ABC Republican Debate characterized as outrageous

Outrageous is the only way to characterize the January 7 ABC Republican debate in New Hampshire.

For most of the first hour, questioners George Stephanopoulus, Diane Sawyer and Josh McElveen spent an unbelievable amount of time on social issues and virtually ignored questions of far greater significance.

Instead of plumbing the depths of the candidates' knowledge of issues of vital importance to the country, Stephanopolus especially seemed focused on embarrassing the candidates and driving wedges between them. Fortunately, the audience caught on to his game and demanded that the former Clinton adviser drop his line of questioning.

For her part, Diane Sawyer seemed embarrassed and tried to move on, although she too revealed her predisposition from time to time.

This is is political theater and I realize the questioners are setting up their own post-debate talk shows. But they also have another agenda, which is advancing the cause of liberalism. Sadly, the participants are forced to play along in order to advance their own candidacy.

Quite frankly, I do not know why the candidates don't simply call out the questioners and tell them their so-called inquiries are not serving the American people. From what I heard from this audience, such a reaction would be appreciated. It's this kind of outrage on the part of network correspondents that gave rise to the cable news broadcasts, most recently Fox News and talk radio.

It's simple physics -- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. You'd think the networks would be aware of this, but perhaps many of the people working on that side of the political spectrum didn't learn much when they went to college.