Critics and viewers weigh-in on debate

"IT'S HARD TO EVEN TYPE accurately because my hands are shaking. ... By so badly botching arguably the most critical debate of such an important election, in a time of both war and economic misery, you disgraced the American voters, and in fact even disgraced democracy itself."

— Will Bunch, a Philadelphia Daily News senior writer, on his blog

IT WAS "PERHAPS the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate this year."

— Greg Mitchell, of the trade publication Editor & Publisher

"I UNDERSTAND THE COMPLAINTS, but I thought the questions were excellent. The journalist's job is to make politicians uncomfortable, to explore evasions, contradictions and vulnerabilities. Almost every question tonight did that. The candidates each looked foolish at times, but that's their own fault."

— David Brooks, columnist

for The New York Times

"I ADMIT TO BEING a Hillary supporter, but why does Charles [Gibson] have to ask Obama about not wearing a flag pin. Get to the real issues."

— Posted by "michelle"

on nytimes.com

"SOMEWHERE IN THE BACK of my mind is this notion that voters, whose economy is crippled by a senseless, seemingly endless war, whose personal budgets are crushed ... maybe, just maybe, aren't so interested in flag pins."

— John Baer, Philadelphia

Daily News political columnist

"ABC FAILED THE NATION. Given the issues this country is currently facing, Gibson and Stephanopoulos thought the best use of 90 minutes of nation-wide, prime broadcast time was to dog Senator Clinton on her misstatements about her Bosnia trip and to challenge Senator Obama to defend his decision not to don an American flag lapel pin? Are you kidding me? Pathetic."

— Posted by "Kurth0"

on ABCNews.com

"IT WAS ACTUALLY like a bad car accident, I didn't want to look at it, but at the same time, I couldn't pry my eyes away."

— Posted by Matt of Sammamish on seattletimes.com

"I'M A RETIRED NEWSPAPER EDITOR who knows enough to realize that the questions last night didn't reflect either bias or a drive for ratings. What they reflected was bad journalism. Your job was to bring out the candidates on what they'd do on the war and the environment and the Supreme Court and the economy and immigration and health care and other issues that will determine the direction of this country. What I got was a two-hour Ping-Pong match over trivia. Bad job, guys."

— Posted by Joe Distelheim (former editor of the Huntsville Times) on ABCNews.com