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

A short rant about PBS correspondent Gwen Ifill who has moderated the previous debates in 2000 and 2004. She is the author of "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" - to be released on the upcoming Inauguration Day (20 January 2009).

Could this be a conflict of interest, or will she totally skew her questions toward Sen. Biden so as to marginalize Gov. Palin?

I'd say you could count on it, from the leftist-controlled media.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• political
• commercial
• commentary
• analysis
• Palin
• Biden
• VP
• debate

[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.

[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.

[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".

[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.

[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.

[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.

[darkvader47]

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

[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]

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...