Who Said Gwen Ifill Was Fair?

The Vice Presidential Debate
Who Said Gwen Ifill Was Fair?
October 4, 2008. Sarah Palin had a number of expected challenges to overcome in the Vice Presidential debate on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008. She was under a great deal of pressure to prove that the real Sarah Palin was on the stage at the RNC, and not the imposter interviewed by Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson. She also had to beat the Democratic nominee, because her ticket was behind, and her opponent had an experience edge of over 20 years. Other considerations were also present, such as the pressure of being the first Republican woman to be nominated for VP, and knowing that there would be a hostile audience of millions waiting to pounce on any mistake she might make and use it as a reason that she should withdraw from the race in disgrace.
So, there was already overwhelming pressure on Sarah Palin, and she certainly did not need any unexpected problems. But she got them nonetheless.
The moderator of the program would be Gwen Ifill, a fairly respected newswoman for the Public Broadcasting Network. Sarah probably knew that Ms. Ifill had written a book with the title "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" and has a considerable financial stake in a Democratic Presidential victory in November.
Further, Gwen had not disclosed this fact to the committee selecting the moderator, a clear conflict of interest and breach of journalistic ethics, not to mention dishonest.
What was not known was whether Gwen would allow her bias and financial interest to manifest itself in the questions asked, and the conduct of the debate.
In the author's opinion, Ms. Ifill did subtly and cleverly attempt to give the advantage to Barack Obama's running mate, Senator Joe Biden. You be the Judge:
First, Ms. Ifill began the debate by announcing that a coin toss had awarded Biden the right to speak first. However, she also allowed Mr. Biden have the coveted last word with the final summation. Was that equitable?
The first question was about Capitol Hill politics, in the wake of the failure of Congress to pass the bailout bill. Biden has been a Washington insider for 35 years, while Governor Palin has never held a position in the Nation's Capital, so this question seemed tailored for the Democrat.
The second question was asked of Biden, and again was tailored for him, involving the polarization in Washington.
That's two for Biden, zero for Palin.
Instead of answering the softball question, Senator Biden took the opportunity to attack some McCain comments on the economy made several weeks ago, and then the Governor was allowed to respond.
The third question concerned the subprime lending problem, which is also a specialty of Senator Biden's as he has close relationships a number of financial institutions, and serves on several banking committees. Gov. Palin was given first shot at the answer, since Biden had been given first shot at the previous two questions.
So, Biden 3, Palin 0.
The next time Gwen spoke, she asked Ms. Palin if she wished to respond to Biden's off-track discussion of McCain's Health Care proposal. She did not want to talk about healthcare, but continued to discuss taxes, instead, and Gwen cut her off, and asked a double-edged question, requesting the Senator explain their ticket's income tax program and asking the Governor to explain the taxation of health benefits.
Now it was Biden 4, Palin 1.
Ms. Ifill blamed Jim Lehrer for the next question, concerning what promises the candidates would have to delay due to the monetary crisis. This seemed like a fair question to both, since there was no right or wrong answer.
Biden 5, Palin 1, Neither 1.
There was an element of unfairness involved with the response portion of this question, when the moderator unfairly summed up Sarah Palin's answer as none, and asked her if there was anything else. The Gov. replied "There is not." and explained she hadn't really promised anything. Even so, Gwen gave the Senator a full two minutes to respond, which had the effect of giving him a free question.
So, Biden 6, Palin 1, Neither 1.
Next, Gwen asked a question about the economy, specifically a bill passed last year that made it harder for people to declare bankruptcy. This is another question tailored for Biden who claims to be an expert on the economy.
Biden 7, Palin 1, Neither 1.
The next question was on climate change, another well-known weakness of Palin's that Democrats have targeted.
Biden 8, Palin 1, Neither 1.
The next question was also a softball for Biden about Coal, allowing him to brand as a lie an allegation that he doesn't support coal production.
Biden 9, Palin 1, Neither 1.
The next question, on same-sex marriage produced no noticeable difference in positions.
Biden 9, Palin 1, Neither 2.
The next question was on the Iraq war, which also favors Biden, because the American people overwhelmingly favor withdrawal, which is the Democrat plan.
Biden 10, Palin 1, Neither 2.
The next question on Iraq and Pakistan also favors Biden, a self-styled foreign policy expert, who has travelled to these areas at our expense.
Biden 11, Palin 1, Neither 2.
The next question was about Israel and Palestine, also clearly favoring Biden. Ifill even baited Palin by repeating Biden's assertion that the Bush administration's Israel policy was an "abject failure". She also appeared to poke fun at Palin's quip that Biden kept looking backward.
Biden 12, Palin 1, Neither 2.
The next question was on nuclear weapons, which neither seemed to know much about.
Biden 12, Palin 1, Neither 3.
The next question was blatantly complementary to Biden: "Senator, you have quite a record", and concerned international events that Biden was present at and deeply knowledgeable of. She also pressed Palin on points on which she was weak.
Biden 13, Palin 1, Neither 3.
The next question dealt with the fact that the two VP candidates had areas in which they disagree with the Presidential candidate, and what they would do if the President died. Seems like a fair question on level ground for both.
Biden 13, Palin 1, Neither 4.
In the next question, Ifill brought up Palin's remark that someone had to explain to her what the VP did and contrasted it with Biden's assertion that he would never accept the VP nomination. They both agreed they were joking, so it doesn't qualify as a question.
The following question dealt with interpretation of the VP responsibilities in the Constitution, and neither candidate seemed to know a thing about it, but again, it is not much of a stretch to guess that Gwen thought this question would benefit Biden, who is a lawyer and heads the Judiciary Committee.
Biden 14, Palin 1, Neither 4.
Next Ifill said the conventional wisdom was that Palin's weakness was lack of experience, while Biden's was lack of discipline. But the Republicans have been touting Governor Palin's depth of experience, not the lack of it, so this question had the effect of refuting that while attaching a weakness to Biden which doesn't seem to be much of a weakness at all. In fact, he thanked her, and used the question to tearfully elicit sympathy for being required to be a single parent due to the tragic death of family members.
Biden 15, Palin 1, Neither 4.
The final question asked the combatants if they had a long-held belief that they had to change. This was a mysterious question and may have had a secret agenda, but it seem to favor neither.
Biden 16, Palin 1, Neither 5.
After the final question, Gwen re-asked one of the earlier questions, concerning how the candidates would change things in Washington to promote bipartisanship, which is already in the Biden column.
Lastly, she asked for final statements, but gave Biden the Last Word, which makes the final score:
Biden 17, Palin 1, Neither 5.
It is no wonder that most of the polls indicate that Biden won the debate, even with some 2 dozen misstatements of fact.
When all of the questions are tailored for you by the moderator, it is hard to lose.