VP Debate Open Thread

I'll be honest with you - debates bother me, especially in this campaign season. Like most of you, after the GOP convention I couldn't wait for the Palin-Biden matchup figuring Sarah would mop the floor with the old plagiarizer. However, the events of the past few weeks have left me with serious concerns that she's been mismanaged by the McCain campaign staff and the Sarah we'd like to see may not show up tonight. Consequently, I'm not even sure I'm gonna watch it. I may just tune in to the analysis afterwards and try and save my blood pressure.

One question from Obama puppet Gwen Ifill like "Tell me Governor Palin, who is the third deputy prime minister in Donkeystan, and how will his policies affect the political stability of neighboring Oxcartistan?" and the top of my head will blow right off.

By the way, just to show you how biased the media is on this debate, Carl Cameron reported on Fox that Reuters had called the debate organizers and asked them if they were going to check the ear canals of the candidates to make sure they didn't have a listening device in there where someone could give them answers. Of course, that comment was directed at Palin.

Byron York at The Corner sheds some light on the fears that the McCain people have really blown it with Palin:

Word is the prep sessions in Sedona have been going well, although I'm not sure what people would say if they were going badly.

But there's no doubt there are concerns about Palin. If you talk to people in Alaska, away from the McCain campaign or Washington Republican circles, there's a feeling that the campaign has mishandled her. For my story on Palin's time as governor, out tomorrow in the electronic version of NR, I talked to some people who have known her for quite a while. Although we were talking about other things, one of them took a detour to the upcoming debate; what was said was just one person's opinion, but it's an opinion informed by a good bit of knowledge.

"The McCain people have got her freaked out," this person told me. "She has not found her voice. She has looked like hell in these interviews. It's not her. I don't know what's going on. I know she doesn't have any Alaska people around her since Todd left New York last week. No one from the governor's office is with her."

"They've circled the wagons around her and got her in a bubble," the source continued. "They've got her flipped out. She's afraid to talk, afraid to make a mistake."

"You have to get her away from that damn cellphone and BlackBerry when you're getting her ready for interviews and debates. You have to create peace around her, get her to calm down and just breathe, for God's sake….If she does that, she's one of the best I've ever seen."

"I think she'll make a comeback with Biden, when she gets out there all alone. But I've just never seen her so unsure of herself in a long time."

Sending Palin to McCain's ranch in Arizona, where some of her family was with her, was part of an effort to "create peace" around her. Still, I think my Alaskan source's observations raise the question of whether you want a candidate for vice president who can be rattled by Charles Gibson or Katie Couric. But my sense is that Palin is pretty tough, and that if she has in fact been rattled, it's been more a one-time response to her being plucked out of Alaska and put on the national stage so quickly. It's a huge change, but she's adjusting. In any event, if you're looking for peace, the McCain campaign is not the first place that would come to mind.

Jonah Goldberg suggests this is "campaign malpractice". It's hard to disagree with that.

For those of you who will be watching and would like to comment on what you're seeing, consider this your opportunity to make your comments on this post. You offered some good stuff last Friday and I'll bet you'll have some good stuff tonight.

Gwen Ifill's Condescending Response

Yesterday was Gwen Ifill day at Drudge as he ran her photo and headline almost all day when it was revealed that she has a new book about Obama coming out and is set to moderate the VP debate tonight. Although the presence of the book was revealed earlier in September, it was not revealed to the Debate Commission when she was asked to participate, and her response to the criticism was basically a "screw you" to her critics:

“I’ve got a pretty long track record covering politics and news, so I’m not particularly worried that one-day blog chatter is going to destroy my reputation,” Ifill told the Associated Press. “The proof is in the pudding. They can watch the debate tomorrow night and make their own decisions about whether or not I’ve done my job.”

Perhaps a little humility would have been better...something like "I should have told the debate commission about the book, and if they feel a change is necessary, I'll cooperate". Instead she decided to blame the messengers for bringing up the subject.

As Jim Geraghty suggests, will we be able to figure out if her "job" is to be an impartial moderator, or to be a salesman of her new book?

John McCain wasn't very critical of the decision yesterday, but took a bit of a harder line this morning:

Hours ahead of the vice presidential debate, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized the selection of PBS's Gwen Ifill as moderator because she is writing a book called "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."

“Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it," McCain said on "Fox & Friends." "But I have to have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professional journalist that she is. ...

“Life isn’t fair, as I mentioned earlier in the program.”

That's kind of a clever response because he's hinting that the debate won't be fair. We'll see.

By the way, it's now two-day blog chatter, and depending how impartial she is tonight, it could be several more days of blog chatter. She's on the hot seat tonight as much as Palin or Biden. And just as a reminder of the stakes facing Ifill regarding her book, let me reprint this quote from Charles Krauthammer:

"If Obama is inaugurated she's hit the lottery. If McCain is inaugurated, she's just published Dewey beats Truman at book length."

I'm sorry, but I just don't trust her to be an impartial moderator. She has too much of a financial stake in the outcome of the election.

McCain Expresses Confidence in Ifill

I think this is actually a pretty shrewd move:

INDEPENDENCE, MO — Sen. John McCain says he is confident PBS reporter Gwen Ifill will “do a totally objective job” moderating Thursday’s vice presidential debate despite authoring a new book that is reportedly favorable toward Sen. Barack Obama.

Asked during an interview Wednesday with Fox’s Carl Cameron whether Ifill should excuse herself as the debate moderator, McCain acknowledged the potential conflict of interest but expressed confidence in the longtime journalist.

“I think that Gwen Ifill is a professional and I think that she will do a totally objective job because she is a highly respected professional,” McCain said during an interview at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. “Does this help…if she has written a book that’s favorable to Senator Obama? Probably not. But I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job and I have that confidence.”

Campaign officials said they did not know about the book until today even though Ifill’s upcoming publication was mentioned in a September 4th Washington Post profile.

Well, no wonder McCain didn't know about the new book. Nobody reads the Washington Post.

McCain did a smart thing with this statement. He effectively put Ifill in a box. She's now going to have to be painstakingly fair to Palin lest she fall short of being a "highly respected professional".

And it's not easy to walk that kind of tightrope with a broken ankle.

Gwen Ifill Breaks Ankle, Still Plans to Moderate VP Debate

This is interesting. On the same day Gwen Ifill's new book about Obama gets massive attention on Drudge and other places and only two days before the VP debate she's moderating, TVNewser reports that she has fallen and broken her ankle:

First On TVNewser: PBS' Gwen Ifill has broken her ankle after tripping and falling down stairs at her home last night, a NewsHour insider tells TVNewser. We're told Ifill had been walking up a staircase, carrying research related to her moderating duties at Thursday's Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis, when she took a wrong step.

We are also told the show will go on: Ifill is planning to travel to Missouri for the big event.

Those Sarah Palin conspiracy printouts can get heavy.

Moderator for Biden-Palin Debate is Seriously in the Tank for Obama

Michelle Malkin gives us a little background on the moderator for Thursday's VP debate:

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 Democratic presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out.

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate.

She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on Jan. 20, 2009 — a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States. The title of Ifill's book? "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."

Nonpartisan my foot.

Random House, her publisher, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. The official promo for the book gushes:

"In 'The Breakthrough,' veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama's stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African-American politicians forging a bold new path to political power.

"Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Sen. Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama-Biden win to buoy her book sales.

So, just how objective do you think Ifill will be? What do you bet she has a "gotch" question or two for Palin ready to go?

UPDATE: This story now has front page headline status on Drudge. Ifill's on notice that the viewers are aware of her connections to Obama and I'll bet she'll be a little more careful in the questions she asks and the tone with which she asks them on Thursday night.

Jim Geraghty has a suggestion how to handle obvious bias from Ifill:

It's a little late to replace Gwen Ifill as moderator of the vice-presidential debate, and McCain partisans might prefer to have a moderator with a glaring conflict-of-interest to provide a handy objection to any question Palin deems out of bounds.

"Gwen, that sounds like the kind of question one would ask if one had a financial stake in the election of Barack Obama — like a book about him coming out early next year or something."

But as if we needed any further evidence of a jaw-dropping double standard, we have to contemplate the sheer impossibility that someone who wrote a positive biography of McCain being chosen to moderate a debate.