# Selection of Presidential Moderators **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 1, 2008, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979 "2008-10-01T08:28:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/61 "2008-10-01T18:05:42Z")
I think Obama must have been in the dark about this as well. All it will take is for Palin, in her opening remarks to say. “First off, I just want to say thank to Senator Biden today, and also to you Ms Ifill. Also, I’d like to congratulate you on your forth coming book ‘Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama’, and for taking time out of your busy promotion schedule to moderate this debate.” Well poisoned. (Pun intended) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/62 "2008-10-01T18:10:10Z")
I guess she COULD do that if she wants to look like a complete fucking cunt. The audience will mark their scorecards accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/63 "2008-10-01T18:26:39Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I guess she COULD do that if she wants to look like a complete fucking **cunt**. The audience will mark their scorecards accordingly. \*bolding mine. Hey Dio, I think you misspelled “republican!” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/64 "2008-10-01T18:40:46Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Incidentally, Catholics are not as monolithically pro-life as the media makes it sound anyway. Just like they’re not monlithically against birth control or the death penalty. Particularly in the U.S. where cafeteria Catholism is very much at play. (I know you are in St. Paul - ever go to St. Joan of Arc down in South Minneapolis? - the pro-Choice, pro-Gay, pro-Contraception, pro-Women priest Catholics - not all of them, they are not monolithic themselves - down at St. Joans would make most people’s heads spin in confusion. And Dan Chouinard is a reguar musician). ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/65 "2008-10-01T18:52:53Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Barack Obama went on Bill O’Reilly. There is no more blatantly biased and hostile interviewer than than that (and one who routinely publishes partisan, political books). **cough** Hannity **cough** cough\*\* ---
**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, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/66 "2008-10-01T19:04:35Z")
I don’t want to cross post with the Pit thread about this, but there’s no way the McCain campaign found out about Ifill’s book last night or this morning, even if they didn’t find out in July or August. Bringing this up the day before the debate was a tactical move. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/67 "2008-10-01T19:06:32Z")
Like I said in the pit thread, anyone who makes over $250K, and especially anyone who makes over $600K, has a financial interest in a McCain victory based on tax plans. (Actually, looking it up, anyone who makes over $100K or so will get a bigger tax cut under McCain’s plan, but the difference gets bigger around $250K and much bigger at $600K.) So why is Ifill’s financial interest a big deal, but Tom Brokaw’s isn’t? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/68 "2008-10-01T19:34:38Z")
Look, hasn’t the McCain/Palin campaign had plenty of time to object to Ifill as a moderator if they don’t trust her to be fair? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/69 "2008-10-01T19:52:02Z")
I wish I could claim this insight was original, but it’s from [fivethirtyeight.com](http://fivethirtyeight.com). The Obama camp should insist on a change of moderators. It elevates them above the fray, and it throws a curveball to the two debaters (assuming that debate camp has taken the moderator into account). And of Biden and Palin – which one do you think can hit a curveball? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/70 "2008-10-01T20:04:39Z")
Ifill broke her ankle the other day [(cite)](http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/gwen_ifill_breaks_ankle_but_still_plans_to_meet_em_in_st_louis__96072.asp), so she’s obviously going to be biased towards the McCain camp because of the broken bones he sufered in Vietnam. Plus, Palin’s husband completed a snowmachine race with a broken arm! Has Obama ever had a broken bone? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/71 "2008-10-01T20:05:40Z")
I find this fooferah incredible. It’s as if nobody knew Gwen Ifill existed before news of this book came out. She’s been a journalist for thirty years, has been a mainstay on various PBS news programs for a decade, and even moderated the last vice presidential debate. Until the news of this book came out, I know of nobody who seriously questioned her abilities as a journalist to leave whatever bias she may have at the door. Does this single book change all that? A book nobody has read? Just because it has “Obama” in the title? Is she no longer capable of being a fair journalist because she wrote a book which is apparently an analysis of contemporary black politicians? Should she be dismissed from her news programs because of her newfound bias? If she is still capable of being a respected journalist, I think she’s very much capable of being a fair moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/72 "2008-10-01T20:07:55Z")
Look, can we all agree that the timing of this is not an accident? The McCain campaign did not find out about Ifill’s book yesterday. Whether they knew about the book or not when they agreed to her as moderator back in August, they sure as hell didn’t just find out. Why didn’t they ask for a different moderator? The moderators for the debates aren’t chosen by the editorial board of the New York Times, they are chosen by negotiation between the two campaigns. The moderators chosen are by definition acceptable to both campaigns. So why did they wait until today to get this story out? The answer is obvious. They don’t want to replace Ifill with someone else. If they did, they’d have complained about it sometime earlier than fucking YESTERDAY. This is just a classic case of poisoning the well. They know Palin’s probably going to be a bit of an embassement at the debate, so they’re scratching for ways to make the debate appear biased. Poor, poor Sarah Palin, the victim of gotcha journalism by that awful Gwen Ifill. ---
**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, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/73 "2008-10-01T21:00:22Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > A study out of UCLA found that Brit Hume’s newscast was the least-biased newscast in the country. A later study found that the overwhelming majority of the guests – and the “All-Star Panel” were conservatives. The study you cited also called the Drudge Report and WSJ liberal. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/74 "2008-10-01T21:35:59Z")
Fuck it, call their bluff! Let 'em pick whomever they want for moderator! Hugh Hewitt? Fine. Sean “the Giant Talking Head” Hannity. No sweat. Bring it! Better still, give Mooseolini twice as much time to talk! Let her bring notes! Let her have “Fightin’ Joe” Lieberman to whisper prompts! Give her every concievable advantage! And then when she’s hoist on her own retard, we can watch our tighty righty squad flounder and thrash about trying to find some reason why she’s not a total maroon. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/75 "2008-10-01T21:41:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fuck it, call their bluff! Let 'em pick whomever they want for moderator! Hugh Hewitt? Fine. Sean “the Giant Talking Head” Hannity. No sweat. Bring it! > > Better still, give Mooseolini twice as much time to talk! Let her bring notes! Let her have “Fightin’ Joe” Lieberman to whisper prompts! Give her every concievable advantage! And then when she’s hoist on her own retard, we can watch our tighty righty squad flounder and thrash about trying to find some reason why she’s not a total maroon. I am Whack-a-Mole and I endorse this post. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/76 "2008-10-01T21:55:00Z")
What I find most interesting is that the rightie blogs are using this more as a reason to complain about McCain than anything else. (I don’t know if linking there is considered Kosher so I haven’t but you can find a Malkin blog on your own easily enough.) It’s a sign of serious meltdown in their ranks. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/77 "2008-10-01T22:24:30Z")
[Ifill responds](http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081001/D93HUHCO1.html): > [@](#): > > “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 said. “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.” Exactly. Ifill also says she hasn’t even written the chapter on Obama yet, but wonders why people will assume it will be all positive: > [@](#): > > Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama. > > “Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?” said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, “I don’t know what it is. I find it curious.” ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/78 "2008-10-01T22:45:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fuck it, call their bluff! Let 'em pick whomever they want for moderator! Hugh Hewitt? Fine. Sean “the Giant Talking Head” Hannity. No sweat. Bring it! > > Better still, give Mooseolini twice as much time to talk! Let her bring notes! Let her have “Fightin’ Joe” Lieberman to whisper prompts! Give her every concievable advantage! And then when she’s hoist on her own retard, we can watch our tighty righty squad flounder and thrash about trying to find some reason why she’s not a total maroon. What the hell. Let’s give Palin three lifelines as well. I like a fair fight. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/79 "2008-10-01T22:49:07Z")
Might as well give her a 5th grader while we’re at it. ---
**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, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979/80 "2008-10-01T22:53:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fuck it, call their bluff! Let 'em pick whomever they want for moderator! Hugh Hewitt? Fine. Sean “the Giant Talking Head” Hannity. No sweat. Bring it! > > Better still, give Mooseolini twice as much time to talk! Let her bring notes! Let her have “Fightin’ Joe” Lieberman to whisper prompts! Give her every concievable advantage! And then when she’s hoist on her own retard, we can watch our tighty righty squad flounder and thrash about trying to find some reason why she’s not a total maroon. That might actually be a brilliant tactic to take. Seriously. Why do you think they will not do it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/selection-of-presidential-moderators/465979.md?page=5)