Getting to the real issues

As reported by the Daily Howler:

A real discussion had broken out about the way to exit Iraq! It was by far the most intelligent discussion we’ve seen in any debate this year; the hopefuls were even beginning to question each other about their respective views. But our press corps flees intelligent discourse as bats avoid exposure to light. Abruptly, George Stephanopoulos brought the discussion to a halt so he could ask this question:

STEPHANOPOULOS (8/19/07): Let me move on now. We’ve got a question—we got an e-mail question from Seth Ford of South Jordan, Utah. And he said, “My question is to understand each candidate’s view of a personal God. Do they believe that through the power of prayer disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the Minnesota bridge collapse could have been prevented or lessened? I’d like each of you to answer it.”

Let me start with you, Senator Clinton.

And so, instead of explaining how she’d act in Iraq, Clinton had to explain if we could have prayed and made that bridge hold up.