# VP debate is RIGGED!



## Robert A. Langager (Feb 22, 2002)

Just like Oprah, Ifill is putting race above gender!!

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=76645

ELECTION 2008
VP debate moderator Ifill releasing pro-Obama book
Focuses on blacks who are 'forging a bold new path to political power'
Posted: September 30, 2008
8:35 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Gwen Ifill

The moderator of tomorrow's vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out on the day the next president takes the oath of office that aims to "shed new light" on Democratic candidate Barack Obama and other "emerging young African American politicians" who are "forging a bold new path to political power."

Gwen Ifill of the Public Broadcasting Service program "Washington Week" is promoting "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," in which she argues the "black political structure" of the civil rights movement is giving way to men and women who have benefited from the struggles over racial equality.

Ifill declined to return a WND telephone message asking for a comment about her book project and whether its success would be expected should Obama lose. But she has faced criticism previously for not treating candidates of both major parties the same.

During a vice-presidential candidate debate she moderated in 2004 - when Democrat John Edwards attacked Republican Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton - the vice president said, "I can respond, Gwen, but it's going to take more than 30 seconds."

"Well, that's all you've got," she told Cheney.

Ifill told the Associated Press Democrats were delighted with her answer, because they "thought I was being snippy to Cheney." She explained that wasn't her intent.

But she also was cited in complaints PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler said he received after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered her nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., earlier this month.

Some viewers complained of a "dismissive" look by Ifill during her report on Palin's speech. According to Getler, some also said she wore a look of "disgust" while reporting on the Republican candidate.

At that time she said, "I assume there will always be critics and just shut out the noise. It is surprisingly easy."

A clip of Ifill's coverage of Palin can be seen here:

PBS viewer Brian Meyers of Granby, Conn., said he was "appalled" by Ifill's commentary directly following Palin's convention speech.

"Her attitude was dismissive and the look on her face was one of disgust," Meyers said. "Clearly, she was agitated by what most critics view as a well-delivered speech. It is quite obvious that Ms. Ifill supports Obama as she struggled to say anything redemptive about Gov. Palin's performance."

Columnist Michelle Malkin, in a post on her blog today, wonders how Ifill can objectively moderate the debate tomorrow night with the personal interest she has in the election's outcome.

"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," Malkin writes.

"Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the 'Age of Obama.' Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the 'stunning' McCain campaign and its 'bold' path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day - and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation's sole vice presidential debate?"

Malkin cited Ifill's previous reporting on Obama for "Essence" magazine, an article titled, "The Obamas: Portrait of an American Family." Ifill's "neutral analysis" about Michelle Obama, Malkin said with irony, was, "A lot of people have never seen anything that looks like a Michelle Obama before. She's educated, she's beautiful, she's tall, she tells you what she thinks and they hope that she can tell a story about Barack Obama and about herself. &#8230;"

Fox News commentator Greta Van Susteren reported the McCain campaign didn't know about the book.

"It simply is not fair - in law, this would create a mistrial," she said.

Coming to Ifill's defense was Juan Williams, a senior correspondent with National Public Radio.

"I think Gwen has been a terrific journalist," he told Fox News.

But Williams admitted the appearances could cause difficulties.

"She spent a lot of time with Obama. She praises him in the book," he said. "The book's success [is] invested in Obama. &#8230; Suddenly everyone's going to be saying Gwen Ifill is somewhat biased against Gov. Palin."

Ifill, who also works with her network's "NewsHour," told BlackAmericaWeb.com she thinks debates "are the best opportunity most voters have to see the candidates speaking to issues."

She said she is concerned only about getting straight answers from Palin anad Democratic rival Sen. Joe Biden.

"You do your best to get candidates to answer your question. But I also trust the viewers to understand when questions are not answered and reach their own conclusions," Ifill told BlackAmericaWeb.

"Four years ago, when neither John Edwards nor Dick Cheney proved capable of answering a question about the domestic epidemic of AIDS among African-American women, viewers flooded me with reaction," she said.

She said she will make her own decisions about what questions to ask, adding "the big questions matter."

In the Amazon.com promotion for her book, Ifill is described as "drawing on interviews with power brokers," such as Obama and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In an online video promoting her book, she is enthusiastic about "taking the story of Barack Obama and extending it."

It focuses on four people, "one of them Barack Obama of course," she said.

"They are changing our politics and changing our nation," she said.

On Amazon.com, Ifill is praised for her "incisive, detailed profiles of such prominent leaders as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and U.S. Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama."

"Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history," the review says.

She told AP her view of Obama: "I still don't know if he'll be a good president."

She also describes how she met him at the 2004 Democratic convention and since then has interviewed the Illinois senator and his family.

She also boasted that by the time of the debate, "I'll be a complete expert on both" Palin and Biden.

The debate will be held at Washington University in St. Louis, which has posted information about the evening's events online. Debate officials have made inactive their media page on the Debates website, and officials did not respond to a WND e-mail requesting a comment.

Ifill's profile on the website describes her as a longtime correspondent and moderator for national news programs and includes her service as moderator of the 2004 debate between Edwards and Cheney.

However, there's no mention of her upcoming book. Nor does the website for the Commission on Presidential Debates mention her book.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

I watch the News hour every night Ifil is very biased Jim Lehrer is pretty fair.

The biased sexist coverage of Palin is pathetic IMO.


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Funny how this only comes up after it's proven that Palin is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. The truth is that Ifil's book came out before she was chosen as the moderator. This is a case of lowering the expectations for Palin. If they really had a problem with Ifil or her book, they wouldn't have agreed to a debate she'd be moderating.

Palin is unacceptable. I don't like Biden either, but COME ON! She believes dinosaurs and people were on the planet at the same time... When asked for a bad Supreme Court decision besides Roe v. Wade, she couldn't think of Plessy v. Fergusson... Seriously, any high school kid who paid any attention could come up with that... Heck, I'd have given her a pass if she confused it with Brown v. Board of Education. She apparently reads all newspapers and magazines (either that, or saying that was a terrible attempt to deflect the fact that she's willfully uninformed). Oh... it doesn't matter what's causing global warming, but we need to fix it?! How are we supposed to fix it, if we don't know what's causing it?! Her explanation of the economic situation had all the eloquence of a "Tommy Boy" sales pitch.

I'm making a prediction about how it goes down tonight: She sputters out nothing but pithy one-liners, while smiling like she just nailed Biden. I'm really hoping for a Stockdale "Who am I? Why am I here?" moment (though he got a bad rap for that, he was NOT dumb or senile... he was under-prepared and nervous).

I understand how a lot of you guys won't vote for Obama. That's fine. However, putting Palin that close to the presidency is dangerous and irresponsible. It would be incredibly foolish to not think about a VP candidate's readiness to become president. VPs do wind up in charge. It happened 63 years ago, 45 years ago, 35 years ago, and we were pretty close to winding up with President George HW Bush about 8 years before it actually happened. Obama and McCain aren't your only 2 options: You could try to find a third party candidate you like, or you could leave the presidential election blank.


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## Bgunit68 (Dec 26, 2006)

The book hasn't been released yet. The debate committee was not aware of the book. The book is due for release when the next president takes office. She stands to benefit more if Obama is in office. After all who has seen a book about Kerry or Mondale? You see a ton of books about Bush, both good and bad. But I say let her stay. She will have to go that extra to prove impartiality. I also think Palin may surprise us or at least I hope she will. I believe Biden is a dolt. But most importantly a non-vote for McCain is a vote for Obama. Like I've said I'm really not too enamored with McCain. But I'd vote for anyone other than Obama. I don't want a Liberal senate, house and president.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Some good points, some BS

but I have to say if Obama gets in office hes as weak as Palin on the nuts and bolts of whats going on in this world and weaker in character IMO. not only that hes a socialist, hes got real ties to terrorists (ayers) and if elected he will not be a "heartbeat away" he will be the president.

So whats the better choice, unless John McCain croaks the day hes elected Palin will learn this stuff, most of our presidents are former governors.

Palin is more like real citizens in this country who I would wager not 1 in 10,000 could rattle off supreme court decisions. I probably couldn't and I follow politics closer than most people.

Plus there is so much BS about Palin like your dinosaur comment, its just not true.

Look whats going on in this country politically, I find it amazing there are people so partisan they would rather see another one of these insider crooks from the senate elected at least Palin has a clue what our lives are like


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Bgunit68 said:


> I don't want a Liberal senate, house and president.


I'm a little left of center (for the moment... "center" is a moving target), and I agree with you there. I take solace in the fact that there are quite a few Blue-Dogs in there. When the Dems took the majority in '06, it wasn't the ultra-left guys who took seats from the Republicans, it was centrists like Casey in PA, and Tester in MT (Webb, from VA, isn't exactly a bleeding-heart lefty either). However, Palin, literally, scares me.


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## Bgunit68 (Dec 26, 2006)

But with Iran, N. Korea, Russia and all the other potentially volatile states Obama scares the hell out of me. I can't call myself a conservative but I'm close. I like McCain. I truly feel he is running to become president for the betterment of America. I just think Obama is running to become President. Obama has great (spin) advisors that give him the fuel to tell the American People what they want to hear just so he can get elected. I don't like him and I don't trust him.


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Bobm said:


> Plus there is so much BS about Palin like your dinosaur comment, its just not true.


You've got a point. I probably shouldn't have included it as I didn't see the video myself. However, I wouldn't outright dismiss it. It wouldn't stand up in court, but it wasn't just some blogger who made it up. Salon.com published a story with the following quote:

"I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

The thing is that they were quoting somebody else. That guy could've had an axe to grind, but I also haven't seen a direct denial.


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## Ref (Jul 21, 2003)

Keep in mind that we are basically voting for McCain or Obama....not Pahlin or Biden. Even if McCain won the election...then if something happened to him while in office, Pahlin would not be sitting on an island making tons of decisions by herself. She would be surrounded by the same people that were giving McCain advice.....now I know that alot of you think that is the really scary part.  I have to believe that she would be following McCain's goals and ideals.


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## zogman (Mar 20, 2002)

omegax, The bluedogs have no power or leadership positions.

All the leadership are the far far left :******: ie Nancy and Dirty Harry.

Need I say more :eyeroll:


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

They don't have any power in the leadership (mostly because of where they're from), but they still have their votes. On the issues, we can count ourselves lucky that trying to lead the Democratic party is like herding cats.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Omegax many things said about Palin have not only been proven false, they have been proven to be totally made up to destroy her image.



> she couldn't think of Plessy v. Fergusson


I would never have thought of it because the only time I think about abortion is during a presidential election.



> Oh... it doesn't matter what's causing global warming, but we need to fix it?! How are we supposed to fix it, if we don't know what's causing it?


Well, finding out what is causing it is what federal research dollars are for. No one knows, but it's better than inflating your tires.



> I'm making a prediction about how it goes down tonight:


Not me, I'm not that careless. Neither of us have a clue, but you go right ahead with your prediction. If your wrong I'll remind you of that.



> I understand how a lot of you guys won't vote for Obama. That's fine. However, putting Palin that close to the presidency is dangerous and irresponsible.


I'll tell you what is irresponsible, putting a socialist in as president. Just for the sake of no argument lets say Palin isn't that smart. Who would you rather have in office someone who isn't very smart, but wants America to remain free, wants this nation to stay a democracy, wants this nation to stay a capitalist nation, or someone who wants to increase taxes on the working and redistribute that wealth to the poor? Lets say for the sake of no argument Obama is an absolute genius who will accomplish all his goals. Do you want a genius that you don't agree with accomplishing goals you don't agree with, or do you want someone less smart who has the same goals as you, but can only accomplish half of them?

Even the dumbest person can be successful if they are smart enough to pick good advisors. Sort of like Robin Hood who always picked someone better than himself. The democrats are sort of like Robin Hood too. They rob from the working and give to the lazy.


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Plainsman said:


> Not me, I'm not that careless. Neither of us have a clue, but you go right ahead with your prediction. If your wrong I'll remind you of that.


I don't mind being proven wrong. I rather hope I am, this time. Go for it. I'd deserve it.

Man... I probably shouldn't have posted a lot of that stuff in this thread. I think I threadjacked it pretty bad. I'll leave it up to somebody with better judgment than myself as to whether we should start a new thread for this.

See... I don't see "Socialism" around every turn. Painting every government program as if it'll cause us to turn into the Soviet Union bothers me. There are things the government does really well (there are also things it badly mismanages). There are so many things that we accept as a function of government that can be construed as socialism that saying Obama's a "socialist" rings hollow to me.

As a side note: I used to stay the heck out of the politics forum because I thought it would be one big dog-pile on me. I'm actually having fun! I hope you guys are too!


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

> As a side note: I used to stay the heck out of the politics forum because I thought it would be one big dog-pile on me. I'm actually having fun! I hope you guys are too!


That won't happen neither I nor Plainsman would allow personal attacks although the subject of a post is fair game.

Glad your having fun, its an interesting topic politics.

I wish I was up there hunting though :beer: [/quote]


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## Bgunit68 (Dec 26, 2006)

I wasn't attacking either. I like talking to everyone. I even miss Ryan being out here. Where has he been? It's always good to hear the other side of things. It spices this thread up. But, if it seemed like I was attacking I apologize. I didn't mean too.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> As a side note: I used to stay the heck out of the politics forum because I thought it would be one big dog-pile on me. I'm actually having fun! I hope you guys are too!


I'm having a good time, and I'm happy you are too. We may get all over your predictions, but not you personally. 
Example:


> See... I don't see "Socialism" around every turn.


Answer: You don't see it around the corner because it's already here. 



> I don't mind being proven wrong. I rather hope I am, this time. Go for it. I'd deserve it.


Now that attitude I have to commend you for. I am happiest when I am wrong about a person I think isn't good. On the other hand I like optimists and pessimists. I always tell people optimist build airplanes and pessimists built parachutes. At the speed we are headed towards total socialism we need a pessimist to build some brakes for our government.


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