ABC showed us Sunday morning how NOT to hold a presidential debate. For the first one-third of the debate, the candidates were asked questions solely regarding Clinton and Obama. ABC offered confrontation without insight, the moderator played favorites, and the time of the debate (8:00 am) was seemingly aimed at those Americans who don’t go to church, but instead wake up early every Sunday morning to watch ABC. A presidential debate should not be enough incentive for anyone to be conscious at that time on a weekend.

In addition to Elizabeth Kucinich getting plenty of airtime, the only other positive feature I noticed about the debate was the arrangement of the candidates. Dennis Kucinich was still forced to the side, but so were Obama and Clinton. I was pleased to see Gravel in the center until I realized he still wouldn’t be allowed to speak and that his location lent him to be ridiculed when he did talk rather than being dismissed as he usually is. Stephanopoulos set a condescending tone which would be revisited many times throughout the night. He also cut many important replies short, not to fit in more questions, but to extend his own speaking time. In fact, George talked longer than Kucinich, Gravel, and Dodd. It’s a shame he wasn’t running.

Despite the many flaws of this lackluster debate, the best line arguably came along two minutes into the 6th video as Dennis Kucinich answered a question regarding the power of prayer. His delivery is perfect. Skip to that brilliant comedic moment if you can’t stomach the rest.

Even more disgraceful than the debate itself is how ABC handled the public response. During and after the debate, viewers were encouraged to give their opinion as to who they thought had won. Kucinich won that online poll in a landslide, yet ABC chose to ignore this upset completely, even cropping Kucinich out of a group photo showing all the candidates. The final insult came last night when ABC decided to scrap the results of the online poll indicating Kucinich as the winner, in order to start a completely new one which might yield different results. Until ABC recognizes the results of the poll, apologizes for trying to rig the system, and includes Dennis in the group photo, several people have called for a boycott. In fact, hundreds upon hundreds of angry comments have flooded ABC’s website regarding their unethical behavior. Welcome to the wonders of democracy via the internet ABC.