An Open Letter To Peter Salinger At ABC

By BlackJack

Peter Salinger
ABC Network
peter.salinger@abc.com
(212) 456-5105

Mr. Salinger,

Shame on your for putting on last nights debate and shame on me for hoping you might use expensive prime-time programming to do the public a service.

I'm both disappointed and angry after watching last evenings debate. While I have admired both Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, I think they did the American public a disservice by spending the entire first half-hour of prime-time coverage on issues that both candidates had already answered several times. By the end of the debate I was left wondering when we would get a chance to hear the candidates positions on actual issues that matter.

At a time when we are facing many problems in our great nation, you and your staff had an opportunity to serve the public by asking these candidates important questions on our behalf. Instead the ABC News team acted like some sort of political paparazzi. And I wasted an evening watching your useless program. Lucky for us there are other news outlets who take the nations trust seriously - I won't make the mistake of trusting the ABC network again.

What could you have asked the candidates in the time you had? I would have liked someone to ask the candidates about their positions on vitally important topics such as the Iraq & Afghanistan wars, veteran's affairs, states rights, early childhood education, the mortgage crisis, torture, foreign aid, the AIDS epidemic, civil rights, women's rights, children's rights, hunger and poverty in America, freedom of religion, freedom from religion, religion in politics, global climate change, China and Tibet, China and lead paint, China and civil rights, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, India, Darfur, veterans with PTSD, energy policy, space programs, the health care crisis, ethics in government, immigration, social security, seniors and drug programs, the farm bill. These are just a few off the top of my head.

You should be embarrassed by your networks failure to use an opportunity to inform and educate voters. You've taken a solemn trust, and your duty in using the American airwaves, to feed us a corporate-sponsored political tabloid special. Shame on you.