Gwen Ifill will Moderate the Biden/Palin VP "Debate"...

[Junkdrawer]

Aug. 5, 2008 — Gwen Ifill, a longtime correspondent and moderator for nationally televised public broadcasting news programs, has been selected to moderate the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis.

Paul G. Kirk Jr. and Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-chairmen of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), today announced the moderators for the 2008 general election presidential and vice presidential debates.

...

http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/12104.html

And the format of the debate?

All debates will be ninety minutes in length and start at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Each debate will be administered by a single moderator.

...

the vice presidential debate will include domestic and foreign policy.

In each debate except the town meeting format, the candidates will be seated at a table with the moderator.

Kirk and Fahrenkopf introduced two format features different from CPD formats of the past. The first change will be incorporated in the first and third presidential debates as well as the vice-presidential debate.

Each of those debates will be divided into 8 ten-minute issue segments; the moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates, for the balance of that segment. Time will be reserved for closing statements by each of the candidates in each debate.

http://www.debates.org/pages/news_111907.html

And Gwen Ifill?

PBS' Ifill failed to identify Competitive Enterprise Institute as conservative, energy industry-funded

Summary: In a segment on Al Gore's global warming campaign, PBS' Gwen Ifill noted that "critics have called Gore 'alarmist,' " before airing a clip of an ad produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which she identified only as a "Washington think tank." But Ifill did not mention that CEI is a conservative institution largely funded by the energy industry, which has a financial stake in opposing policies that seek to combat climate change.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200605250007

...

PBS' Ifill characterized liberal criticism of Alito as "demonization"

Summary: PBS senior correspondent Gwen Ifill characterized criticism of Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. by liberal "interest groups" as "demonization."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200601110003

Think that Gewn just might supply Palin's tutors with the debate questions? :shrug:

[BeyondGeography]

1. Gwen's gone corporate...Joe will have to overcome her wishy-washiness

and he will.

[1corona4u]

25. Yea, but is she a D, or an R?

[book_worm]

26. She's not supposed to be either on television.

[gateley]

2. If our VP candidate was someone other that Biden, I might be more concerned.

He's so seasoned at this, he'll be sure to get the message across, regardless of the questions.

[AllentownJake]

3. She can have the questions all she wants

The problem is when Biden challenges her response from a direction Palin isn't prepared for and Palin is left mumbling rw talking points.

[Junkdrawer]

5. Biden challenges are only allowed if Gwen says so....

Each of those debates will be divided into 8 ten-minute issue segments; the moderator will introduce each segment with an issue on which each candidate will comment, after which the moderator will facilitate further discussion of the issue, including direct exchange between the candidates, for the balance of that segment. Time will be reserved for closing statements by each of the candidates in each debate.

[Cassandra]

4. And this in NY Magazine...

"Yet the roar of approval was deafening inside the hall when Palin strode to the podium. The faithful, fueled by resentment toward the “liberal media”—at one point the delegates chanted “Shame on you” in the general direction of an aghast Gwen Ifill—over its treatment of her, wanted her to wow them."

I bet she pulls her punches after that.

[Joe Bacon]

6. Ifill is a GOP tool

Bob Somerby documented her repeated whoring for the GOP in his Daily Howler

http://www.dailyhowler.com

[FourScore]

9. I agree. n/t

[NotThisTime]

31. Yup, no question....

[DebbieCDC]

7. Great - another corporate media whore

How she ever got on PBS is beyond me - just another RW shill

Her and moose mom will be all chummy during the debate - "just us girls" type of thing y'know.

Joe better be ready for this.

[dailykoff]

10. Yep. She'll get some corny girl-talk vibe going

that will make anything Palin says look brilliant.

[Imagevision]

8. Gwen Ifill? - don't kid yourslves, Ifill will bring out the shrillness of Palen...the broad

is only a tool, Obama camp will soon put a lid on Palen Baby, especially when Hillary and Bill step up to the plate!

[Frustratedlady]

11. No matter who moderates, Biden will have the toughest job of all.

All eyes will be on Joe to see how he is going to handle Palin...pitbull...female. His natural inclination will be to treat her as a lady, and I don't think she fits that category, but there are a ton of Repugs who will argue the point.

If he takes off the gloves and handles her like an opponent, regardless of gender, he'll be criticized for being so rough on a woman.

I have confidence he will be able to zing her in his answers, but he won't be able to zing her too many times or he'll be considered as ruthless.

Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

I'm hoping she comes out like a pitbull and makes one of her snide remarks, then Joe can ignore the gender and his upbringing to be polite to women, no matter what, and treat her like an opponent....or a pitbull, whichever fits.

Barack and John will just debate as usual. No surprises there, except that Barack will mow John down in the first round.

I have a feeling I should bypass the popcorn during the Biden/Palin debate. I'll be too nervous pulling for Joe.

[begin_within]

21. I think he should rip her to shreds. Someone's got to.

[Alter Ego]

33. If I were Biden, I'd just say "Fuck it" and go for it.

Take her the fuck apart. He already knows the media will demonize him, so he might as well look good doing it.

And who knows? If he's tough, smart, and unyielding, maybe people will see a disconnect between the MSM narrative and what they actually saw Biden do.

[KoKo]

12. Isn't she supposed to be Condi Rice's best gal friend?

At least there were strong rumors about their close friendship all over the Web at one time.

[hlthe2b]

13. I think so and even Condi (like C. Powell) has not come out

in endorsement of McSHame, at least not to my knowledge (I know Colin hasn't)... Could be that they suddenly remembered they have some African American blood within, and that it has become just a wee bit harder picking the incompetant old rich white guy over the once-in-a-lifetime mega-inspiring black candidate.

[creeksneakers2]

14. She doesn't sound that hostile

I think she's a person of color and she wrote a book about Obama and the new politics of race that's due out next year. The blurb about the books credits Obama with transforming racial politics to a new better level.

http://www.amazon.com/Breakthrough-Politics-Race-Age-Obama/dp/038552501X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1220805980&sr=8-1

There's no way on earth that the wingers aren't going to complain about Ifill moderating. Of course, we might have a working the ref situation where she bends over backwards to look fair.

[BronxBoy]

15. Not sure

Haven't watched Gwen Ifill much. But I've read the comments on this thread and the consensus seems to be she is a corporate hack.

The wild card in this is that a lot of Black folks are very happy she's the moderator. They think that because she is Black, she might take a more even-handed approach.

Thanks for the links.

I'll spread them around to some Black folks who may feel this way.

[goclark]

17. I'm African American and we know her as Condi's friend

Any friend of Condi's is not a friend of ours.

[BronxBoy]

23. They love her on the TJMS

How you been Goclark?

[goclark]

30. Hi Bronxboy ~ I'm great and will be better when

Obama wins!

Ifill better not be naughty to Barack or she'll have to deal with Sister goclark ~

I don't like nobody messing with our next President!

Fired Up, ready to get out the vote!

[intheflow]

20. Almost all nationally produced CPB programming is corporate.

It is, after all, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and it's board is chock full of RWingers who look like philanthropists on paper but have conservative Repuke political connections--often through their marriages. For example, the Chair of the Board's husband was an economic advisor to GHW Bush. The second Board member listed, Beth Courtney, is married to the head of Courtney Communications, a political advising company that seems to have been involved in a money laundering scheme so that a Repuke Louisiana politician could use David Duke's propaganda resources without it looking like they were connected to Duke. The third board member listed is a member of the Heritage Foundation and is active in Florida Republican politics.

Sorry, I could only stand to read/research three CPB board member bios because my stomach just isn't strong enough for this today.




Edited because my typos always seem to be actual words that spell check misses. *sigh*

[quiet.american]

16. You know what, if Amy Goodman isn't moderating the debates, then there's no real choices. nt

[intheflow]

19. Yep.

I wouldn't even mind seeing a Fox moderator if Goodman was also allowed to moderate. THAT would be fair and balanced reporting.

And what's with only one person moderating, anyway? :shrug:

[Fighting Donkey]

18. Do you think Biden will be able to hold his ground

against that new Republican "powerhouse?"

:evilgrin:

[bdamomma]

34. Joe has shown a number of times he is not a Whimp.

[begin_within]

22. Ifill moderated the Cheney/Edwards debate 4 years ago, and

I thought she did an OK job. She didn't seem biased to me either way. She was the only debate moderator the whole year who brought up the issue of poverty in America, as far as I can recall.

[bigdarryl]

24. What happened to the traditional podium this in my opinion favors McSane because

of his height standing next to Obama makes him look very short.

[gravity]

27. She is unbiased and a great moderator

There is no reason to worry

[TheKentuckian]

29. My only concern is the backlash

being threatened and not forcefully rejected if Joe beats her up.

If a woman can't go toe to toe then she has ZERO business in the White House in any capacity.

THAT'S EQUALITY!

If you believe in equality then stand up and DEMAND IT!!!!

[jazzjunkysue]

28. She's not exactly known for her Tim Russert follow-ups, but, she's not dumb, either.

And she should show up with stats on things, and pose very specific questions in difficult corners. It will be hard for her to corner Biden on much.

[rvablue]

32. I'm happy about this...

...given all the talk about how Biden needs to be "careful" on he "attacks" or "goes after" Palin.
The fact that it is a female moderator is a plus in that it will take an edge off the criticisms that she was being "ganged up on" or something.

Since, I can't post yet, just thought I'd add this. What really bugs me are the other two moderators, Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer, because of an article in the NYT re: McCain's cozy past relationship with the press. It said that during the 2004 Repub. convention that these two were at a small intimate birthday party for McCain -- and out of all the people available, these are the two moderating the debates? DISGUSTING! Just based on their own ethical standards, if they claim to be true journalists, they should not have accepted!

[Divine Discontent]

35. TOTALLY AGREE - BROKAW AND SCHIEFFER have both shown unfair bias against Obama

and if they were at an intimate birthday party for him, they should NOT be in charge of the debates!

That's like Bush being governor of FL when Bush was running as president, or J Kenneth Blackwell being Bush's campaign head in Ohio the same time he was in charge of statewide election decisions as S.O.S.!!!!!

DAMMITTTTTTTTT

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