Williamsburg, Brooklyn

I let my 9 year old son Brendan stay up and watch the ABC News Democratic debate because he has become interested in the campaign and wants to feel a part of what is going on. He is broadly familiar with the big issues like the war in Iraq, global warming, poverty, etc. After 30 minutes of flag pins, guns and religion, sniper fire, names like Wright, Ayers, and Farrakhan, my son asked, “Dad what are they talking about?” “Why are they talking about hunting?”

Things did not get better, so I shut off the TV and sent my son to bed. What had been meant as an exposure to the democratic process, however imperfect, turned into an insulting display of big media arrogance and stupidity. Although it appeared to me to be a hatchet job on Obama (I admit to being biased), I felt it made a mockery of both candidates, the election process, and democracy as a whole. I do not think that ABC should get away with this unpunished. And Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, the moderator and questioner, should be hounded into early retirement.