One of the shitty things about liveblogging is that — while I'm writing some stupid comment about something stupid — I often end up missing really key moments and then I get all pissed off at myself and have to slam my head into the desk.

My head is killing me right now…

I can totally sympathize with a small town mayor/hockey mom/pitbull with lipstick not knowing what The Bush Doctrine is.

But when the possible 45th President of the United States doesn't know what it is, I start looking up instructions for building personal bomb shelters.

7:00 – This probably didn't do Palin any good or any bad. Total break even situation.

My guess is that we'll hear a lot of wildly divergent takes on this series of interviews over the next few days.

Like Plain herself, people will read into this what they please.

6:59 – Well, that was underwhelming. Too short. Questions shaped too similarly like softballs. Lots of rambling, and at least one scary comment about Israel.

But, on the other hand, she spoke in complete sentences, she didn't shoot Gibson in the face, and she clearly knew Charlie's name. And that's all she really needed to accomplish.

6:58 – Let's not talk about my crazy comment about God. Let's talk about my son going to Iraq instead.

6:57 – Oooooo! Crazy Christian talk!

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So, that debate last night (full video and transcript here) was something, huh? It sure was a debate, wasn't it? There were, like, questions asked and answers answered sort of. And those moderators — Charles Gibson and George Snuffolupogus — they moderated the shit of of that moderation. Very exciting stuff. After that debate last night, I'm goddamned proud to be a goddamned American, goddamnit.

So, what were other people's reactions, I wonder?

"Wow. What the hell was that? Seriously, I'm a bit stunned. The level of discourse has reached a new low — a very new low. It was the worst debate ever. Gibson and Stephanopoulos were horrible. The questions were literally right out of right wing talk radio." (Joe Sudbay)

"In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia. They, and their network, should hang their collective heads in shame." (Greg Mitchell)

"Worst. Debate. Ever… there were times when tonight's debate ventured into territory so utterly asinine that I could scarcely believe what I was witnessing." (Jason Linkins)

"The loser was ABC News: one of the worst media performances I can remember — petty, shallow, process-obsessed, trivial where substantive, and utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about." (Andrew Sullivan)

"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." (Tom Shales)

"Looking around other sites, I guess I'm not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty." (Josh Marshall)

Oh…

Well, um…

I thought it sucked, too.