Attn: ABC News (Re: You Suck Ass)

For the record, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama won last night’s Democratic presidential debate in Pennsylvania.

The actual winner? Fox “News” pundit--and RNC flack--Sean Hannity.

Ten bucks says Hannity floated to his office today on vapors of joy, as his trademark slanted brand of journalism easily won out the night.

(Jesus Christ, even right-winger Jonah Goldberg agrees, and he just wrote a book titled “Liberal Fascism.”)

Versus delving into concrete issues Americans can relate to (e.g. gas/food prices, the shrinking dollar, massive Chinese debt, Iraq, home foreclosures, etc), ABC News moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos instead chose to harp on Hannity's anti-Obama talking points for the debate’s first 51 minutes. The same desperate talking points Hannity’s been tossing on Fox like Molotov cocktails for weeks: Jeremiah Wright, old ‘60s radical Bill Ayres, and “bittergate.”

Watching Gibson and Stephanopoulos parrot his dogma during the telecast, Hannity must have been dancing around his garage like Shaggy after scoring a dimebag. After all, his M.O. of turning news into partisan propaganda was validated before a mainstream media audience. It must have been a banner night for 'ol Slanthead.

However, I doubt Wednesday’s show (somehow, I can’t call it a “debate”) will affect the PA primary next week. After local voters have been awash in political ads over the past month, I suspect most have already picked a candidate, and if they vote at all is another matter. But I also suspect that Hillary Clinton exploiting the defensive tack Obama was forced to take last night may again backfire with voters, a trend which has sent her negative ratings up in recent polls.

In the final wash, though, last night’s event was an indicator of two things: 1) it previewed the kind of political attacks Barack Obama could expect in a general election, and considering the mainstream media is busy fawning over John McCain, that does not bode well for Obama, and; 2) it risked a voter backlash against those who neglect issues that directly impact them versus, for example, ranting about a candidate’s choice of lapel pin.

I just hope these same voters will smell Sean Hannity’s politics of horseshit and distraction for the fraud it is (and was Wednesday night), and force actual election issues back to the fore.

Well done, Sean. I'm sure the check is in the mail.