Shocking conflict of interest: VP debate moderator releasing pro-Palin book

Not to defend Bob here or anything, but a book about the president would probably sell a lot better than a book about the guy who almost became the president but then didn’t.

Who is the “you guys” you’re talking about, Bob? If a specific person here has said that it’s “insanity” for a debate moderator to have a vested interest in the election outcome, then we can discuss that person’s views. But if you conceive of everyone who disagrees with you about anything as one monolithic entity (“you guys”) then you’re not going to have much trouble finding instances of that entity contradicting itself… but it’s not very meaningful, either. Which I guess is why you never actually state what you think in plain language (“you guys are contradicting yourselves by taking umbrage at X and not at Y”) and instead resort to the kind of sneering sarcasm in evidence here.

I would say it’s impossible to find any debate moderator who doesn’t have a vested interest in the election outcome, because the outcome of the election concerns every American, and arguably many non-Americans too. Even a person who is undecided between the two candidates has a strong interest in the best candidate being chosen; they just haven’t yet managed to get enough information to be able to determine who the best candidate is. The question for a debate moderator, in my view, shouldn’t be “are they indifferent to the differences between the candidates?” or “are they without interests in the outcome of the election?”, but, “are they able to be sufficiently impartial in the context of moderating a debate to be fair to both candidates?”. If she moderated the last VP debate in a way that was unfair to either candidate, let’s discuss that. If the way she moderates this upcoming debate is manifestly unfair to either candidate, let’s call her on that. But she’s not a reviewer and it’s not her job to adjudicate who wins the debate, and I doubt very much that she will be able to somehow “make Obama win” in order to sell more copies of her book, even if she intended to, which seems rather unlikely.

Normally I’d agree with you, but I think a book released about the “losers” a day or two after this election would be gigantically, humongously, ginormously successful.

And he tried so hard to get the reaction he was looking for. Unfortunately nobody cared.

Actually Bob, the responsibility for Gwen Ifill’s conflict of interest lies with Democrats in congress during the Clinton years.

I know this because Bill Clinton said so on Good Morning America.

(I gotta say, watching Bob try to sound reasonable, knowing that something was slightly off but being unable to pinpoint what, and then finding out what he was trying and failing to pull off was fucking hysterical)

I wonder if Bob maybe got a taste of what it’s like being not insane?

She’s writing a book about the changing political landscape, not a Palin-booster.
Actually, my question after reading this is: which future debate moderator is writing a pro-McCain book that you are expecting us to get outraged over?

As long as the rules of the debate are respectfully followed imho the moderator should not have a very big impact.

Bob, in America everyone has the right to be an idiot but you abuse the privilege.

I truly expect the McCain campaign to back out of the debate today due to this “conflict of interest.”

I knew this was coming. They were going to go after Ifill. I’ve watched her throughout this campaign season on the News Hour and MTP and she has never been anything other than completely fair and impartial - which sometimes even frustrated me as an Obama partisan.

Wow, Bob, what a rhetorical train wreck. Thanks for the entertainment.

Yup, Bob, the fix is in. Now you know how we felt about the 2000 election.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Some right-wing thugs pushed her down some stairs and she broke her ankle. She won’t be moderating.

Yeah, in the end it’ll be the crap that spews from Palin’s mouth during the debate that will take center stage, not the moderator. And I expect there to be lots of crap. Maybe I’ll be surprised, though.

I laughed.

I didn’t have to read past the author and title of the post to catch the conceit. That’s always the problem with the more ignorant ones, a lack of self awareness that their context juxtaposed with their message might immediately spoil the prestige.

Oh, Bob.

Bob, Bob, Bob.

Actually, it would be ideal for a candidate at a debate if it was public knowledge that the moderator had a major bias for the opposition. If the moderator had a vested interest in the opposition, it’s no lose for you - they have to go out of their way to not have the slightest perception of bias.

McCain’s comment on this: Ifill has a reputation for fairness and I’m sure she’ll be a fair moderator (just heard on the radio.)

I’d expect so, The McCain campaign knew she was working on this book before they agreed to her as a moderator months ago.

Still, I guess there’s a reason Jim Lehrer bends over backwards to appear objective (he doesn’t even vote).