Asshole of the Week

We don't really like to cop out, but let's face it, this week was a total no-brainer. We're sick of talking about, and you're sick of hearing about, next Tuesday's Presidential primary. But, because we're sadistic and you're masochistic, we keep writing about it, and you keep reading about it. And being the gluttons for punishment that we are, we couldn't help but tune in to the Democratic debate between the Phillyist People's Choice candidate, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. With polls indicating that roughly 10% of Democratic voters are still undecided, this week's debate, held right here in Philadelphia, could have been pivotal. It could have gone a long way towards determining whether Obama could, while probably not win Pennsylvania, keep Clinton's margin of victory sufficiently small to sway uncommitted superdelegates to his camp. It could have helped focus Pennsylvanians' attention on the issues that are going to be important in the general election campaign, once the Democratic party stops eating itself a Democratic nominee is finally chosen.

Could have been. Instead, we got George Snuffleupagus Stephanopoulos drilling Obama with a question he got from Sean Hannity, of all people. (See insert video.) We got Charles Gibson asking a question based on a provision of the Constitution that was superseded over 200 years ago. We got rehashes of Reverend Wright, Snipergate, and the Lapel Pin Dome Scandal. We got minimal discussion of actual issues. Instead, it was a whole boatload of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing. And everyone noticed. So we're calling bullshit on ABC "News," Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. They wasted our time and energy, and squandered an opportunity to get the candidates talking about things that actually matter to Philadelphians, Pennsylvanians, and the country at large – especially the still-undecided voters. So for that, ABC News, along with Gibson and Snuffleupagus, are our Assholes of the Week.