You can get your fill at the Campaign Standard, where Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol, Richelieu, Steve Hayes, and Terry Eastland have all weighed in. For my part, I'm with Fred:

When the CNN-You Tube debate among Republican presidential candidates began with a guy named Chris Nandor playing a guitar and singing, my wife Barbara exclaimed, "This is humiliating. This is really bad." Of course she was right. And then things got worse. This debate not only was mortifying to the candidates. It also should have been embarrassing to the viewers, especially Republican voters who might have been watching.

I don't know if the folks who put the debate together were purposely trying to make the Republican candidates look bad, but they certainly succeeded.

The whole thing was an embarrassment, with CNN picking questions guaranteed to make the party look out of touch with American voters. I had the same reaction to the Chris Nandor song--he took a wicked jab at Romney. And why the big stink about gays in the military, which just isn't a major issue within the Republican party. All the candidates share what is basically the same position, and it turns out of course that Brig. Gen. Kerr is closely affiliated with the Clinton campaign--"a co-chair of Hillary Clinton's National Military Veterans group," according to the Politico. For all Kerr's complaining about don't ask, don't tell, he still seems to live by it. And he didn't do his cause any favors last night.

And here's Cooper's lame apology. Shorter version: if I'd know he was part of the Clinton campaign, I would have asked the question myself.

Update: Just got Dean's reaction up on the DAILY STANDARD, I think he puts it pretty well:

The worst part of the format came when a retired brigadier general sporting an oddly flamboyant wristband asked the candidates about gays in the military. It turned out that said brigadier general with the oddly flamboyant wristband was not only in the crowd, but out of the closet. After the candidates answered the general's YouTube question, Cooper surprised everyone by turning the proceedings over to the gay general, who seized the moment and hectored the candidates for about two minutes.

For what it's worth, I still felt empowered. The candidates had to answer questions from people just like me! For once, the candidates had to deal with ordinary Americans--red blooded, Bible-touting, Confederate flag-waving, gun-firing, Mars exploring gay generals.