Why the heck is Gwen Ifill the moderator for tonights Palin/Biden debate?

Jeff Gannon was out of town.

And she's been reporting on Presidential races for years. It's not like it's news or anything. What? You want a moron to lob softballs to them?

Okay, so the woman moderator wrote a book that included Obama’s name. She's black, he's black. Must be a racist issue too huh? But the moderator is a woman, Palin is a woman, bet that means it's going to be sexist too right?

You can find a million ways to hype this up into something it’s not. Throwing whatever reason you deem appropriate.

Truth be told, she was agreed upon by both sides. If THEY don’t have a problem with it, why should anyone else?

Let’s just see how the debate goes. To be quite honest, the moderator does VERY little speaking other than asking the main question. So again, yet another tactic to turn this into something it’s not.

The only people who have read the book work either for Ifill herself or for her publisher. I suspect you're not one of those, as few publishing industry professionals go online to talk about how biased their company's books are, and thus aren't basing your opinion on any personal knowledge.

The entire "OMG, she's biased!" brouhaha seems based on the assumption that any book about Obama is going to be biased in his favor. Nothing I've read about the book makes it seem like a pro-Obama book - rather, it seems like an academic/jounalistic review of black politicians in this country.

Be that as it may - Ifill moderated the '04 VP debate and received generally positive reviews for her handling of it. Both campaigns approved of her participation this time around. The fact that she's writing a book on black politicians isn't news - even Wikipedia has listed its imminent publication since the beginning of September, so it shouldn't have been news to anyone who'd bothered to learn anything about her.

Glenn Beck couldn't make it. Sorry.

Would it make you feel better to tell her the same thing her coworkers did when she interned at the Boston Herald?

"Ifill first interned for the Boston Herald where she was later hired as an apology by editors after a co-worker left a note for her that said "N——r go home."[5] Later she worked for the Baltimore Evening Sun (1981-1984), The Washington Post (1984-1991), The New York Times (1991-1994), and NBC.[4] In October 1999, she became moderator of the PBS program Washington Week in Review. She is also senior correspondent for the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Ifill has appeared on various news shows, including Meet the Press.[6]

She serves on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Museum of Television and Radio and the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism.[6]"

The book is not a "pro-Obama" book and it is not even out yet. The book is about how African Americans have become prominent in American politics since the Civil rights movement. It would be impossible to write a book about the accomplishments of African Americans and overlook Obama. Collin Powell is also featured and it is not a "pro Colin Powell book".

The McCain camp knew exactly who Gwen Ifill was when they approved her to be moderator. If not, they did a worse job researching her than they did with Palin.

You do realize that Obama is not the one debating tonight, right?

nor is the book about Obama, it's about black politicians since the civil rights movement.

and one of the most important things to remember is that she works for a non profit news organization (no ad campaigns buying her editorials) that is scrupulous about fact checking! I think the most telling thing though was a quote I came across yesterday by a co-worker who has known her for quite sometime and said that Ifill has never ever given an indication of where she stands politically, even in personal conversations.

So if that ain't objective, I don't know what is!

Her book is about African American politicians, including several Republican politicians. She hasn't even written the chapter about Obama yet. Both campaigns agreed to her being the moderator a few weeks after the book's release date was announced in several newspapers and on a veriety of websites. No moderator is totally unbiased because, everyone has an opinion. She moderated the 2004 VP debate and, she was very professional.

She's writing a book about black politicians. Obama will be mentioned, because he is one. If she were writing a book about white politicians, or female politicians, would that mean that she had an obviously biased opinion in favor of McCain?

It's not a secret that she was writing a book, this was well known back when they were selecting the debate moderators. But they chose not to complain at the time.

If she does turn out to be really obviously biased in the debate, she'll probably get fired. We'll just have to see.

Get your excuses ready Republicans. Ifill's book has been known about for months. Curious it's only being raised now--one day before the debate and after Palin's sorry performances with the media.

Wow. McCain's comment got you. This is called SPIN.

Gwen Ifill, if you've ever seen her, is arguably the most professional and unbiased journalist out there. McCain knew her well before HE selected her for the debate.

this is all just political spin.

Watch her some time, and you may change your opinion. She's really quite good.

republicans and democrats both voted on this woman...she just came out with saying that she is writing a book not only about obama...but what he has a black man stands for...no one has read the book yet so we cant place any bias... she is a smart woman and I promise you she will ask all questions fairly...but we all know now that if sara palin fails they are going to blame it on the fact that the moderator is writing a book about obama...lol...we are all in a catch 22 so if your republican ill take it in stride cuz no matter how palin does there will be an excuse to get her out of it....