Stan Geiger

ABC's Debate: I Liked It

I might be a little weird. Well, maybe that's a given. But contrary to the views of many that have panned the Gibson-Stephie moderation of ABC's debate, I enjoyed it. I found it refreshing to see journalists asking pointed questions of candidates---and hanging in there for valid answers.

Is it wrong for a journalist to ask a man that would be president about his relationship to a past terrorist---that, by the way, is now employed as a teacher by one of our great institutions of higher learning? Is it wrong to ask a man that would be president about his connection to a seemingly racist church?

I think not. I want to hear what he has to say about such things. And I don't just want to hear about it once; I want to hear about it all the way to November.

Is it wrong for a journalist to ask a women that would be president why she lied about being under sniper fire in Bosnia, lo those many years ago?

I think not---especially since that woman says she's the one that should answer the White House phone in the wee hours of the morning yet explained her lie by saying she hallucinates when she doesn't get enough sleep.

What about substance? There was plenty of substance.

I remember the moderators asking the candidates if they would raise taxes on the middle class. The moderators asked the candidates, point blank, for a commitment that they would not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year. And the moderators did not allow either candidate to tap dance around that issue.

I remember the candidates being asked if they would pull troops out of Iraq, no matter the conditions on the ground or the advice of generals.

The questioning wasn't all about the so-called "gaffes" or "misstatements" on the part of the candidates. There was substance.

I, for one, am sick of alleged journalists tossing softballs to presidential candidates on national television and accepting the standard platitude-ridden responses in return. ABC, I think, deviated from that format. And I, for one, was happy to see it.

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