Things like this just happen, you know?

Didn't watch the "debate" last night (yes, I'm a bad American, but I don't wear a flag pin either, so there you go) but evidently those who did were - well, let's just say less than impressed with The George And Charlie Show.

CNN has evidently decided to take the "it was broken when I got here" option on their coverage of the debatcle*, pretending that the lack of substance for the first hour or so had nothing to do with the loaded questions that the hosts were asking:

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- In their last face-to-face meeting before a crucial primary showdown in Pennsylvania, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went back and forth over recent campaign-trail controversies before staking out differences on taxes and the economy.

[snip]

The candidates spent nearly half of the debate, hosted by ABC News, tilting over flare-ups that have been fodder for journalists, partisans and pundits for the past few weeks.

No indication that it was the fault of the hosts in asking the stupid shallow questions; no, evidently in CNN's journalistic alternate universe these irrelevancies just appeared from the ether and intruded on the substantial debate that was occurring.

Mind you, in a microcosm of the debate itself, the CNN.com story spends most of its time discussing the fluff'n'nonsense that was asked of the candidates in lieu of real questions, while relegating discussion of Iraq and taxes to the last couple paragraphs, so it shouldn't be a total surprise to them.

*debate+debacle