The Debate Was No Good for Anyone

The pundit class agrees for once: No one (at least in the Democratic Party) benefited from last night’s angry debate. But the left and the right disagree on who’s at fault:

• The first half was “garbage time,” Jonathan Cohn writes in the New Republic, with the moderators creating “a long infomercial about Obama’s electability issues.” Cohn is shocked that ABC’s finest hit so many nonsense issues—the Weathermen, the lapel pin, Bittergate—and Clinton didn’t hold up well either.

• David Brooks doesn’t want to hear the “too many gaffe questions” excuse: “The journalist’s job is to make politicians uncomfortable.” He gives ABC a high mark for sticking it to the Dems, and notes that both made deeply irresponsible pledges on taxes and Iraq—ones they’d have to break in the Oval Office.