38 Comments

1. Webutante:

If Ifill stays on as moderator, there’s only one intelligent thing to do: have you co-moderate with her. Whatta lineup!

Oct 1, 2008 - 7:38 am 2. steveaz:

If Ifill is asked to recuse herself, and if she is the only “Chocolate” American on the panel – I guarantee you, McCain will be called a racist.

Her immersion in South Africa’s “Truth and Reconciliation” process during the late nineties has colored her thinking about American politics for years and it shows in her reporting.

The gist of it is, Whites must repent for their “crimes,” although she is much more subtle about it in front of the cameras.

Oct 1, 2008 - 7:47 am 3. David Thomson:

The MSM is now the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party. Gwen Ifill is simply another activist journalist who subconsciously, if not even consciously, is devoted heart and soul to the Barack Obama campaign. We can only hope that the generally lazy American public wakes up in time before its too late.

Oct 1, 2008 - 7:51 am 4. Julie Zdrojewski:

Mr. Simon – I care a great deal about your credibility, which is my reason for pointing out that the editorial description on the amazon page for your book contains the phrase

“run amuck.”

Ye gods – make them fix that – it’s just ammo for the Dark Side.

JZ

Oct 1, 2008 - 7:55 am 5. Fred Beloit:

One—Gwen is an African-American. Their preference (9 to 1 the polls tell is) for President is Obama.
Plus one—Almost the entire on-air staff of public television are lefties.
Equals two—Gwen is for Obama.

How can anyone say they are stunned by this development. It was always obvious?

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:02 am 6. ricpic:

Undecideds may very well be put off if Ifill is clearly slanted in her questioning or indicates hostility to Palin in body language and/or tone of voice. Naked media bias is not necessarily a plus for Democrats.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:10 am 7. gina Mallet:

terrible foreboding that if nobama wins, there will be a second reconstruction…

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:19 am 8. David Thomson:

Why is the focus on Sarah Palin? It should instead be on the very strange guy named Joe Biden. After all, he is the who seems lost in a fantasy world. Biden imagines that he was shot at—and that his wife was killed by a drunk driver regardless of the lack of evidence backing this claim. It is very fair to describe him as something of a weirdo. Do we really want somebody this unbalanced so close to the most important job in the United States?

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:34 am 9. tim maguire:

Having someone so obviously compromised on the panel could give Palin an opportunity to cut through the media cone of silence around Obama and show how they conspire to hide the true Barack from the American public. And she strikes me as just the gal to do it.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:38 am 10. PC14:

I wouldn’t be surprised if Slow Joe already knew the questions– told to him by a little bird.

There are no levels too low for the Obamabots to stoop.

One thing is for certain, just as McCain was accused by left wing bloggers of hearing questions beforehand at the Saddleback debate, if the tables were turned here, those same lefties would accuse Palin of having advance knowledge.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:55 am 11. John Kelly:

IT IS VERY ODD THAT IFEL HERSELF DID NOT SUGGEST A CO-ANCHOR. THIS IS SUCH AN OBVIOUS CONFLICT OF INTEREST IT IS AMAZING THOSE INVOLVED DID NOT SUGGEST A REMEDY.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:58 am 12. Ruh-Roh! – Political Byline:

[...] Blogging: Hot Air, NO QUARTER, Pajamas Media, Gateway Pundit and [...]

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:01 am 13. Steve:

The debate will be at Wash U in St Louis. They should ask Dick Gephardt and John Danforth to be moderators. Gephardt can put questions to Palin. Danforth to Obama. These guys would be remarkably civil.

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:15 am 14. Don Kenner:

What this says about the MSM is not news; we knew this sort of thing was standard operating procedure. The only wrinkle is the level of MSM corruption in this election. They’ve reached a new high (or low) in terms of abdicating journalism in favor of activism.

What this says about the McCain bunch is more disturbing. They simply do not have the brains or the stones for this fight. They have accepted every ridiculous situation without protest or negotiation. They allowed Charlie Gibson to sit two feet from Sarah Palin and peer over his glasses like a pedophile English teacher. They don’t insist on the immediate publishing of transcripts, or a copy of the COMPLETE interviews so that they can post them.

And let’s not forget that FOUR Republicans on the committee approved Ifill for moderator. What a joke. And this kind of strategy shows in the battle ground state polls.

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:19 am 15. Webrider:

I’ve had this forboding feeling ever since they announced that Gwen would be the moderator. It strikes me as absolutely unfair and biased.

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:24 am 16. Insufficiently Sensitive:

If the McCain campaign can’t overcome its own dumb decisions regarding the campaign(accepting the Obama-fawning Gwen Ifill as neutral ‘moderator’ counts), would its decisions about governing be any better should they win the election?

Don’t think this is a recommendation to vote Democratic. In case of an Obama administration, run by a very organized gang of anti-American lefties, its decisions driven by malice would be far worse than the McCain gang’s shoot-from-the-hip innocence.

This election is shaping up to be a disaster for the country – aren’t there ANY articulate spokesblokes on the anticollective side of the ledger?

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:48 am 17. Lem:

Gwen the Baptist,

People familiar with the Old Testament have expected Gwen the Baptist as a preliminary measure in the divine plan, paving the way for the appearance of the One, the Messiah

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:48 am 18. nina:

Email the debate director and tell her how you feel. Flood her mailbox
Jb@debates.org

Oct 1, 2008 - 10:35 am 19. ArturoNO:

In the coming golden AGE of OBAMA…
“Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.”
Michelle Obama

Oct 1, 2008 - 10:58 am 20. jedrury:

Jim Lehrer does the first presidential debate, Ifill does the VP.
Anyone who thinks that the NewsHour is un-biased is delusional.
Jim relies on Shields and Brooks as his panel of expertise; Mark
Shields is the original smarmy house organ of the DNC, David Brooks the apologetic, mealy mouthed purported “conservative” for the Times.

Ifill, a former NY Times reporter, had a responsibility, once chosen, to come clean and admit that she had a book coming out. In her TV Obama interviews, there is a fawning worship of the guy. In her comments to Lehrer as she reports after Palin’s speech at the nomination; her demeanor is dry and her body language in anguish as if she is troubled by this assignment.

Oct 1, 2008 - 11:08 am 21. Barry Dauphin:

I agree with much of the sentiment behind the concern, but I think that things are playing out as they should. Information is a better antiseptic than deus ex machina removing Ifill from moderating. Let her book deal be sung from the mountains, far and wide, then let her moderate. Publicity about bias and the appearance of conflict of interest is the best thing going. Most people aren’t stupid.

Frankly, I’ve always liked Ifill notwithstanding the usual MSM bias and was disappointed in her lack of disclosure. Well, I’ll get over it.

Oct 1, 2008 - 11:31 am 22. Insufficiently Sensitive:

I won’t get over it. The ‘usual MSM bias’ is possibly the greatest threat to democratic government in the USA.

If the public only receives hype for one political philosophy, and either a black hole for the other or vicious smears against it, the concept of ‘informed voter choice’ is laughable.

Add to that the Obama campaign’s use of suppressive tactics against voicing inquiries or publication of facts against him.

The Orwellian reverse-meaning of ‘Ministry of Truth’ has never been so applicable, both to the O campaign and to the MSM in general. Neither are interested in fully-informed voters.

Oct 1, 2008 - 11:46 am 23. jedrury:

Barry:
We do agree that Ifill has a responsibility to disclose.
So here is a major press person chosen to be a moderator who either knowingly conceals or is too dim witted/blind not to think it would be an issue. Which is it? I respectfully suggest the former.

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:07 pm 24. Barry Dauphin:

jedrury

I completely agree she should have disclosed and I am concerned about MSM conflicts of interest. I believe that the public exposure this is getting is really a good remedy. I think politically Ifill (and the Dems) look really bad here. I also think Ifill knows that she has to be quite cautious in how she questions, given the exposure this is getting. Although in a metaphysical sense, she should not be moderating, I’m glad for the exposure this is getting and illustrating the MSM in all its “glory”.

Also when I said I’d get over it, I meant in terms of my liking Ifill, not in terms of whether she has an ethical obligation to disclose this kind of thing. Of course, she does. I’m simultaneously outraged and smiling at the publicity this is getting. It does more to weaken the sanctimony of the MSM than tossing her out at this point. I think disclosure is usually the best remedy for lots of things that bother people (such as campaign contributions–I’d much rather have exposure and transparency than McCain-Feingold).

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:19 pm 25. Anita Hope:

Cover-up is cover-up. It appears all involved have done so. I think we are all in for a surprise in this debate &
the two women may be debating each other & thus throwing Biden off his stride.
The media in general needs to also be cleaned up and wake up to their helping to put our country in the perils we are in. Check out Prof. Vaknin’s profile of what they are behind for the future of this country, They are facing what happened in Germany and in China, newspapers under control “like now” and then terminated & government run, legal rights terminated etc. “HISTORY IS REPEATING ITSELF”, & to us as seniors having lived
through past histories, we beg you as reportor’s read what the past can teach you before it is too late.

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:35 pm 26. Lightnin' Hopkins:

“They told me that if George W. Bush were re-elected, rank partisans would hijack the electoral process and attempt to distort the facts. And they were right!”

–Glenn Reynolds

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:52 pm 27. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Not really a quote from Glenn. Please don’t sue, professor; or blend my puppy!

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:55 pm 28. Linc Wolverton:

What was she thinking?

Oct 1, 2008 - 12:59 pm 29. xj:

Why is the focus on Sarah Palin? It should instead be on the very strange guy named Joe Biden.

By far the strangest thing about Joe Biden is that of all the people he could have plagiarized, he chose Neil Kinnock.

Now, Neil Kinnock was a fair-to-middling leader of Britain’s Labour Party and did some good work back in the 1980s, but it is universally acknowledged that he is the most pompous, long-winded and dreadful speaker in Britain, if not Europe. Indeed, one particularly embarrassing speech of his is credited with losing his party a close election that they were expected to win.

Let’s see if Senator Biden lives up to Mr. Kinnock’s example in this election.

Oct 1, 2008 - 2:17 pm 30. tim maguire:

There’s a wonderfully clueless AP article about this on the Drudge Report. Apparently, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama” has very little to do with Barack Obama and the small section i nwhich he will be mentioned hasn’t been writtene yet. So how could we all think she is biased for Obama?

I’m convinced.

Oct 1, 2008 - 2:57 pm 31. plainslow:

Ifill is good. I respect her. It’s good we all know the situation. If she goes too one sided we will see it. And she will hurt her credibility. I don’t think she will risk it. And if she shows obvious prejudice towards Obama, she will hurt him more than help.

Oct 1, 2008 - 4:04 pm 32. Mark:

Wouldn’t it be great if Palin congratulated Ifill on the upcoming publication of her new book on Obama? And then just smile sweetly.

Oct 1, 2008 - 4:15 pm 33. Godzilla:

Wouldn’t it be great if Palin congratulated Ifill on the upcoming publication of her new book on Obama? And then just smile sweetly.

If Sarah Palin goes into this debate with no holds barred, that’s exactly what she’ll do. Prediction: we’re going to see the ‘cuda show up tomorrow night.

Oct 1, 2008 - 6:29 pm 34. Crusader:

Prediction, Palin will meekly go to her political death tomorrow night. No more ‘cuda.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:10 pm 35. Postliberal:

Why are the “debates” moderated by journalists in the first place? Where do we get this idea that journalists are entitled to subpoena candidates for office and subject them to inquisitions? Making journalists the moderators of the official debates confers upon them a prestige that journalists don’t deserve.

I think that in the future the candidates–at least the Republicans–should refuse to give any official role to journalists. The candidates should figure out a way to confront one another with very little mediation or third-party questioning. If they have to be prompted by others, better it should be a panel of retired officeholders, like Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton, or senators, or former cabinet members from both parties. At least those guys actually know something about the jobs involved. The journalists are mere spectators. That’s why the debates seem so much like shows, instead of dialogues between the candidates and voters about our choices.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:24 pm 36. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Prediction: Trolls will continue to astroturf relentlessly no matter how she does. No more individual thought.

Oct 1, 2008 - 8:28 pm 37. Paul:

“Crusader:

Prediction, Palin will meekly go to her political death tomorrow night. No more ‘cuda.”

She’s working for McCain now, so you’re most likely right. One of the worst things about a McCain defeat will be the terrible waste of Sarah Palin, who had she not been ruined by McCain’s awful instincts and clueless handlers promised to be a beacon of hope for the GOP.

Oct 1, 2008 - 9:07 pm 38. Godzilla:

One final prediction: It won’t be Biden that gets lacerated…it’ll be Obama. It’ll be “the speech” all over again. Her job will be not to show how well she is qualified to be VB but how unqualified Obama is to be president. To accomplish her mission, Biden will be a useful idiot, nothing more…and I’m sure Palin will point out that even Biden thought that Hillary would have been a better VP pick. There is nothing that Ifil can do to stop the ‘Cuda from impaling Obama. Palin will point out the things about Obama that the MSM will not. Post debate, the question will again be: “Why is Obama qualified to be president?”. The Obots won’t be moved, but the independents will. And the PUMAs will be reinforced.

Oct 2, 2008 - 9:52 am

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