Real issues get one line from the Washington Post, while Post's TV critic blasts ABC hosts "shoddy, despicable performances."

Today's front page Washington Post article about the debate last night comprised twenty-five paragraphs. This is the 23rd paragraph:

The debate also touched on Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, taxes, the economy, guns and affirmative action.

That pretty much sums up the debate. It's almost comical. One line, in the 23rd paragraph of a 25 paragraph article. Granted, because of the performance of Stephanopoulos and Gibson, the Post didn't have much to work with.

The political reporters and pundits didn't get what happened last night, but the Post's media critic, Tom Shales did:

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.

So, it wasn't just the bloggers.