I think we can all agree on at least one thing: Gwen Ifill is human.
As a result, it will be nearly impossible for her to approach tonight’s VP debate without having at least a slight rooting interest under the most ideal of circumstances. That’s to be expected of anyone.
But this is not the most ideal of circumstances.
Gwen Ifill stands to earn big money, in the $500,000 to million dollar range, from a book she is writing, if Barack Obama is elected president. Period. That’s really all we need to know.
Just as there is a need to avoid any perception of impropriety with judges, senators and congressmen, the moderator of presidential and vice presidential debates is expected to instill confidence in the candidates and the audience at the debate that she is impartial. This includes the questions, the tone, the facial expressions, the body language… confidence that the moderator is not taking sides.
All of the assurances are nice. Gwen Ifill is a professional. Gwen Ifill will be impartial. Gwen Ifill will not let a few hundred thousand dollars weigh into her approach to the candidates.
Gwen Ifill has not written the “Obama chapters” of her book: “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” so, as a result, has no rooting interest… hogwash.
The fact remains irrefutable: Gwen Ifill will earn a big paycheck if Obama is elected. That’s really all we need to know.
Even if her book was an anti-Obama book, which it is clear it will not be, it will still earn hundreds of thousands of dollars more if Obama is elected… in fact, she may not sell more than a few thousand copies on Costco markdown tables if he isn’t elected.
Adding to the concern is the apparent lack of disclosure prior to signing on as the moderator; something that we should expect at a bare minimum.
There is obviously nothing that can be done to undo what has been done, and Obama folks are spinning like crazy to make it seem like the McCain folks are blowing this out of proportion and this is a non-issue, but this needs to factored in to tonight’s debate results (although it won’t be) and into future selections of debate moderators.
Interesting that even the headline spinners are trying to make it appear as if McCain is making a big deal out of this by simply stating:
“Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama – let’s face it,” McCain said on “Fox & Friends.” “But I have to have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professional journalist that she is.
Wow… what a rebuke. This warranted the following headline: “McCain criticizes Ifill “…. really, that was criticism?
One wonders if this would be such an insignificant issue to the Obama campaign if the moderator was Sean Hannity. I’m sure he would leave his own preferences at the door as well as Ifill.
Let’s not forget Obama objected to Fox even hosting a debate, and here we have an Obama supporter moderating this debate.
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It does stink. Most non-partisan people are able to understand the problem and Mr. McCain’s reaction. Others’ views don’t really matter.
Others views matter if they vote!
Gwen Ilfill congratulated Biden on his fine performance when he went to shake her hand at the end…to Palin she said “I can’t get up, I broke my ankle” with which Palin replied “God Bless You”. Ilfill did not congratulate Palin…who clearly should have been. She must have been congratulating Biden on not making a fool of himself, like he usually does.
Welcome paranomasian and Judie.
Judie, I thought I noticed the same thing, thanks for confirming. I thought Ifill was pretty even handed. I did detect a couple of moments when I thought Ifill was playing a bit of got ya, but I might be mistaken. I’m not going to bother watching it again to confirm because it turned out to be irrelevant. Palin handled the questions well and did what every politician does and should do when she didn’t want to answer the question.. she answered a different one instead
One thing I do want to check though.. I thought Ifill let Biden have an additional time slice to pound McCain on not really being a Maverick… of course that could hurt Biden/Obama in the long run because Biden not only looked agitated, he also played loose with the facts in that and other rants.
Folks want to say Biden won on facts and Palin on style, but Biden’s authoritative reciting of facts will suffer as folks realize they were not all accurate. He also spent way too much time in the past.
Stage is set, but still a big headwind with the economy and the next debate is going to be important. McCain needs to open up on Obama and stop holding back. He needs to punch his way out of the corner.