My PVR recorded last night's Democrat debate, but I won't have time to watch the whole thing until Thursday night at the earliest. It's been much easier, however, to get the highlights from the various blogs.

From some of the liveblogging I've managed to read, it seems to have shocked lots of people on the right that ABC's George Stephanopolus and Charlie Gibson asked very tough questions -- and outraged those on the left.

I do want to highlight one bit of the debate that continues to demonstrate that Barack Obama has a serious problem when it comes to the most basic moral judgments.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator, if you get the nomination, you'll have to -- (applause) -- (inaudible).

I want to give Senator Clinton a chance to respond, but first a follow-up on this issue, the general theme of patriotism in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He's never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, "I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough."

An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won't be a problem?

SEN. OBAMA: George, but this is an example of what I'm talking about.

This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who's a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He's not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

And the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn't make much sense, George.

The fact is, is that I'm also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

Do I need to apologize for Mr. Coburn's statements? Because I certainly don't agree with those either.

The mainstream media is going to completely miss the offensiveness of this answer. In fact, they already have.

The issue here isn't that Ayers has donated to Obama's campaign and Coburn hasn't -- it is the fact that Ayers is an admitted terrorist and Coburn isn't.

We've encountered this before. In Obama's famous Philadelphia speech, he compared his pastor's hateful rhetoric to Geraldine Ferraro's inconvenient (but true) statement that Obama wouldn't be where he is in this presidential race if he weren't black and to his "typical white" grandmother's reasonable fear of an aggressive panhandler who happened to be black.

Coburn is a senator and a physician who holds a policy view with which Obama disagrees.

Ayers attempted to blow up innocent people.

These are not moral equivalents. They are not even close.

Obama's complete -- and repeatedly demonstrated -- lack of even a rudimentary moral judgment is shocking.