AMERICAblog: Poor Gwen Ifill, Sarah Palin 'blew me off'
blackwolf
· 1 year ago
They clipped Ifil's wings the day before. We knew she wasn't going to press Palin on anything. Biden still won the debate though.
WDemDem
· 1 year ago
I haven't seen anyone comment on this yet, anywhere. On MTP, Brokaw, when referring to Ayers, said he was in the Weather Underground in the 70's. He knows it was the 60's, like most people do, but I curiously thought he was cleverly making Obama 10 years older than the 60's by referring to the 70's, thereby making him an adult. Brokaw knows damn well what decade it was. The Tuesday debate will be a sham.
RonThompson
· 1 year ago
Gwen "Potted Plant" Awful and Brokaw are jokes, of course. But I thought the Tuesday debate is a town-hall style format where the questions come from the audience, not Brokaw.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
If it's like any of the others, the moderators will take the question, then reword and ask follow ups 'til they barely resemble the original question.
houstonray
· 1 year ago
I think I read an article recently that said something along the lines of Brokaw's job as moderator would be limited because of the Townhall format and the ability of the audience members to ask followup questions.
I suppose if we HAVE to have Brokaw, the townhall is a much better place to have him than the round table that is the last debate. Anyone know who that moderator is?
grandma
· 1 year ago
Bob Schieffer, CBS News chief Washington correspondent and “Face the Nation” host, will moderate the Oct. 15 presidential debate at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y.
houstonray
· 1 year ago
Thanks for the info. He should be fair...
okojo
· 1 year ago
Bob Schieffer's brother is ambassador to Japan and former partner of GW Bush in owning the Texas Rangers. If anyone has "Conflict of interest" tattooed on his forehead, it is Bob Schieffer. He is a good journalist, but he shouldn't be moderator like he was for the 2004 debates.
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
Tom Brokaw thinks he is hot shit.
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Ifill said that it wasn't her job to call a candidate on failure to answer a question. That's the job of the opponent.
LOL!!!
grandma
· 1 year ago
If it's the job of the opponent what did they need Gwen there for.....
hawkseye
· 1 year ago
Yeah, they could just set up a tape recorder to play Gwen's questions and Gwen could stay home.
percol8r
· 1 year ago
Can't say I'm apt to drink the Kool-Aid on this one.
When the right-wing machine went batshit over Gwen Ifill, I thought it sounded desperate. Ifill has a distinguished reputation as a professional and served as moderator in prior election debates. The brouhaha the right-wingers concocted was disingenuous, designed to lower expectations for Sarah Palin because they felt she was bound to totally step in it.
I don't see the need to lower expectations for Obama one bit. An attempt to smear Brokaw seems hypocritical and desperate -- and that just doesn't feel apt at this point or in regards to this candidate.
Remember: Both campaigns had the prerogative to refuse a moderator with whom either candidate had concerns.
Gwen Ifill was right today on "Meet The Press." She served only as moderator. Her role was to pose questions. It wasn't an interview. Ifill would have been out-of-line getting belligerent and aggressive with either one of the debaters. If one of the two folks at the podium wasn't cooperative or forthcoming -- he or she chose that route to his or her potential peril. The other easily could have addressed the behavior -- calling the offender on her/his bullshit. Or he or she could have let it go, confident that those watching would judge for themselves.
The latter is what Joe Biden chose in response to Sarah Palin's evasiveness -- and it was effective, judging from the fact that pretty much the entire free world came away with the sense that Palin was answering the questions in her head and not Ifill's.
I sincerely doubt Brokaw will pointedly pose questions about the topics you suggest. Even if he does, though, I have no doubt Barack Obama will be prepared and will respond just fine. Concocting a rip-off of the imbroglio the right-wingers attempted concerning Ifill is silly. It deflects attention away from the issues -- and, therefore, plays into the McCain campaign's chronic attempts to change the focus away from what voters are truly most concerned.
It's a tactic best left for Michelle Malkin. AMERICABlog is too reasonable, too sure-footed, too mature for such foolishness.
eclecticbrotha
· 1 year ago
I believe the ones who are hating on Ifill are just pissed because they wanted to see Palin humiliate herself they way she did in the Couric interviews, but in case you didn't know, NO FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS WERE ALLOWED. The McCain and Obama camps had already agreed there would be none. They made it as easy as possible for Palin and she still stunk up the joint.
Ifill was put in a really crappy position, made worse by Palin's openly announcing she had NO INTENTION of answering the moderator's questions. So, faced with a no win situation, what did Ifill do? She politely stepped out o f the way and gave Palin enough rope to hang herself. And guess what the number one story after the debate was? Why, it was pundit after pundit discussing her refusal to answer any of the questions - which made them even less confident in her ability to serve as VP, not more.
okojo
· 1 year ago
I think you are being unfair, John.
ikonoklast
· 1 year ago
I must have missed the story on Brokaw. Why exactly is he so in love with McCain? Because they're both great men of the "Greatest Generation" (puke!), and Obama isn't? Seriously, what gives?
tommytoonz
· 1 year ago
McCain threw a hissy fit, a loud hissy fit, during the Democratic convention because Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann were on air complimenting Obama. That prompted NBC to replace their joint appearances for the rest of the campaign with David Gregory, cough HACK! cough, and ask Brokaw to personally oversee communication with the McCain campaign in order to get them to appear on NBC for future interviews. Basically NBC caved because McCain whined and Brokaw jumped at the chance to massage salve into McCain's fake wounds.
lovepeaceandallthat
· 1 year ago
I remember reading somewhere, about three weeks ago, that McCain and Brokaw were seen having lunch together.
Can you imagine if a debate moderator was known to have had lunch with Obama?
triple7s
· 1 year ago
It would be the LEAD story on every channel, and every FRONT PAGE.
tommytoonz
· 1 year ago
He's not the only one, Bob Scheiffer, host of the final debate, has said that John McCain is a friend of his. You also might recall Scheiffer's commentary around the time General Clarke spoke out against McCain's POW experience not being an automatic qualifier for the Presidency, Scheiffer was extremely biased in his on air comments.
High Crimes & Misdemeanors
· 1 year ago
A long while ago, I wrote a quip about the media's 'failure of the follow up question", now we see the ramifications of that in this disgusting charade called Puppet Show 2008.... (oddly tweety thinks the same as I )
Folks if you haven't already seen the devastation, the treasonous acts of the media, then not only have you not been paying attention, you have done the proverbial head in the sand. But it gets worse. would you suspect that there would be a media that would outright lies to the American people? Would you? Would it challenge the very core of your belief system that the government you so cherish is out to destroy you?
I hardly think Obama will change this facet of governance. I hardly think your vote will as well. But in the arena of 2 party system, where we are forced to pick the lessor of two evils, we have come to fork in the road of self-preservation.
And as I continue to ask, at what point will the people rise up? When they loose their home, loose their money, loose their job, or loose their integrity.... You wont know when to rise up, because the media hasn't told you do so.
The financial system you have cherished for so many years, is on its death bed.
Hence my black band on the distressed American flag....
No truer words speak clear then these words: Crossing the Rubicon, The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.
lucky hussein
· 1 year ago
the media is not 'sucking up' imo, the're just doing what they are told..
nothingasitseems
· 1 year ago
Okay, if NBC is sucking up to the GOP, then please explain to me the entire evening schedule of MSNBC which includes Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow.
tommytoonz
· 1 year ago
NBC and MSNBC are two distinct organizations, one is not the other. MSNBC is also not universally available in all cable markets.
nothingasitseems
· 1 year ago
well, if you type in nbcnews.com it directs you to msnbc.com, so if they're not the same orginization, they're pretty goddamm close. In addition, how many markets do you actually think don't have msnbc now?
All Comments
I suppose if we HAVE to have Brokaw, the townhall is a much better place to have him than the round table that is the last debate. Anyone know who that moderator is?
LOL!!!
When the right-wing machine went batshit over Gwen Ifill, I thought it sounded desperate. Ifill has a distinguished reputation as a professional and served as moderator in prior election debates. The brouhaha the right-wingers concocted was disingenuous, designed to lower expectations for Sarah Palin because they felt she was bound to totally step in it.
I don't see the need to lower expectations for Obama one bit. An attempt to smear Brokaw seems hypocritical and desperate -- and that just doesn't feel apt at this point or in regards to this candidate.
Remember: Both campaigns had the prerogative to refuse a moderator with whom either candidate had concerns.
Gwen Ifill was right today on "Meet The Press." She served only as moderator. Her role was to pose questions. It wasn't an interview. Ifill would have been out-of-line getting belligerent and aggressive with either one of the debaters. If one of the two folks at the podium wasn't cooperative or forthcoming -- he or she chose that route to his or her potential peril. The other easily could have addressed the behavior -- calling the offender on her/his bullshit. Or he or she could have let it go, confident that those watching would judge for themselves.
The latter is what Joe Biden chose in response to Sarah Palin's evasiveness -- and it was effective, judging from the fact that pretty much the entire free world came away with the sense that Palin was answering the questions in her head and not Ifill's.
I sincerely doubt Brokaw will pointedly pose questions about the topics you suggest. Even if he does, though, I have no doubt Barack Obama will be prepared and will respond just fine. Concocting a rip-off of the imbroglio the right-wingers attempted concerning Ifill is silly. It deflects attention away from the issues -- and, therefore, plays into the McCain campaign's chronic attempts to change the focus away from what voters are truly most concerned.
It's a tactic best left for Michelle Malkin. AMERICABlog is too reasonable, too sure-footed, too mature for such foolishness.
Ifill was put in a really crappy position, made worse by Palin's openly announcing she had NO INTENTION of answering the moderator's questions. So, faced with a no win situation, what did Ifill do? She politely stepped out o f the way and gave Palin enough rope to hang herself. And guess what the number one story after the debate was? Why, it was pundit after pundit discussing her refusal to answer any of the questions - which made them even less confident in her ability to serve as VP, not more.
Can you imagine if a debate moderator was known to have had lunch with Obama?
Folks if you haven't already seen the devastation, the treasonous acts of the media, then not only have you not been paying attention, you have done the proverbial head in the sand. But it gets worse. would you suspect that there would be a media that would outright lies to the American people? Would you? Would it challenge the very core of your belief system that the government you so cherish is out to destroy you?
I hardly think Obama will change this facet of governance. I hardly think your vote will as well. But in the arena of 2 party system, where we are forced to pick the lessor of two evils, we have come to fork in the road of self-preservation.
And as I continue to ask, at what point will the people rise up? When they loose their home, loose their money, loose their job, or loose their integrity.... You wont know when to rise up, because the media hasn't told you do so.
The financial system you have cherished for so many years, is on its death bed.
Hence my black band on the distressed American flag....
No truer words speak clear then these words: Crossing the Rubicon, The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.