My dictionary defines “moderator” as “the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting.” On Thursday, PBS anchor Gwen Ifill will serve as moderator for the first and only vice presidential debate. The stakes are high. The Commission on Presidential Debates, with the assent of the two campaigns, decided not to impose any guidelines on her duties or questions.
But there is nothing “moderate” about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama. She’s so far in the tank for the Democrat presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out.
In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate. She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on January 20, 2009 – a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States.
The title of Ifill’s book? “Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.” Nonpartisan my foot.
Yeah, I knew about this, and knew this would come up now.
Still, I also know it’s not going to change anything. She’ll still pass herself off as impartial, and the debate will be slanted left by it’s moderator. But nobody will dare complain, lest they be considered racist.
Tags: Barack Obama, commission on presidential debates, democrat presidential candidate, gwen ifill, liberal journalists, vice presidential debate
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October 1st, 2008 at 1:36
Well, I’m an Obama supporter, and I agree that Ifll shouldn’t be moderating this debate. However, the debate format has the same questions to both candidates. At some point, Palin has to acquit herself and actually answer questions of national import. This ridiculous meme of “gotcha journalism by the elite media” is growing really tiresome. Couric is a “soft shoe” and she provided ample opportunities for Palin to define matters in favorable terms for the candidate. Asking Palin to further explain why Russian proximity helps her foreign policy bona fides is not a gotcha – it’s a question, that Palin should be prepared to answer…as are her thoughts on the bailout or what publications she reads. They’re standard fare. I mean, Obama actually went on O’Reilly for chrissakes. Anyway setting up these low expectations/excuses for Palin really are not doing her a disservice. She’s not a delicate little flower that needs to be protected.
October 1st, 2008 at 7:24
@R –
I’ve no doubt Palin will hold her own in that biased environment. Thing is, that’s not the point. Here we have yet another Prime Grade A example of the supposedly unbiased press being in the tank for the leftist. Trust me, after 40 years of this I’m used to it. But you’d think they’d at least give up the pretense.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:37
She’ll give the questions she intends to ask, in the order she intends to ask them, to Joe Biden. He will then be able to craft beautiful “sound bite” answers to them and also corrieograph the tempo of the entire debate to create one long 90 minute Obama ad in prime time … free of charge.
Yeah … gotta love this. Think she won’t? Well … she has millions of dollars to gain by putting in the fix here. She won’t make much money on a “mighty Obama” book (set to release on inaguration day) unless Obama is the one being inagurated.
This is nausiating. Absolutely sickening. The woman should have had the decency to recuse herself for this blatant conflict of interests. Palin pointed out rightly that journalistic ethics aren’t what they used to be.
October 1st, 2008 at 13:11
This is totally ridiculous, how many moderators are in the tank for John McCain- oh we do not hear that- do we? You are just stirring this up because Senator Obama is Black/White and Ms. Gwen Ifill is Black. Call it the race card if you want to- but call it for what it is!!! Who checked out the other moderators- Ms. Ifill is a capable, knowledgeable pick for moderator- she knows she has to be neutral- you would not be saying this if she were in the tank for John McCain. Please stop the rhetoric, you are trying your best to keep Senator Obama out of the White House and maybe just this one time it is going to be harder for you to keep a Black/White man down!!!! I hope you smoke this in your pipe MICHELLE MALKIN!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 13:56
Ifill needs to be removed as the moderator for the VP debate. What a blatant conflict of interest. It’s not bad enough the liberal media has been in the tank of Obama from day one and now this?! This is beyond unethical. What ever happened to a moderator being fair & impartial? This is beyond disgusting! Shame on Ifill, shame on Emerson, At&t & Wachovia for sponsoring such an event & shame on Washington University for allowing such a disgrace!
October 1st, 2008 at 14:16
@Fed Up –
You’re damned right I’ll call it a race card. Any opposition to Obama always ends up coming back to that one factor, as if nobody could actually disagree with his politics on their own merits.
And by the way, you have someone in mind that would be McCain- baised and could moderate the debate? I’d be interested in seeing a list.
October 1st, 2008 at 21:00
IF (and that’s a big IF) Sarah Palin has anything to say which might remotely make the least bit of sense, I don’t think the identity of the moderator will make any difference. The women’s vote is now going to Obama/Biden by about 15 percent, so this little shoot-from-the-hip antic by McCain has badly backfired.
Michelle, when you will be appearing on “Hardball” again. I so enjoyed your last interview with Chris Matthews.
October 1st, 2008 at 22:55
Considering that moderators simply ask questions, I’d say that this whole discussion is irrelevant. And, didn’t both candidates already vote on the moderator? Does it even matter? Moderators are virtually non-entities. If, after watching the debate, Ifill shows bias, we can all meet back here and talk about it.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:15
Hardly irrelevant.
And yes, both candidates signed off on this. But she didn’t bother telling anyone involved with the debates about the book. She withheld that information. Now why do you suppose she’d do that, I wonder?
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:02
She SHOULD NOT BE THE MODERATOR OF THE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE.
PERIOD.
Sign the petition demanding she be replaced. Act NOW.
Ask the Commission on Presidential Debates if she will acknowledge her conflict of interest: 202-872-1020.
And here’s the e-mail address of Janet H. Brown, Executive Director of the Debates Commission: [email protected]
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:04
Note, the two numbers above come from Malkin’s post.
May 15th, 2009 at 16:03
http://www.message_trbasb.com/