his campaign for spreading lies about her while, in truth, she has been engaging in tactics far more reprehensible in recent days. In addition, her campaign has attacked Sen. Obama on matters wholly unrelated to policy or issues while she simultaneously complains that he is not discussing the issues. The attack launched by Sen. Clinton targeted Sen. Obama’s fliers regarding NAFTA and her Health Care plan. Sen. Clinton’s attacks, by contrast, were personal affronts, suggesting impropriety or something worse because as a U.S. Senator Mr. Obama had visited Somalia and graciously engaged in local custom — as every politican in this country does, including Sen. Clinton, as a matter of respect. It is difficult to rationalize these hypocrisies and even more difficult to digest the suggestion of curosity as posed by a candidate whose only obvious qualification for office is the ability to articifically manufacture her remarks for immediate personal benefit. Sen. Clinton is an anachronism, unaware that in the 21st Century, the media is a constant companion ready to reveal the truth.

OhioMatt says: “If Obama is such a motivational and smooth talker, why hasnt he convinced Bush on a one-on-one meeting to get out of Iraq”
Whatkinda question is that. I don’t think The Son of God, himself, could convince Bush to change his Irak policy. This is not news.
As to the other point, if your version of diplomacy is scaring the **** out of foreign heads of state you’d have to put McCain at the top of the list. So I guess he’s your guy.
But if I have to pick a winner last night, I guess I’d say one had Stature and the other had Spirit. This ain’t good for HRC. Because the closer attention people start pay to the Race, the shorter Bill Clinton’s coat tails get for Hills. When the coat tails go away, voters break the other way. See the one with stature starts looking good.
I know lots a people rooting for Hills to pull this out. But they mainly hail from the GOP. Maybe she can pull a fast one in Denver, but as of now it don’t look good.

Pee Vee: Regardless of who I support in the presidential race, is my comment somehow invalid? Instead of acknowledging that, you directed your comment to something that is wholly immaterial to the discussion. Do you think it is a valid point, or not?