***Do you think Gwen Ifill can be fair moderating the VP debate if the success of her ("The Breakthrough") pro-Obama book is based whether Obama wins or loses???
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The moderator of Thursday's vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out about the time 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," 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.

Talk about prejudice if I were the MAC camp I would demand another moderator then Gwen Ifill and I would tell them Palin will drop out otherwise and force them.

Greta Van Sustern says MAC camp did not know !



confirmed for us here on GretaWire: the McCain campaign did NOT know about Gwen Ifill’s book (I think I told them when I made my efforts - emails about midnight - to find out!) I am stunned….the campaign (actually both) should have been told before the campaign agreed to have her moderate. It simply is not fair - in law, this would create a mistrial.
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2008/10/01/oh-oh-6/

I think they should split the debate in half. Let her do the first half and the other half by a right-wing radio person.

Gwen Ifill broke her ankle Monday night falling down the stairs in her home so she even has a reason not to moderate other then her conflict of interest.
All hail the AGE of Obama

I agree, JW, that any appearance of bias isn't good for a moderator and Gwen Ifil may not have been a smart choice, but I'd point out a few things:

1. We don't know what's in the book.  You might trust WND's take on the material but I don't.

2. The McCain campaign approved Ifill.  There's no reason they couldn't have known about the book.  Guess they did just as good a job vetting her as they did Sarah Palin.

3. I doubt you were complaining that Bob Schieffer moderated a debate in 2004.  Shieffer was a longtime friend of Bush and had previously stated that his personal relationship with Bush made it difficult to cover him.  Schieffer’s brother was a business partner of Bush’s before Bush became president — and Bush made him an ambassador.

I'm guessing you thought that was okay.

. . . which means to me that they want a built-in excuse when the debate goes badly for Palin. Just blame the biased moderator.

I've heard that theory floated but I think it's more likely that they just didn't do any research.

Gwin Ifill the cleaning lady Remember IMUS

No, that can't be. They know who the moderators are, and if they don't, they find out.

Remember that time way back in the 1980s when I was coaching Reagan for the Presidential debates, the very same debates at which i would participate as a questioner? Reagan, he really was a "thoroughbred."

Come on people...get real.  It doesn't matter who is moderating, Palin will be Palin for good or bad.  The Moderator is a professional and will not be biased.  Stop drinking the kool-aid

So she has a conflict on interest and if I were Palin I would make a smartarse remark congratualting Ifill on her book about THE AGE OF OBAMA

"The Moderator is a professional and will not be biased."

Now who's drinking the koolaid?  

You do make one valid point however. Palin and Biden will either shine or tank on their own. It doesn't matter who's moderating, everybody has a certain degree of bias. Her's is just out in the open which is probably better than the facade of impartiality.

I doubt it will be on the NY Times best seller list if Obama loses
Maybe Oprah will put it on her book club to help her sister out

She stands to gain financially (hundreds of thousands) but only if BHO wins.

She should have been obliged to disclose this to the Debate Board.

If she did, they should have been obliged to disqualify her.

Once they knew, they should have been obliged to disqualify her, even if it meant delaying the debate.

Sounds like McCain had an opportunity to discover this and object, but none of the burden of responsibility should be on him.