ABC News throws away its integrity and joins Hillary in ambushing Obama.

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

The boyish Stephanopoulos, who has done wonders with the network's Sunday morning hour, "This Week" (as, indeed, has Gibson with the nightly "World News"), looked like an overly ambitious intern helping out at a subcommittee hearing, digging through notes for something smart-alecky and slimy. He came up with such tired tripe as a charge that Obama once associated with a nutty bomb-throwing anarchist. That was "40 years ago, when I was 8 years old," Obama said with exasperation.

Obama was right on the money when he complained about the campaign being bogged down in media-driven inanities and obsessiveness over any misstatement a candidate might make along the way, whether in a speech or while being eavesdropped upon by the opposition. The tactic has been to "take one statement and beat it to death," he said.

At the end, Gibson pompously thanked the candidates -- or was he really patting himself on the back? -- for "what I think has been a fascinating debate." He's entitled to his opinion, but the most fascinating aspect was waiting to see how low he and Stephanopoulos would go, and then being appalled at the answer.

This was the biggest debacle in the history of political debate in this country.

ABC News traded its very integrity away for....what? What could have the Clinton campaign possibly have promised them that would have convinced them to attack Obama in such an obvious and indefensible manner? Even ex-Clinton White House staffer George Stephanopouos must have known that he was throwing away his journalistic career in a desperate gamble to stop Obama's meteoric rise to the top of the Democratic ticket.

If you think that I am simply another Obama supporter who is overly sensitive to his candidate being asked tough questions, I encourage you to visit the ABC News debate page and read the comment section. As of this writing there are 12, 639 comments. In my estimation over 90% of them are negative, and many of them are absolutely horrified at what they witnessed last night.

But both ABC News and Hillary Clinton made a giant mistake last night. If they think they have tarnished Obama in the eyes of the voters, or stopped his momentum, then they have completely misunderstood the central theme of his unique campaign.

You see when others try to suggest that we cannot win this nomination, we simply remind them that Yes We Can!