Gwen Ifill, you did a good job, i'm sorry....

[FesterUSMC]

Dear Gwen Ifill:

I retract my statements posted on this site earlier before the debate, stating that your questions were going to be biased in favor of John Edwards. I feel you did a fine job as a moderator, and your questions were fair. Jim Lehrer could learn a few things from you, and he should take note. Thank you for being honest last night and doing your job.

CBS take note it's called a retraction, maybe you should try it sometime...

FesterUSMC

[4everontheRight]

Agree 100%...she was much more fair then I expected. I appreciate her a little more now.

[cwiz24]

I agree, Fester. I was completely expecting Gwen to throw some soft balls to Edwards and save the tough questions for Cheney (and I think Edwards expected that too), but she had some really good questions for both of them. Isn't she with CBS? Maybe her affiliation with CBS made her realize that people will be watching the content of her questions very closely, in light of the forgery scandal.

[PilloryHillary]

I agree....was negative about her at first, but she did a GREAT job.

[Noachian]

I agree. She did a decent job for someone with liberal/socialist leanings.

Maybe some of the negative feedback Lehrer got from the first debate filtered down to Ifill.

[Republican Red]

Agree. I thought she was extremely good. She actually asked Edwards some tough questions. Amazing. That is what threw off Edwards. He didn't expect to have to answer anything.

[dis.kevin]

I was surprised as well. She seemed very even handed in comparison to Laeher.

[RSADGE]

old hillary wouldn't want edwards to look good don't you think

[ChipShot]

"Ditto"

[kabar]

Not so fast. Read the transcript. You might change your mind.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,134579,00.html

[cwiz24]

Edwards did seem thrown off at times during the debate. My proudest moment came when Cheney didn't want to respond to the gay marriage issue after Edwards had his one minute rebuttal. I took that to mean that Cheney had said all that he wanted to say about that issue and that he wasn't going to use a personal story to further the campaign. He showed real decency and restraint and I was proud of him in that moment. Plus, it made Edwards look kinda bad for bringing up something so personal and obviously meaningful to Cheney. I would have felt the same way if Cheney had brought up Edwards' son.

[Marylander]

I agree. Ifill did an even-handed job.

[FesterUSMC]

Isn't she with CBS?

MODERATOR GWEN IFILL, HOST OF PBS' "WASHINGTON WEEK"

Transcript of debate on FOXNEWS

[cjshapi]

I would agree with your assessment on her moderator skills. She threw tough questions at each candidate, rather than forcing one to defend his position the entire time.

[cwiz24]

Oh--PBS. My bad.

[NordP]

Thanks for posting this thread. These comments about Gwen Ifill's professionalism last night, needed to be said.

GREAT job Ms. Ifill!

[roaddog727]

Agreed.

She did a fine job and occasionally empathized with VP Cheney vis a vis Edwards behavior.

[ClarenceThomasfan]

I agree that Gwen did a good job especially in comparison to Jim Lehrer's weak performance.

The moderator I am worried about is Bob Scheiffer in the final debate. I caught a portion of CBS news after the debate last night and he was bringing out the "pom pomS" and cheering Edward's performance while downgrading Cheney. Expect Scheiffer to lob softballs at Kerry all night long unfortunately.

[FesterUSMC]

She leaned a little towards Edwards and that is to be expected given she is a democrat, but she did keep the questions pretty fair and asked hard questions of BOTH sides unlike Jim Laherer

[TomGuy]

A couple of times Gwen's voice tone in asking Edwards questions seemed to indicate that Edwards/Kerry positions had her somewhat confused, and the question was asked for clarification---which didn't come forth easily.

Edwards spend much of the time defending Kerry positions and he seemed strained while doing it. It was sort of -- I have to defend the top of our ticket even though his position isn't mine.