_{photo from CNN}

Michael Dukakis in a "classic" gotcha moment -- the Bernard Shaw/death penalty question.

The MSM lives for "gotcha" moments (funny how we never see them against Republicans). But can this year be different? -- Chad

It's Friday and you probably are still bitter (yes, I mean bitter) about Wednesday's presidential debate on ABC-TV. I was deeply ashamed as an American, a voter, and a journalist. And I feel even more shame since I advocated more debates on broadcast TV [0]; I should have clarified that to mean well-run debates [0]. Jon Stewart summed up a lot of my feelings on "The Daily Show [1]."

Obama's message through the sea of insipidness that was Gibson and Stephanopoulos was that the American people didn't want distractions, they wanted a discussion of the issues.

Wednesday night's debacle reminded me of the Bernard Shaw-Michael Dukakis-death penalty question [2].

In both cases, the questions weren't designed to help the American people learn more about the candidate's positions. They were "gotcha" moments. The words "read my lips" were used in Wednesday's debate; can't get much more "gotcha" than that.

So do you think Obama is correct? Do the American people really want discussions about the issues, or will they get swept up (again) by distractions? Will the American people rise up against the fatcats of the anchors and the pundits and ignore them to find out what we can do to make this country better? Or will the tricks, the distractions work (again) and we sink further down as a country.

Let us know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Be-Elected [8] Chad Rubel [9] 2008 race [10] ABC [11] Charles Gibson [12] capital gains [13] Bernard Shaw [14] death penalty [15] gotcha [16] Dukakis [17] CNN [18]