There's a great deal of difference between saying that that debate was bad and saying that Barack Obama [or Hillary Clinton] had a bad debate.

I join thousands [if not millions] of other people saying that the questions that the moderators asked were bad for our country {for a hosts of reasons}.

As to whether that tabloid debate was good for Senator Barack Obama, I agree with Ron Davies' 19 Apr 08 - 07:40 AM comments on this thread. In addition to getting Hillary to admit that Obama can win in the general election against John McCain, that debate showcased the differences between old school politics [the debate's moderators, and Clinton] and new school politics [Obama]. I include Clinton along with those moderators because of the way she added fuel to the gotcha questions and even added more smears when she was asked to respond to the comments that Barack Obama made. In contrast, Obama did not go for Hillary's jugular when he could {with regard to sniper-gate and a host of other Clinton-gates that he could have mentioned throughout this debate and throughout the entire primary campaign-but has not]. Obama acts like a gentleman while Hillary acts like one of the boys.

And let me say that I also agree with those who have said that politically speaking, Obama is a master at aikido, a form of Japanese martial arts. At his Raleigh, North Carolina speech the day after that debate demonstrated, Barack Obama knows how to take a lemon and make lemonade.

See these comments about aikido:

"Aikido focuses not on punching or kicking opponents, but rather on using their own energy to gain control of them or to throw them away from you. It is not a static art, but places great emphasis on motion and the dynamics of movement".

http://www.aikidofaq.com/introduction.html