# Gwen Ifill to release book featuring Obama in January. WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966 "2008-10-01T04:11:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/181 "2008-10-01T22:48:34Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Uh tumuhfuhyuh yuhyuhuh Uhfuh! That’s better. Much better. Not good yet, but an improvement. Keep at it, bucko. You can do it! ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/182 "2008-10-01T22:49:25Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I am just a bit curious as to HOW you think she will tilt the debate in Biden’s favor? And what effect it would have on the campaign. By asking Palin questions that will require her to know stuff about things, or to have an opinion on an issue. You know, things that your average Joe Six-Pack doesn’t care about. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/183 "2008-10-01T23:00:19Z")
**Magellan** , the McCain administration has said that they don’t have a problem with Ifill moderating the debate, despite her book and whatever conflict of interest it may or may not present. Do you still insist that she shouldn’t moderate the debate? Why do you disagree with McCain and his handlers? And are you going to use it as an excuse for any potential poor performance from Palin during the debate? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/184 "2008-10-01T23:10:18Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I’m a registered Independent. Never voted for Bush and am not thrilled with McCain, so you’d be wrong there. But you’re really not happy with the democrats are you? > [@](#): > > Now you know what I’v been spouting my whole life? Tell me, what did I tell my boss when he told me he wanted Bush as the candidate in 2000? You said, "No, I’m voting for Nader. Then you clubbed a baby seal and base jumped off of the Sears Tower wearing an American flag and a baby Jesus butt plug. _Amiright_? > [@](#): > > It _could_, yes. But that’s not the point. The point is that based on book sales have gone in the past, and barring some unseen event, book sales will go up if Obama wins. Logic favors that scenario, even if it allows for the other. I find your logic unconvincing. > [@](#): > > McCain is a failure? Wow, you have an interesting definition of failure. Not one based on reality, but interesting nonetheless. Have you been watching him? He’s mortgaged everything he stood for to suck gently on Bush’s royal prepuce. He’s a fucking joke. I might have voted for him in 2000, but now he’s sold everything he’s stood for, to get one last shot at the brass ring. He’s a fucking hypocrite and I should add, a terrible jet pilot. 😃 > [@](#): > > And to say that Pain is uneducated simply reveals YOUR partisan bias. You may believe she is not up to the job, or not sufficiently educated from and academics standpoint for it, but “un”. No, hun, sorry. I’m sorry, wouldn’t “not sufficiently educated from an academics standpoint” be very similar to uneducated? I’m not saying she can’t read. I’m saying she doesn’t understand politics and complicated issues. She seems to not read. You know, like the hooples that the Republicans love to court, ignorant angry people. > [@](#): > > “ignorant ass” should be hyphenated. So, I guess that makes you the ignorant one. I win!:rolleyes: Ah Burn! ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/185 "2008-10-01T23:10:35Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > **Magellan** , the McCain administration has said that they don’t have a problem with Ifill moderating the debate, despite her book and whatever conflict of interest it may or may not present. > > Do you still insist that she shouldn’t moderate the debate? Why do you disagree with McCain and his handlers? And are you going to use it as an excuse for any potential poor performance from Palin during the debate? Excellent questions. I can’t speak for the McCain camp, but if they truly found about this recently, they’re doing the right thing. My guess is that they were reluctant to raise the issue for fear that the people like those here on the Dope would work themsleves into a froth. Especially with their other criticisms of the press. I haven’t insisted that she not moderate the debate. I think she should have recused herself long ago. Given the timing, I think it best that she offer some full disclosure prior to the questioning. I’ll reserve my judgment on the degree of bias, if any, until after the debate. At this point, I will not be surprised if it is not there. But that still doesn’t change the fact that given her book deal, she should have recused herself. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/186 "2008-10-01T23:16:16Z")
So despite the fact that both campaigns have agreed that she’s suitable as a moderator, you still insist that she should refuse? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/187 "2008-10-01T23:20:26Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > My guess is that they were reluctant to raise the issue for fear that the people like those here on the Dope would work themsleves into a froth. Especially with their other criticisms of the press. I don’t understand your contention here. Both Palin and Fred Thompson criticized the press at the RNC, which I thought was a pretty unusual place to do it, and McCain and Palin both criticized the press as recently as yesterday or the day before. Why would they suddenly be concerned about these issues? ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/188 "2008-10-01T23:24:18Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] Because tax policy is supposed to apply to all citizens, and all citizens can vote. Writing a book that will make significantly more money if a candidate wins is something that a supposedly objective moderator should not be subject to. [/QUOTE] You make a huge, and unsubstantiated, assumption that Ifill’s book will sell like hotcakes if Obama is elected. A miraculous McCain win might serve to bump it more in sales, actually. Though it doesn’t exactly have best-sellerdom stamped all over it no matter, _who_ wins. It’s a ludicrous stretch to claim Ifill has a financial conflict of interest. I still maintain Ifill wasn’t wisest choice of moderator, for reasons amply demonstrated by this thread. Like it or not, black, female and PBS is a sure formula to fulfill every paranoid fantasy of partisan right-wingers. There’s no exact parallel but the closest might be some Fox newscaster. How much power would the person really have to influence the debate, assuming the will to do so? Probably not much, actually. So it was counterproductive _to the debate_ to invite this kind of inanity. Why _hand_ leverage for controversy to either side, right from the get-go? Given the (quite predictable) tempest in a teapot about Ifill, I believe she, and the debate, could be very well served if she recused herself. It won’t happen, but a black female author pointedly refusing to be used as an excuse for anyone or anything could be rather excellent, IMO. Though I’m increasingly prone to dismiss the whole ridiculous production as so much smoke and mirrors anyway. I’m a shit. I’m going to watch mainly because the train wreck potential is so high. Even lacking outright fireworks, just the political spinning should be amusing in a distinctly shopworn way. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/189 "2008-10-01T23:26:48Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > I still maintain Ifill wasn’t wisest choice of moderator, for reasons amply demonstrated by this thread. Like it or not, black, female and PBS is a sure formula to fulfill every paranoid fantasy of partisan right-wingers. But she has moderated in the past during the VP debates and her sex, color, and network weren’t an issue then. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/190 "2008-10-01T23:41:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t understand your contention here. Both Palin and Fred Thompson criticized the press at the RNC, which I thought was a pretty unusual place to do it, and McCain and Palin both criticized the press as recently as yesterday or the day before. Why would they suddenly be concerned about these issues? For the very reason they’ve criticized previously. They don’t want to seem like whiners, and Ifill had a pretty good rep until now. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/191 "2008-10-01T23:45:21Z")
When it comes to the media, they’re already whiners. It’s a tactic the Republicans have been playing for years and Fox News wouldn’t exist without it. Your theory just doesn’t make sense - particularly the part about them being concerned about people who have always been strong Obama supporters, which is true of many Dopers. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/192 "2008-10-01T23:52:42Z")
Here’s my two cents: what’s the advantage in releasing an Obama-focused book in January? The election will be over. Americans have a short memory for losers. Obama will either be as exciting as Michael Dukakis, or, in the event that he wins, the news cycle will be absorbed by different things – maybe President Obama calling up 300,000 troops to put down the Second Secession. Is this thing just tardy or what? Maybe she’s more a procrastinator than a Democratic plant. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/193 "2008-10-01T23:56:02Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Here’s my two cents: what’s the advantage in releasing an Obama-focused book in January? That’s just the thing. The book is about African Americans in politics and looking at current situations versus the beginnings of the Civil Rights era. At least that’s my understanding. The book isn’t about Obama as Obama. It’s about the way things have changed in the political landscape. If Obama hadn’t won the primaries, the book would still be the same book. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/194 "2008-10-01T23:56:10Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Here’s my two cents: what’s the advantage in releasing an Obama-focused book in January? Whether he wins or not, by January it’ll be more possible to assess his place in the context of the issues she is talking about. Publishing it before the election is even over would be stupid, nevermind the further questions that would raise about her objectivity. I guess her publisher isn’t too concerned that the market for the book will disappear if he loses. Maybe because the book isn’t about him in the first place. Ifill did say she hasn’t written “the chapter” about Obama. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/195 "2008-10-01T23:58:41Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > But you’re really not happy with the democrats are you? No. Particularly Obama. I was happier with Hillary. At least she had a better appreciation of the risk from radical Islam. And she’s not even Muslim!:eek: > [@Lobohan](#): > > You said, "No, I’m voting for Nader. Then you clubbed a baby seal and base jumped off of the Sears Tower wearing an American flag and a baby Jesus butt plug. _Amiright_? Actually, I almost did vote for Nader. Twice. And then again this year. I have great respect for him. I think his is one of the most admirable politicians we have. He’ll never get elected, but I wouldn’t mind giving him a vote to show the pols that people respect a man of principle and conviction. > [@Lobohan](#): > > I find your logic unconvincing. That may be. But my logic follows how books are sold and how they sell. If you have another string of logic that points to another scenario being more likely, I’d love to hear it. > [@Lobohan](#): > > Have you been watching him? He’s mortgaged everything he stood for to suck gently on Bush’s royal prepuce. He’s a fucking joke. I might have voted for him in 2000, but now he’s sold everything he’s stood for, to get one last shot at the brass ring. He’s a fucking hypocrite and I should add, a terrible jet pilot. 😃 You know, I see this a lot on these boards and I find it grossly unfair to the man. Just because he is no longer as appealing to the left doesn’t mean he is without merit, even by their own criteria. He went against Bush and publicly called for Rumsfeld to be fired. He went against Bush and told him that the strategy being employed in Iraq was the wrong one. He advocated a surge, and increase in forces in Iraq when the war’s popularity was at a nadir. He almost committed political suicide by going against the base and joining with Kennedy on the immigration bill. I would think that one could come to the conclusion that a candidate is not for them yet still give credit where it is due. Hope springs eternal. The pilot line is quite good.😃 > [@Lobohan](#): > > I’m sorry, wouldn’t “not sufficiently educated from an academics standpoint” be very similar to uneducated? I’m not saying she can’t read. I’m saying she doesn’t understand politics and complicated issues. She seems to not read. You know, like the hooples that the Republicans love to court, ignorant angry people. A lot of this is new to her. She has been a governor. She is now thrown into a much bigger arena. I cut her a lot of slack. Why? Because she has shown herself to be an extremely competent person. She went from the PTA to Mayor to Governor is=n a relatively short time. And in the process she freed Alaska from corruption that had been holding it hostage for decades. However she does it, she gets it done. I’d be happy of all our politicians were similarly "uneducated. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/196 "2008-10-02T00:00:04Z")
I’m feeling some sympathy with the idea that Ifill should step down as moderator. I don’t think she will actually _be_ biased–I’m not convinced by any arguments I’ve seen in that regard–but the fact is that’s it’s always better to avoid the appearance of bias. I don’t want those assholes to have _any_ ammunition whatsoever. **magellan01** can go back to pissing on his own face, though. I’ve got no problem with that. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/197 "2008-10-02T00:01:16Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > They don’t want to seem like whiners Which would make your complaint seem a lot like… whining? Ok, I guess I can see it. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/198 "2008-10-02T00:01:29Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] I was happier with Hillary. At least she had a better appreciation of the risk from radical Islam. And she’s not even Muslim!:eek: [/QUOTE] This is why people make cracks about you urinating on yourself. Crass stupidity is never an attractive trait. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/199 "2008-10-02T00:08:46Z")
It’s not like JM’s team didn’t know, or shouldn’t have known. The book was announced several months ago. The public nature of the debate will keep everything fair and above board. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966/200 "2008-10-02T00:09:17Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The book is about African Americans in politics Including Colin Powell. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gwen-ifill-to-release-book-featuring-obama-in-january-wtf/465966.md?page=11)