Posted on 10/01/2008 12:54:14 PM PDT by Red Steel
The wingers are in full ref-gaming mode today, hammering away at the idea that PBS' Gwen Ifill can't possibly be a fair moderator for the Biden-Palin debate because she will be releasing a book this January that's apparently pro-Obama.
But a few moments ago, John McCain said on Fox News that he has no problem with her moderating at all...
"I think that Gwen Ifill is a professional, and I think she will do a totally objective job, because she is a highly-respected professional," McCain said.
The McCain campaign has apparently been saying they didn't know about Ifill's book. But as Michael Calderone notes, the book has been public for quite some time now.
At bottom, though, debating whether there's any merit in the attack on Ifill is beside the point, because as this is really just a transparent game, of course. The criticism is about trying to spook the moderators into going easy on Palin -- a "time-honored form of pre-debate spin," as Ben Smith put it.
What's more, as a Republican operative points out to me in a moment of candor, the existence of the book is potentially helpful to McCain, because it gives McCain supporters a way of retroactively cushioning the blow for Palin, should she pull yet another homina homina homina in response to any Ifill question, as is her wont.
"If I were an Obama supporter, i would see this as a bigger problem for me than for Palin," the GOP operative tells me. "Now any line of questioning can be dismissed as the product of an obviously biased moderator."
Get it?
Why are we funding PBS when we have a financial crisis? We need a movement to have PBS defunded. Nobody watches PBS anymore. All they put out is drivel for idiots. If we stopped funding PBS and NPR we could give Treasury Sec. Paulsen a lot more money to use to create his empire.
I have testified many times as an expert witness, and if I had any…ANY conflicts of interest it was my duty and responsibility to recuse myself. THAT is professionalism… to stay on, as Ifill will do, shows a total disregard for professionalism.
McCain is just being the fool I’ve seen for 20 plus years in Arizona.
Pray that Gov. Palin can pull McCain’s chestnut's out of the fire.
There are many leading precepts, innuendos, implications and insinuations that can be inserted into a properly framed question that leaves the respondent very little flexibility. The moderator is entirely relevant.
If Ifill was professional she would recuse herself for the obvious conflict of interest. How many books will she sell if Palin becomes VP???
You are a died-in-the-wool, extra crispy nutjob yourself if you believe that Gwen Ifill wouldn't put you and the rest of us Whities in chains and make us pick cotton if she had the power, or at the very least sabotage your campaign using this Debate.
The same is to be said about Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and now Madame Pelosi (who has her husband on the pay of her PAC, a clear violation of laws she touted as being sooo for!!) If any of these jokers were Pubbies, they would have been hanged in the middle of Wall Street in broad daylight.
“I give up on you” -
Go for it -
I like the old mean and nasty McCain too - he had spark and was fuelled by fire we couldn’t see.
Now there are only embers and cautious talk unless he is
practicing a new strategy when his distractors are expecting temper - he is not giving any up.
He’s the pro - I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Good response by McCain. A good strategy.
The key was to getting this news out there. Then McCain taking the high road.
It may have been a trap for McCain, but he handled it correctly.
If he came out and complained, what would the media do? They would claim he was trying to delay the debate because he is afraid Palin will not be ready. And “B”, they would say he was racist.
He put her on notice, and that is the best he can do.
Freaking moron! Typical repulsivican.....always looking for ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
Strategery folks.
People will see what’s going on.
Me whining?
That is exactly what I am doing.
I joined a while back to study how things work in the U.S. as I was waiting for my citizenship to go through. Many of the writers and members here taught me along the way.
Only in the past year have I been more active. I know very little about elections and this is all new to me.
Agree with that take.
But it appears as much as he tries to take the high-road and be “bi-partisan” the MSM will always paint him as “McNasty”.
In Sarah accent:
“Good eeevening, Gwen, I’m lookin’ forward to thaat book o’ yours on Baraack Obama! I’m gonna be a little busy tha day it’s reeleased tho, soo I’ll hafta get back to ya on my order, okey dokey?”
A hit man is a professional...
I hope you are right. Gov. Palin just said on the Hannity radio show that she and John are clearly the underdogs and hearing this about the Ifill book only inspires her to work harder to get her message out to the American people. Hmm. Could be strategery. We shall see.
I don't know about that. It is still mostly about Sarah Palin. This is going to be her second chance to get around Obama's media firewall and let tens of millions of Americans to see what she is really all about. But nevertheless, MSM is taking a hit on this one and I like it. She should simply step down on her own. Well, given that she just broke her ankle, maybe I should rephrase that....:
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