Good point! The book is about blacks and politics. The fact that Obaba is black and running for President deserves no more than a footnote. Trivia, really.
Well, sure. She’s female, black, and a reporter. The right is going to say she’s biased.
If Ifill steps aside, the debate will not happen and I will lose some of my entertainment for the week. It would be a huge mistake by the McCain team, though, since everyone will believe that they torpedoed it out of fear.
This election season is really entertaining.
McCain Says He Has No Problem With Gwen Ifill Moderating Debate
That settles that.
Come on, Shodan.
It isn’t like Gwen Ifill was a suprise foisted on the McCain campaign by the New York Times editorial board.
They AGREED TO HER.
Understand? The McCain campaign wasn’t forced to accept a socialist from PBS. They agreed to her. They didn’t find out about her book yesterday. Whether or not they knew about her book back in August when they agreed to her, they sure as hell didn’t find out about her book yesterday. They didn’t raise a peep about it until today.
So the question is, why did this become a story today? Why didn’t they demand a new moderator back in August?
You know why, I know why, the American people know why. It’s pretty fucking obvious, isn’t it?
Of course he doesn’t. Because afterwards, he’ll be able to claim moderator bias. He’s got his post-debate excuse already lined up.
So the party line after the debate will be:
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Palin won.
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Ifill was biased against her.
And every commentator on Fox and Rush Limbaugh will scream it from the mountaintops. Maybe Ifill should let Lehrer step in for her. But dammit, she shouldn’t have to bow to this kind of bullying, to this kind of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” politicking.
I’m not tough. I’m just not a stupid hunk of partisan shit like yourself.
The FACT is you’re whining and grasping at straws because you can’t come to terms with the FACT that the bullshit you’ve been spouting and mindlessly parroting your whole life is ignorant drivel.
Obama losing could easily spur booksales, because people will be wondering how much racism had to do with it. Because face it, the conservative candidate is a fucking failure, his veep is an uneducated creationist and America should be smarter than electing those two numbnuts.
Please feel free to rattle off your ignorant ass talking points in response.
Let them scream. If enough people want to buy into the BS… well, the results should be apparent from the last eight years. But, that’s free speech.
We just need to be handy with the fact that the Republican presidential candidate himself said before the debate that he had no problem with the moderator. And be ready to repeat it ad nauseum…
Is it November yet?
To return to this idea:
Yes, perceptions are real. But there are a couple of things interfering with the perceptions in this particular case.
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McCain is being perceived as a whiner and wolf-crier when it comes to the media. He’s blaming everything on the media, which means that very little is sticking at this point.
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People can’t be swayed by a perception they don’t know. If they only watch the debate, they won’t have this perception. If they are the types to watch the media roundups afterwards, they probably already have a perception about McCain or the media.
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The McCain campaign has become transparent in their attempts to downplay Palin and play up the challenges facing her. Many will perceive this as just another deflection attempt.
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Ifill has moderated VP contests in the past. People tend to believe the people they know over the people they don’t.
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The debate is not likely to have any lasting impact no matter what happens, shy of someone falling asleep and drooling on a lectern.
To sum up, I don’t think the perceptions of this are that cut and dried.
[QUOTE=jsgoddess]
Well, sure. She’s female, black, and a reporter. The right is going to say she’s biased.
QUOTE]
The problem isn’t that she black and female (though that’s ample ‘evidence’ of bias for the fringe right, and too many who aren’t fringe).
The problem is that she wrote a book that, accurately or not, has been portrayed as complimentary toward Obama. Is it? I’m not sure that it matters. Of course it matters a hell of a lot to Ifill, poli sci students, wonks, some academics and general readers. But those folks aren’t the target audience of the debates anyway.
The debate’s target audience is the great undecided middle. (Though Palin may opt for shoring up eroding support among their ‘base’. Be interesting to watch.) Anyway, the sheer fact that Ifill wrote a book about blacks’ participation in politics will be seized as ‘proof’ of bias. The actual contents of the book don’t matter. Ifill’s actual track record as a journalist doesn’t matter.
Ifill should step aside as moderator, not because it’s fair or right, but for the debate process itself. Doing so would remove at least that convenient hook for accusations that the debate was biased from the get-go. It’s the old Caeser’s wife thing.*
I doubt the debate would halt just due to a change in moderator, particularly if the change supposedly favors Palin.
*Fair being fair, my eyebrows might go up if an author of, say, a book on POWs was chosen as a moderater. Very probably fine but a questionable choice when so many others don’t have the baggage.
Unless Iffill is obviously biased during the debate and/or one of the candidates makes a huge blunder, this debate will do almost nothing to deciding the election.
Look, the McCain camp clearly only found out about the book today, and clearly they only found out that Ifill works for the dreaded PBS today, as well. Otherwise they never would have agreed to allow her to moderate!
In fact, I think McCain’s people only just recently learned that she was a woman… and clearly they didn’t know she was black. These facts only now came to light to the campaign, thanks to McCain’s vetting committee being freed up after having done such a bang-up job looking into Sarah Palin.
[sarcasm OFF]
Nah…just more political bullshit.
McCain of course takes the high road and says he has confidence in her. Smart play.
His hordes will cry foul no matter what.
This became a “big deal” now because it is too late to get a new moderator. The campaigns have to agree on whoever it is and any moderator worth their salt would want some prep time.
The LAST thing McCain wants anyway is a new moderator. As mentioned if they were actually bothered by this they have had ample time to bring it up as it beggars belief to think they really only just now figured out Ifill wrote a book. Ifill fits the bill perfectly for them. No matter how Palin does she has an “out”.
Eggzackly.
One of the saddest things about the upcoming election is that it will mean a significant curtailment of the fun of watching magellan enthusiastically urinating into his own face.
I don’t know what that means, although I’m quite sure it’s insulting. Is it even physically possible? (I’m not a guy)
Yes it is. For a woman too.
Maybe in Hong Kong or Singapore, but not in Trenton, at least in my house!
ETA: I should have such muscle control!
ETAA: How can a woman urinate UP? Or does she get her face down?
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Lay on back
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Lift hips up and above head
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Adjust as necessary to get angle right as it comes back down
[sup]Can’t believe I am having this discussion but this is the Pit afterall and it makes more sense than Ifill being biased.[/sup]
Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. Actually, I could have gone through life quite contentedly without thinking of that, Cervaise.
:smack: I had to get curious. :smack:
You’re right, though. It’s more rational than the premise of the thread.
ETA: But the big question is: can a man sit or stand straight and pee into his own face, assuming he’s looking down?
That’s got to be one of the most bizarre tangents in SDMB history.