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She was talking about black women, not the entire black community. She wanted to know what the USG was going to do to address it. Basically, it is a matter of personal responsibility. Blacks also make up a disproportionate share of the inmate problem, which is even a greater problem in terms of numbers. Most of them however are men.

My point is that Ifill was quite biased in her questioning. Some examples from the transcript.

Question 5 -- Is Cheney saying a Kerry presidency would be dangerous?

IFILL: Mr. Vice President, a new question for you. When the president says that Senator Kerry is emboldening enemies and you say that we could get hit again if voters make the wrong choice in November, are you saying that it would be a dangerous thing to have John Kerry as president?

Question 1 -- The report you requested said there was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.

IFILL: Vice President Cheney, there have been new developments in Iraq, especially having to do with the administration's handling.

Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, gave a speech in which he said that we have never had enough troops on the ground, or we've never had enough troops on the ground.

Donald Rumsfeld said he has not seen any hard evidence of a link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Was this approved -- of a report that you requested that you received a week ago that showed there was no connection between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein?

Question 4 -- What did Kerry say about "global test"?

IFILL: New question to you, Senator Edwards, but I don't want to let go of the global test question first, because ... I want people to understand exactly what it is, as you said, that Senator Kerry did say.

IFILL: He said, "You've got to do" -- you know, he was asked about preemptive action at the last debate -- he said, "You've got to do it in a way that passes the test, that passes the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons." What is a global test if it's not a global veto?

I don't have the entire transcript yet, but the tenor and substance of most of her questions were meant to put Cheney on the defensive. Her questions to Edwards were given so that Edwards could clarify and rebut issues that came up in the Bush-Kerry debate. The global test was one of them. She made sure Edwards had an additional opportunity to address this issue before moving to the next question.

Oink.

I put this on another thread too, but why do Bush/Cheney never call Kerry/Edwards, etc. when they start the "No WMD, link to Al-Q, blah blah". There's the things brought up in the 9/11 report re: AL-Q/Iraq relationship and the testimony before Congress regarding ability to manufacture WMD. Are they just letting Kerry/Edwards rant and rave?

I see your point in general, but she was a huge improvement over Lehrer. And I still think Edwards completely fumbled the AIDS questions, regardless of her intent.

IFILL: I will talk to you about health care, Mr. Vice President. You have two minutes. But in particular, I want to talk to you about AIDS, and not about AIDS in China or Africa, but AIDS right here in this country, where black women between the ages of 25 and 44 are 13 times more likely to die of the disease than their counterparts.

What should the government's role be in helping to end the growth of this epidemic?