Conflict of Interest? Moderator Gwen Ifill ... VP Debate

[calgaryshadi]

What a moron. Where's the conflict of interest? Just because the book has Obama's name in the title? How do you know the book isn't an attack piece? You don't. You're just desperately looking for something, anything to make an issue out of. Give up. You Bushies have had eight years to destroy not only your own lives but the rest of the country and the world. Go hide in a cave or something.

[darkvader47]

Its amazing that you call the media left wing, while during the war, you couldn't find a news paper or television show talking against the war. Could that be because although more than 70% of Americans were against it, they chose not to talk about it? You've had your 8 years and screwed up. I voted for Bush twice and regret it. Even I know when it's time to try something different. How much bad can it get with Obama? Bush already took away a lot of our rights and threw us into this bad economy.

[seekeronos]

How bad could it get with Obama?

Don't forget that Obama would be the rubber stamp on a hyper-liberal Democrat-owned Congress. We are about to see the most interventionistleft-wing government in total control of Washington DC since 1933.

[darkvader47]

Oh well. We'll have to see won't we? We got through 8 years of Clinton. We'll survive Obama.

[darkvader47]

I guess when Obama wins, it'll be a conspiracy theory that he won. How is it a conflict because a book comes out on the same day as the inauguration. Palin did good at the debate. She did well enough to keep to the talking points her trainers gave her. She still never answered the questions. I don't want some winking Hockey Mom as a VEEP. Washington would chew her up and spit her out.

[darkvader47]

In politics, NOTHING is fair when you want to win.

[darkvader47]

Now that the debate is over, can you get past all of this? You could throw an easy question at her and she can't get it. How about that fair and balanced Fox (faux news). After Palin screws up the easy questions by Couric, they give Palin the questions in advance, and all of a sudden, now she can site many Supreme Court cases she would be against. Now McCain and Palin want to stop talking about the economy. Face it, they are going to loooooooooose!

[abaneyone]

I'm tired of this. The debate is over. Conflict interest? You are just afraid that you might have a leader who isn't white, and you can't handle that. The world is changing. Deal with it!

[BlackAzzRobb]

Look you can't run a Country nor a Campain on excusses!Come on...ya..you act as if the Dems chose her by themselves. I'd say The Real Elephant in the Room would be, the Republicans that agreed to her as the moderator for this debate. Then to turn around and say "we didn't know she was writing that book about Obama. This is so unfair to Sarah and the Repub party!" Friend... you can't run a Country nor a Campain on excusses!

[edwardvondoom]

Sounds like the raging liberal Communist Gwen Ifill behaved like a professional journalist. How shocking! Apparently, Fox News was full of shit AGAIN, and by extension, so was the idiot behind this video. What'll Fox say next, that Palin won the debate?

Oh wait...

[Lesliegilda]

To the narrator Palin is a "stupid idiot". She went to 5 colleges to get one degree. Who wants a VP who gives shout outs. Our country can not afford another catastrophy.

[jjiyunlee]

In any case, Ms. Ifill is a professional who's moderated several times, and it's unfair to set up Palin's performance this way before we even see what she does. We should go into the debate with an open mind; it'll be obvious if there's a slant to the moderator's questions. Both campaigns agreed on Ms. Ifill after the book title and publication date was released to the media. If there is bias/pressure, we'll get to see how Palin reacts, which is important in and of itself anyway.

[jjiyunlee]

It's not immediately obvious to me why the title of her book directly implies that she's going to skew the debate towards Obama. I could write a book called "Freedom in Iran". That doesn't mean I'm cheering for an overthrow of the Iranian government. Race and politics is an interesting issue at ANY time. She'll in fact probably sell more if Obama LOSES, because then there's room to point at racial discrimination...

[talexander748]

What does this book (which isn't even published yet) have to do with VPs ANSWERING QUESTIONS for the American people???....NOTHING !!! If Sarah Palin or Joe Biden cannot answer SIMPLE questions from the moderator/author, then they will have no one to blame but themselves. This is not brain surgery people. This is debate is on LIVE TV. GET A CLUE and STOP Complaining. A Moderator, monitors..that's it.

[Soldierette]

sprayem: You're absolutely right. This is the McCain camp pulling the race card. That's all it is. These people had no complaints when she moderated the VP debate between Dumb Cheney and John Edwards in '04. Knowing this and knowing the chapter hasn't been written yet, what's left but her race?

[ATRUEAMERICAN10000]

HOW ABOUT A BOOK ON WHY BLACK ATHLETES AND CELEBRITIES CAN'T SOP COMMITTING FELONIES? Ever notice, every day another BLACK football player (pro or college), BLACK basketball player and a variety of BLACK celebrities are ALWAYS getting ARRESTED for various violent crimes.

[Soldierette]

You again? Let's talk about Paris, Britney & Lindsey. Oh yeah, they are white.

[Schwarznasen]

However, the strategy will backfire. The thinly veiled hatred for Palin will soon be apparent, and the average voter will have a clear view of the typical Obama champion: arace-baiting, anti-white, anti-American, hostile, uncpmpromising, dangerous, chip-on-the-shoulder pseudointellectual who would be little more than a school aide without affirmative action. Mark my words. Palin will shine. Biden, though, will probably get an erection.

[Soldierette]

I guess you must not keep up with what's going on in the campaigns today. Obama is TROUNCING old man McLiar and his pet pig, SayAnything Palin. The "average" voter chooses the Obama/Biden ticket because they see through the race-baiting, scare tactics, lies, tricks & bullshit from the McCain ticket.

Let me just leave you with this little tidbit:

"I can see Russie from my house!" LMAO!!!

Obama/Biden '08! Yes.We.Can!

[Soldierette]

Edit: "Russia" LOL

[Schwarznasen]

Yes. Gwen Ifill will reveal her Pro-Obama bias for all to see while attempting to maintain the illusion of fairness during the Palin-Biden debate. Despite the fact that she has written a novel praising Obama (and how he inspired other black political candidates), the powers-that-be nonetheless offered her moderator staus for the express purpose of trying to embarass Palin. Gwen is black. That is for sure. Gwen is a woman (debatable, but also true). They have loaded the deck with a sacred cow.

[mtoosxy]

Say it aint so...

Please someone tell me McCain has a shot at this!!!! I am so depressed. This liberal media is atrocious. This is the death of journalism as we know it. News groups will now decide all elections. The lies and smears work. SNL skits work. Misinformation works. And Obama knows it!!! The "Bush/McCain" administration strategy was impeccable. Kudos to the libs. You've won the battle. But when we go into a depression, will you have won the war???

[Mainecoon60]

Kerry and Gore were ahead 30 days before the elections. McCain had to fight Bush unpopularity regarding war, then the oil crisis, hurricanes, Fanny/Freddy crisis. People have a short memory and we still have 30 days but McCain must regain confidence and fight back. Sarah must take all the negative vibes coming her way and let them make her stronger and better. I am confident we will see a North Star pretty soon :-)

[vashguud]

I like her but she needs to recuse herself from hosting this one and only VP debate.

[nickpoo]

No matter what the media bias will make Obama the next president. There is no HOPE.

[teb458]

Part 2: Dont call me a racist, because I am not! I have an adopted sister that is African American and five nephews and a niece, all of which I love very much, so dont play that race card! Id hoped for a equal debate between Biden and Palin, but I have serious doubts now!

[teb458]

Part 1: I cant believe that Gwen Ifill will be the Moderator for this VP debates! How can she be bias if she has a monetary investment in this debate? She has a book that she is writing about African leaders and which one is Barack Obama. If he does win the Presendency, her sells of her book will sky rocket. So it looks like she does have some investment, literally, in one candidate

[drewvonnie]

Why didn't Macain raise issue back in Aug. Another ploy to get out of Palin debates.

[flyboymd82]

Liberals are liar, cheats, thieves and thugs who will do ANYTHING to win.

That is NOT how America is supposed to work.

The media is not supposed to take sides. That creates a culture of corruption(AKA The democratic party)

[blazer79]

Reports have Gwen breaking her ankle at home just a short time ago. Considering that she has a book coming out involving Barack Obama, she stands to gain plenty of money if Obama wins. The should be a new moderator for the VP debate. This is CLEARLY a confilict here. And Ifill has been one of those rah-rah media members favoring Obama.

[adiksas19]

She should be removed as moderator by her conflict of interest financially if Barry gets elected. Xdir you must of not watched the Republican convention, she was very critical. If Obama is so smart, why I does he change his position on every issue, he may be smart, but he has no backbone. Yeah Kampinkrissy, really brilliant, especially after the two gaffes when Russia invaded Georgia. You can insult Sarah Palin on her intelligence, I know one thing, Nancy Pelosi is the stupidest of them all!

[alteredlame666]

Whatever you can do to divert. If you're worried that Palin will not be able to answer tough questions that were asked of Cheney and Edwards, then we should all be worried aobut your VP selection.

Just divert from McCain's catastrophic failure in picking a VP..

[xdir]

Something tells you? like what. Has Gwen Ifill been critical of any candidate? Has she shown bias in any way? or are you just stirring hoping to snag something.

[laughatanger]

There are dozens of Blacks in my college classes who have less command of English than Chinese student immigrants I've met who've just arrived here in America. How did they get accepted in a college?

[TELEVISIONARCHIVES]

Give me a break. And what is with her picking the questions to ask? If she's fair who book won't sell. So, don't expect her to be fair.

[katycay]

Would LOVE to hear the liberal crying if Rush Limbaugh were chosen to moderate...it would be HILARIOUS! Don't worry about it folks, I'm confident Palin will take care of herself. She is intelligent, confident and ready. Biden is the one who should be worried. His "screw-ups" are legendary!!

[psatm]

seekeronos - you started out with a decent arguement, but quickly lost us with your imaginary cartoon conversation between Obama and Ifill.

Why can't you just make your case in an even-handed and factual way?

You call the media liberal biased? What about Clear Channel? Rupert Murdoch and the Fox empire? Wall Street Journal? Washington Times? Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Coulter, Beck, etc?

All are conservative biased, and you damn well know it.

[seekeronos]

Well, I can agree that we may never completely eliminate bias from the media one way or the other. The media (especially establishment "mainstream" media) is only as believable as the trust we put into it.

"Trust, but verify" as the Great Communicator once said.

Some folks like Rush, Savage, and to some degree, Coulter, on the right, and Ed Schultz, Al Franken, Bill Maher are very obviously biased and devoted to their revenue stream - i.e. their readers.

[psatm]

Well said. So much of it is about the revenue.

[seekeronos]

However, PBS - "Public Broadcasting" - is paid for largely by taxpayer dollars and some hefty grants here and there by various corporations.

To the degree it is partially taxpayer-funded, it should be bending over backwards to avoid even the trace of bias, or at the very least, operating in the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine.

The pending release of Ms. Ifill's untimely adulatory book for Obama does little, on the surface, to reassure us of her impartiality.

It's the "trust factor".

[psatm]

Can't disagree here either, since objectivity of the moderator is critical to a fair debate.

I still don't understand why the RNC or the McCain camp hasn't made an issue out of this if it's true. I would guess that they would have been all over it.

[TyredUvBS]

clear conflict of interest, maybe she'll break her other leg?

[seekeronos]

One think I overlooked was also to include that her book had a publish date that was actually set back in February, well before she could have possibly agreed to moderate the debate (much less know who the candidates would be).

Precedent is one thing though, since she modded the '00 and '04 VP debates.

We can only "hope" that the fact she does have a book forthcoming will temper her bias somewhat, since anything truly over the top would reflect poorly on her integrity.

[psatm]

If this is true, where's the RNC and the McCain/Palin campaign on this? I haven't heard a word from them about Ifill. If there really was a legitimate concern I think she should be replaced.

Maybe I missed their statements or complaints, I'll keep looking.

[pimplewood]

Get another job asshat. Being a "commentator" isn't your forte.

[bigkgs]

I notice how no1 is pointing out the fact that she is a woman, and that there maybe some bias since Palin's a woman.

Selective criticism is very interesting.

[ronpaul2020]

This is a very poor argument. Must be nice to go through life being ignorant, eh? I bet your friends talk shit behind your back because of how stupid you are.

[psatm]

ronpaul2020 - this is how you treat those with whom you disagree? If you're a typical Ron Paul supporter then it's no surprise why his campaign tanked.

You don't have to agree with someone to at least respect the fact that they're discussing an issue. Being a citizen in a free democracy should DEMAND that we do just this.

[bigkgs]

In my statement, not argument, I was basically pointing out the fact that Palin supporters have been so quick at every turn to make Palin look like a victim. She's not a victim, she's just the underdog. So far, the only thing that her supporters have managed to do is make her look soft and fragile. Everytime someone doesn't like what Palin says, it's called left-wing or sexist rhetoric. Let her prove on her own that she is qualified. No one babied Obama when he debated McCain. It doesn't help.

[ronpaul2020]

It isn't a statement, you're making an argument. Something like this:

Arugment X is that the moderator has a financial interest in seeing Candidate A win. But because the moderator is a female and Candidate B is a female, that's the same thing as argument A.

This isn't true at all. Then your response to my comment doesn't even address that issue. You skew off to some other argument that has NO RELATION to the original one.

Do you dispute that a conflict of interest exists?

[reaganrevolution]

How would the Libs like it if Rush Limbaugh was the moderator? I'm thinking we would have riots and protests in the street. This woman overtly biased. Why doesn't this surprise me?

[chabelos6]

Why are Republicans so afraid letting Palin debate? Gwen Ifill is a paragon of objectivity. See for PROOF:

watch?v=9cKAFqn4Y8Q

[scottinwny]

Ohh and yes, who thinks that biden will get the questions ahead of time?

LOL you know he will.

[scottinwny]

Is this surprising to anyone?

The Media is absolutely disgusting.

I want two questions.

1) biden please tell me why the democrats added 200 million in the bailout to the ACORN organization.

2) Biden do you think that Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, and Jamie Groelick should be investigated for their roles in this huge fiscial crisis caused by Freddie and Fannie?

[tubette1]

LOL!!!! everyone who isn't from Fox is an elitist liberal.... what a joke.

[kampinkrissy]

Gwen Ifill is an honorable journalist. Your an ass, and Sarah Palin doesn't need to worry about Gwen - -she needs to worry about her lack of ability to string a sentence together. The woman's an idiot - no wonder you like her.

[ronpaul2020]

What about your pal Obama? When his teleprompter goes down he acts like Ashley Simpson doing the jig on stage.

[kampinkrissy]

Obama is brilliant - - are you kidding me? He was elected President of the Harvard Law Review and graduated Magna Cum Laude, which would put him in the top 10% of Harvard Law School. Palin attended five colleges in six years before graduating from the University of Idaho. do you really want to question which one has the higher IQ? I'm sorry but she doesn't even make sense when she speaks. My 10 year old has a better grasp of the english language than she does.

[dgj3925]

I don't care if the Obmama has the IQ of a genius. What has he DONE with his intellect? Mitt Romney was in the top 5% of his MBA class (while he also got a law degree) and received an Harvard scholarship. IMHO, Romney has done more and given more with his IQ then Barack will ever do. Based on your reasoning Einstein should have been president. Palin shows some tenacity by graduating despite interruptions in her life. She also uses English more clearly then Obama's intellectual gobbledygook.

[psatm]

dgj3925 - Obama's intellectual gobbledygook? Have you bothered to listen to him speak, ever?

What has Obama done with his intellect? Do you mean besides putting himself through school with academic scholarships, being named President of the Harvard Law Revue, teaching Constitutional Law, organizing job training for 150,000 people who lost their jobs, co-authoring nuclear non-proliferation agreements and veteran health-care bills?

C'mon, at least do a LITTLE research before you post.

[wntoply6]

the media didn't pick the moderator seekor, the non-partisan debate committee did. that's biase? nor does the author pick a release date, the publishing company does.

you, like palin are so misinformed, but typical of the ignorant right!

when the nominee of such a high office is an unknown, it's the RESPONSIBILITY of the press to uncover everything, regardless of party.

in this case it just happens she's unknown, inexperienced & unqualified. your're the ignorant & biased one!

[Orocovix]

Before you go on a silly rant that makes no sense, please keep in mind that the moderators were selected months before the selection of any candidate by a Committee.....Perhaps McCain should have thought about this before he made such a cynical and desperate VP pick.

So if Gwen Ifill being a moderator bothers you, then don't watch !

She moderated the 2004 VP debate. Stop complaining. Act like you know !

[dbehsman]

I love how the 0bama gestapo first denies that there is liberal bias in the drive by media, and then with the next breath tell Conservatives that they shouldn't complain about the liberal bias.

Time to defund PBS.

[junkmail1163]

Oroco, get your facts straight before you spew.

1)Months ago? The selection process started after the nominations were complete.

2)2004 VP-moderator...got called out for her PERSONAL snide remarks to Cheney

3)The success of her book is totally dependent on a BIDEN victory. A clear conflict of interest.

This is a sad day indeed where the press is powerfull enough to stack the cards in an election.