Gwen Ifill’s outrageous conflict of interest *UPDATED*
Bookworm on Oct 01 2008 at 8:25 am | Filed under: Media matters
Let’s see if I understand this correctly: Gwen Ifill, who is moderating tomorrow night’s VP debate, forgot to tell anyone (including the McCain campaign) that (a) she is totally in the tank for Obama and (b) that she stands to make a great deal of money if he wins, and to have egg on her face if he loses.
If you find this as completely outrageous as I do, you may not be able to derail this train, but you can make your outrage known. Michelle Malkin explains how:
Ask the Commission on Presidential Debates if she will acknowledge her conflict of interest: 202-872-1020.
And here’s the e-mail address of Janet H. Brown, Executive Director of the Debates Commission: jb@debates.org
I’d actually go further than Michelle. I don’t think Ifill should simply be asked to admit at the start of the debate that she’s in an extreme Obama partisan. I think she should be fired as moderator immediately, and should be publicly censured and humiliated for hiding a major conflict of interest. This goes against every canon of professional responsibility, and that’s regardless of the profession at issue.
UPDATE: If Ifill insists on appearing, here’s a wonderful idea from Dennis Miller, as relayed by Thomas Lifson:
If, as I expect, the debate continues with Ifill as moderator, Sarah Palin should open her comments by congratulating Ifill on her new book, and asking her why she and her publisher timed it for Inauguration Day, as just suggested by Dennis Miller on his radio program.
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12 Responses to “Gwen Ifill’s outrageous conflict of interest *UPDATED*”
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Well, for whatever it is worth, I just sent a polite e-mail to Ms. Brown requesting that Ms. Ifill disclose the name of her book, the date of its scheduled release, and the date and manner in which she notified both campaigns at the beginning of Thursday’s debate.
We shall see what happens.
Deana
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If Palin’s smart, she will begin her portion of the debate by directly addressing this conflict of interest in a polite, non-aggressive way that shines the spotlight on Gwen Ifil’s conflict of interest.
Nothing disinfects like sunshine and it would immediately frame the debate in her favor.
I agree w/Danny L - such a response will also frame her as a fighter, so we have at least ONE on the Republican ticket! What’s wrong w/a little aggression, hmmmmm?
“First, Gwen, let me ask a personal favor. Regardless of which way the election turns out, could I get an autographed copy of your new book about the Glory of Obama?”
I’m sure there will be a table and display in the lobby so people can purchase advance copies. And I look forward to Ms. Ifill being press secretary in an Obama Administration. If not the first term, then surely the second, or third.
I think the answer is to let each campaign pick a moderator and abandon the pretense that the moderator is neutral.
>And I look forward to Ms. Ifill being press secretary in an Obama Administration. If not the first term, then surely the second, or third.
Great one, Zhombre!
Obama: I’m tough, but I’m skinny.
When you have government power and patronage, you don’t need such petty things as ethics or professional standards of conduct, Book.
The Democrats routinely produce leaders that rank in the bottom 25% of the human species. Where all the corruption, vice, weakness, envy, pettiness, weakness, temptation, and retardedness sits at.
Their system is designed to produce such people and make them into the powerful “elite” to rule over us all. It doesn’t matter what the Democrats say their policies are, for all actions on their part are to maintain the system.
I hope Sarah Palin is prepared for this possibility: Ifill will announce at the beginning of the debate, or if attacked by Palin, that all proceeds from her book will be donated to charity. (Of course behind the scenes the Obama campaign would have promised to compensate Ifill for any lost income.) That takes away the conflict of interest issue, allowing Ifill to serve up trick questions to Palin all evening.
I had always thought that America had the good luck to elect the right leaders to guide us through difficult times. Perhaps our fate now is to have another Jimmy Carter type presidency, illustrating the utter failure of liberalism, before a new conservative can rescue the situation. Three decades ago it was Reagan. If Palin has the right stuff, she could be our Margaret Thatcher. If not, Bobby Jindal will be the next Reagan. Either way, I doubt that Obama will have a successful presidency — expectations after all are quite high — and Democrats could lose the House two years from now, setting up Palin or Jindal to challenge Obama in 2012.
Deana,
Great comments. For your scenario to work, we will basically need a Republican House revolt, because the Republicans in the Senate are spineless.
There will also need to be a widespread recognition across the Republican party that the media is the enemy, and that recognition must be made public. Again, a public revolt against the whole status quo, but this one specifically comprised of declaring war against the mainstream media.
Then the groundwork will have been laid for a conservative presidential campaign in 2012.
But, let’s take a step back! Let’s take another look at this year! All is not yet lost. It was only two weeks ago that McCain had surged ahead of Obama and appeared to have all momentum.
It’s hard to measure the impact of the two triggers of the current McCain polls collapse: A. the financials crisis, with blame extended nearly 100% on Republicans, and B. the first debate.
But it’s still possible that two weeks from now we could be looking at an altered picture that will give us more reason for enthusiasm. I still think it’s fluid.
Oh my f****** god,
I just ran across this in a Michelle Malkin column from realclearpolitics.
Despite the protestations of her colleagues that she will be fair, Ifill has appeared on numerous radio and TV talk shows over the past several months to cash in on her access to the Obama campaign. She recently penned a fawning cover story on the Obamas for Essence magazine that earned much buzz. The title? “The Obamas: Portrait of an American Family.”
The link to the full article:
http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/theobamasportraitofanamericanfamily
Yep, by Gwen Ifill.
Crikes!