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Gwen Ifill: Biden and Palin each had an agenda (and it wasn't debating each other)
So how did the moderator of Thursday's debate between vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden think it went?
"The understanding was that we were going to have a debate," Gwen Ifill told Tom Brokaw of NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning. But, she went on, it didn't exactly turn out that way.
"The moderator's job is to control their debate. If they have decided, as Joe Biden decided, that he was going to debate John McCain, and [Palin] decided she was going to give a stump speech to the American people, there's very little a moderator can do other than say, 'No, no, no, listen, I asked a question. Please, please answer.' "
In repeatedly switching topics from the question that was asked to one of her talking points, Palin "blew me off, I think is the technical term," Ifill told Brokaw, who will moderate Tuesday's debate between John McCain and Barack Obama.
Ifill's performance as moderator received mixed reviews, even from the same publication: On the same day that the Los Angeles Times' media writer, James Rainey, praised the host of PBS' "Washington Week" for showing "reason, fairness and class," she was blasted in a Times editorial as "singularly inarticulate."
But there's one aspect of the experience she appeared to really enjoy: "I got to say, being portrayed by Queen Latifah is not a bad thing," Ifill said of the 2002 Oscar nominee who portrayed her in the debate sketch on "Saturday Night Live."
-- Leslie Hoffecker
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re footage, including her telling the ‘08 convention of the Alaskan Independence Party, whose aim is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S., to “keep up the good work” - and her complaining four months ago that Hillary Clinton was whining about “sexist” media coverage.
The site is non-partisan and its’ editors and volunteers include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association -
http://dailysource.org/about/team
They have compiled an amazing amount of info on Palin. I recommend reading it.
Posted by: hovanti | October 05, 2008 at 07:26 PM
If Republicans are such Christians, Why do they support John McCain Knowing his wife is the hier to Budwiser King of D.W.I’s?Sounds like they are a bunch of pagans. Does Palin Know about Cindy’s ties to the Liquer Industry?
Posted by: miguel | October 05, 2008 at 07:59 PM
The fact that many Republicans were happy with Palin's performance just prooves that, in their minds, it was never, ever about substance. An obvious truth, but a dissapinting one nonetheless.
Posted by: Kris | October 05, 2008 at 08:25 PM
I was disappointed with the Biden/Palin debate because I felt that Palin did not answer several of the questions that were asked and she was not challenged to do so. Also, her cute little remarks and gestures were not well received. Do we really want someone who is running for V.P. to act so silly? In my opinion she does a does not represent women very well. Many of her answers went back to her experience as a Mayor or Governor in Alaska - we want to know what she will do as a V.P. of the United States.
JEF, Vineland, NJ
Posted by: Judith Finger | October 05, 2008 at 09:03 PM
Gwen Ifill complained today on Meet the Press about Sarah Palin and that Sarah Palin didn't stick to the rules of the debate. Wasn't it Gwen's job as moderator to maintain CONTROL. Gwen was weak because she knew it was inappropriate for her to be the moderator because of her book. She put herself into that position, and then waited until after the debate to slam Palin. I've never seen a moderator do this before.
Ifill was off in the first five mintues because as she said, Neither answered questions about the economy, and she promised to hold them accountable and then never did,. Ifilll lost control of the debate.
Funny thing is Palin's got everyone. Meet the Press was all about HER today..they complained about her but couldn't stop talking about her. Tom b. can't hide his bias.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wash...palin-bid.html
Posted by: Spinach Tiger | October 05, 2008 at 10:38 PM
Sam states, "Racism is a one way street in America. Blacks are exempt. Like when 97% of the black community says that they will vote for Obama because he is black, that's not racist. Rather, they are all enlightened. Right. To those who want a culture war I say, be careful what you ask for."
Are you kidding me? Since when? Black people are the most racist people I know - and I can say this with authority because I AM Black. Of course it's ridiculous for 97% of Blacks to vote for Obama because he's Black. So instead of spewing your own racist views and prophecying "culture war" (when you really mean "race war"), maybe you should, oh, I don't know, actually SPEAK to Black people sometime and get a range of viewpoints, instead of making sweeping, inaccurate generalizations.
Posted by: Babzilicious | October 05, 2008 at 10:46 PM
Gwen Ifill had an agenda too, Her questions were manipulative and designed to embarrass Palin, while she lobbed softballs at Biden. Republicans should boycott these phony debates, which are nothing but gotcha sessions for the driveby media. Gwen Ifill is so obviously biased and has such a conflict of interest that if she had an ounce of integrity she would not have moderated. But then again, she's a liberal fascist, so integrity is out of the question. If you want to see honest discussion from the candidates, you are not going to get it with these biased moderators. I say, boycott these phony debates. BIden lied at least 14 times, Ifill never called him on a single lie. She's terrible.
Posted by: RIck LaBonte | October 05, 2008 at 11:47 PM
Here is an excellent analysis of the manipulative, biased questioning techniques used by liberal debate "moderators", using several examples from Ifill's performance at the so-called "debate".
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/gwen_ifills_vp_debate_bias.html
Posted by: Georg P | October 05, 2008 at 11:54 PM
Sam, you're confused about which black female singer was accused of saying that. It wasn't Queen Latifah.
Posted by: Tom | October 06