Ifill was AWFUL

[Krashkopf]

She asked compound, convoluted questions.

She always asked Biden to respond first - giving Palin two minutes to remember her scripted answer.

And, she NEVER called Palin on it when Palin did not answer the question asked, but instead went into a scripted response to a question that was NOT asked. By my count, that happened at least 4 times.

Clearly, the GOP tactic of "working the ref" by whining, loudly, about Ifill's yet to be written book, was successful in intimidating Ifill into not doing her job as debate moderator.

[WinkyDink]

1. I agree. At one point I noted Ifill was stumbling through her own question. Not smooth or in control

[hexola]

16. Yeah - it was like she hadn't rehearsed her questions at all...

She seemed to be searching for words - stammering.

Not smooth or pro at all...

[torbird]

37. Replay of Ifill 2004

Go back and read the transcript of Edwards/Vheney 2004, also moderated by Ifill, and you'll have deja vu.

She simply cannot remember the format. Also, asking two different questions to the candidates at the same time and then basically sitting back, stupidly self-satisfied and saying "go!" is bullshit. NOBODY knew what she was trying to do there.

Ifill was no moderator. She was just a card-reader, and a poor one. She took no interest in the answers or the logic of the debate, and just did whatever the candidates wanted.

But most damningly, Ifill proved with her BS questions that she was trying to look like the smartest person out there. She put so much extraneous information in the (really very simple) premises that it was clear that she just wanted to show off how much research she'd done. Ifill, in trying to make everyone notice how smart she thinks she is, forgot that nobody came to see her.

I'm calling PBS today to tell them not to bother contacting me for any more donations until this dummy is off the payroll.

[LibraLiz1973]

51. I thought the same thing. Her questions had no flow.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. Ifill is useless, which is why both campaigns signed on to her

really, she's an empty suit.

[jpgray]

3. I used to agree, but I think the major villain is the constraining format

The questions were convoluted as you say, and lost much of their direction and force as a result. Part of that was her habit of asking both candidates separate questions all at once, wherein after one has answered the part of the question addressing the other was often forgotten. Moreover, she often explained specifics of the issue as part of the question, which often wasted time and provided Palin an escape hatch.

But really, the format was a huge boon to the candidate who required the most coaching. The questions being solely on the major issues of the day and the lack of required specifics was possibly also the fault of the 90-second time limit. I've never really cared for Ifill, but she was in an unenviable position here.

[Ninga]

19. You are correct. It was the format both sides agreed to, not Ifil.

[grannie4peace]

4. i thought she was 100% better than the first moderator!!!!

[Krashkopf]

6. Shirley, you jest.

I thought the first debate was one of the best Presidential Debates ever, and I have seen EVERY presidential debate going back to Carter v. Ford in 1976. That was due in no small part to the great job Jim Lerher did as moderator.

[grannie4peace]

8. i was sitting on the edge of the couch wanting to kill mcshit during the first

debate. in this one i thought it was fairer than the first one- i thought biden held her in check very well. and all her cliches showed as just that!!!!! sorry i didn't agree with you.

[goclark]

48. I agree ~ she didn't bother me at all

I liked the format with no claps.

We were able to follow the debate easily and Ifill did not seem to "get in the way" of the information.

She was OK with me.

It was crystal clear to us as we listened that Sarah was/is an air head.

[JTFrog]

5. I didn't see it that way. There were questions Palin had to respond to first.

And it's not really her job to "call" anyone on anything.

She can give the candidates another opportunity to answer a question, but it's not her job to judge the candidates.

A good example is when Biden called Palin on her non answers. That's HIS job in the debate. Gwen then again tried to ask Palin to answer the question again:

BIDEN: The charge is absolutely not true. Barack Obama did not vote to raise taxes. The vote she's referring to, John McCain voted the exact same way. It was a budget procedural vote. John McCain voted the same way. It did not raise taxes. Number two, using the standard that the governor uses, John McCain voted 477 times to raise taxes. It's a bogus standard it but if you notice, Gwen, the governor did not answer the question about deregulation, did not answer the question of defending John McCain about not going along with the deregulation, letting Wall Street run wild. He did support deregulation almost across the board. That's why we got into so much trouble.

IFILL: Would you like to have an opportunity to answer that before we move on?

PALIN: I'm still on the tax thing because I want to correct you on that again. And I want to let you know what I did as a mayor and as a governor. And I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also.] As mayor, every year I was in office I did reduce taxes. I eliminated personal property taxes and eliminated small business inventory taxes and as governor we suspended our state fuel tax. We did all of those things knowing that that is how our economy would be heated up. Now, as for John McCain's adherence to rules and regulations and pushing for even harder and tougher regulations, that is another thing that he is known for though. Look at the tobacco industry. Look at campaign finance reform.


That's Palin's debate style. Evade questions and turn them into some sort of personal anecdote. She as much as admits it above. I think Biden did a good job of calling her out on it all night.

[Efilroft Sul]

21. Joe did do a good job of calling her out all night.

However, he could have scored a knockout punch if he said, "If Governor Palin doesn't want to play by the rules of the debate, why should anyone believe that she or Senator McCain would follow the law if elected? We've had eight years of that and look where we are."

[Supersedeas]

45. Few and far between - not until Ifill seem to realize herself how disproportionate the 1st questions

were. But the Palin took it to another level and not only insulted the moderator and the media in general but also the democratic process itself by saying that she would answer her own questions.

It is one thing to dodge and not answer questions and rely on talking points.

It is ANOTHER to ANNOUNCE an intent to disregarding questions.

And still another level for the moderator to CONDONE it by tacit silence.

With Ifill performance, the question is, "Why have a moderator at all?"

[Bucky]

7. Palin had to go first about half the time, but Ifill sure didn't call her on her dodges

And no, I'm not referring to Dodge Ziplock Palin, the governor's adorable 11 year old daughter. Ifill never once tried to get Palin to answer the damn questions. Palin controlled the flow of the debate. Ifill can moderate journalists on her show good enough, because they all want to show off how smart they are. She can't handle a tap dancer like Palin who speaks empty conservative platitudes with such darn-tootin' conviction.

[uponit7771]

9. Agreed!!! Her questions were from punditry not from main stream America

[Norrin Radd]

10. If they must get someone from PBS, I'd rather it were Moyers.

[GoesTo11]

11. Ifill was humiliated by Palin

Palin to Ifill: "I guess that was your lame attempt at a joke. So funny I forgot to laugh."

Palin to Ifill: "I'm not going to even answer your questions."

[TornadoTN]

15. Ifil let Sarah run the show - plain and simple

I really don't care now because its quite obvious that Biden destroyed her by any stretch of the imagination as far as anything substantive goes. But it really goes to show you how much of the fear of "gawd" that they put into Ifil leading up to the debate. Her questions were weak, generic and she didn't control the flow of the debate. She let Sarah march all over the place with her "answers" and turn it into a partisan speech rather than a debate.

What frustrated me was that Ifil was quick to put Biden back on task but she never bothered to do it with Sarah.

[Mabus]

28. Nicely and succinctly put.

You put into words what I was thinking.

[Virginia Dare]

23. Biden even tried to rescue her from that rude remark......n/t

[City Lights]

12. The faux outrage and attacks from the right wing effectively neutered her. nt

[DefenseLawyer]

13. I thought she was terrible in the Cheney/Edwards in 2004

I don't think anybody "got to her" this time, though I certainly agree she was awful.

[Efilroft Sul]

14. I'm still trying to decide what kind of marbles were in her mouth.

Were they shooters or...?

[jules1962]

18. just wondering

Who was moderating this? Ifill let Palin by with not answering the questions and that is a disservice to all Americans. Sarah would just answer what she wanted and even went so far as to put in talking points about things that were not asked. Shame on you Gwen.:spank:

[MissDeeds]

40. I agree

Ifill let Palin reconstruct the rules of the debate to suit herself. When she looked at the camera and announced that she wasn't going to answer the questions the way the moderator wanted, but was going to "speak to the American people", Ifill should have stopped her right then and there and reminded her of the rules. Ifill gave Palin full rein to use the 'debate' as a platform for spewing her talking points. She did not have to answer the questions put to her and was permitted to address other topics instead. There were two miserable failures Thursday night - Palin and Ifill.

Democrats should be crying foul.

[bushisanidiot]

17. Ifill was in pain. I think she did a good job under the circumstances.

Many people who had that kind of injury would have found a replacement, but she stuck to her guns and followed through with her job.

[stuntcat]

43. yah

I was wondering if she'd even have to be heavily medicated.

She did call Palin out once in the beginning for not answering her question, and soon after that it just became pointless to look for real answers from her. I think people made such a big deal about Ifill counting on Obama's win that she actually had to handle Palin more carefully.

[abburdlen]

20. At first I would have agreed

I thought she should have insisted Palin at least stay within moose-hunting range of the questions.
But as the debate went on it made sense to let Palin go on as long as she wanted. The more that woman spoke the worse she did.
Imagine if Ifill did press her to try to actually answer a question - the story would again have been about Ifill.

[FloridaGrl]

22. I thought she was very fair

[Virginia Dare]

24. She was okay, not awful, not great, just so-so...

she could have asked more pointed detailed questions, but she was probably straining not to seem like she was picking on poor Sarah the dunce.

[Buzz Clik]

34. The moderator is supposed to be invisible.

She was just fine.

[kikiek]

25. Don't forget McCain asked for special rules a few weeks ago.

At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive. http://funkybunch.newsvine.com/_news/2008/09/20/1891037-vp-debate-rules-changed-to-compensate-sarah-palin

[IDemo]

26. She needed to make a simple request and failed to do so

"I must ask that your answers directly address the question. If you feel you want to add further with something related to that issue, feel free, but only after dealing with the central topic of the question."

[Mabus]

27. I wish she would have asked Palin to stick to the questions asked

but I think Gwen was afraid she'd take heat for it and be criticized for "picking" on Palin. She let Palin write her own rules and I think that was pretty f*cked up.

[LynneSin]

29. And to think the repukes wanted her replaced

They should be worshipping the ground that Ifill walks on because she was a horrible moderator. A strong moderator would have made Sarah stick with the questions asked

[WeDidIt]

30. I believe she was constrained in her actions by teh agreement

the two campaigns came to regarding the format of this debate.

[lonestarnot]

31. I do not agree. She did not write the rules.

[torbird]

35. Really?

Because the format was almost an exact replica of her moderated 2004 debate (where she also forgot the rules almost immediately and asked nonsense, BS questions).

I think the problem for Ifill is that she wants to prove that she is smarter than the candidates onstage, and thus she asks long-winded questions that she doesn't care about getting answers to. The questions prove SHE is smart. I used to do interviews of athletes for a radio station, and my fellow reporters often fell into this trap: they'd ask an information-laden question that sounded important and showed a lot of research, but never realized that, a: the athlete they were talking to had no reason to know the answer, and b: all the interesting information was already in the question, making the answer unnecessary.

Bottom line: Ifill, just as in 2004, screwed up almost from the get-go. If she can't remember the format and ALSO has no interest in actually getting answers from the candidates (e.g., she will go to sleep and let Palin say whatever she wants, on any topic she has notes for), then Gwen should look for another job. She did a disservice to Americans last night.

[lonestarnot]

36. Yes really.

:eyes:

[high density]

44. Yep, she was just as bad as she was in 2004

She's not a "moderator," she's a robot with a voice synthesizer that can ask questions. A real moderator would try to make the candidates answer the questions instead of spouting of nonsense. The wimpy White House press corps does better!

[EstimatedProphet]

32. Disagree

She did what she was supposed to do. This isn't an interview. She wasn't supposed to insist that Palin answer questions in a particular way or to a particular standard. Palin gets to answer them the way she wants, and take whatever heat comes from her choice. And Biden is supposed to supply the heat - which he did.

[Buzz Clik]

33. Oh, bullshit. On all points.

She asked questions, and scolded both when they refused to answer. Palin answered first lots of times.

Jesus effin' Christ. We're starting to sound like a bunch of whiney freepers.

[torbird]

38. Oh, THAT debate...

...the one in your dreams. No, I didn't see that one.

Nobody here is alleging conspiracies or saying that Biden was robbed. He shone through the lousy work by Ifill and Palin. So, that's a big NO on your freeper analogy.

Critique does not equal whining. If you are fed up with this line of discussion, choose another.

[renie408]

47. Thank you. It isn't smart for us to jump on the 'blame the media' bandwagon. n/t

[Jersey Devil]

39. One question was the same as the Obama-McSame debate

The question about what would you have to cut from your plans due to the financial crisis, a complete waste of time.

She also did not ask a single question that would require anyone to answer in such a way that it would reveal whether they had a detailed knowledge of the subject. My bet is that she caved to the criticism about "gotcha" questions and possible bias by asking only about things that could be answered in a general way. It was tailor made for Palin.

[FatDave]

41. Am I the only one who noticed this happening a couploe times?

Ifill asks Palin a question.
Palin talks about something completely unrelated, but manages to attack Obama a few times.
Ifill tells Biden he can either answer the original question or respond to what Palin said.

When it happened (it was at least twice) Palin looked like she'd been smacked. She had.

Thing is, a very structured setting was agreed upon. Ifill could not come right out and say "answer the fucking question, you little twit." But she did manage to point out a couple times that she had not answered the question.

I don't know what some of you want the media to do. Should they just stand up and say, "You know what? Fuck it. Vote for Obama," in the middle of the debate?

[freestyle]

42. She was fine. She went back and forth between them.

She really didn't ask follow-ups, but did allow the candidates to engage each other's responses more than Lehrer. She also cut off Palin several times when it was time to move on.

I thought Gwen Ifill did fine. The Edwards Cheney debate worked a bit better because they were both sitting. There was less posturing going on. Otherwise, this debate was fine. Biden did very well, especially at linking McCain to Bush. Palin stayed relentessly on message. Ifill mostly stayed out of the way, throwing up a topic and allowing the discussion to flow through the allotted time.

[uponit7771]

49. 1/3rd of her questions were from punditry land not for mainstream America IMHO

[renie408]

46. Revisionism in action. No, Biden didn't 'always' have to answer first.

Palin went first many times. And Ifill did a good job of NOT being the center of attention and asking intelligent questions. She was far superior to Lehrer.

[mtnester]

55. MANY times Biden, who was scheduled to go second, was asked by Ifill to go first again

I did not recall seeing that happen to Sarah Palin. When she got a new question, and had to answer first, then after all rebuttals, got another new question, she was not asked to answer first again that I can remember.

I noticed this "turn taking" issue (it was really obvious) and commented on it during the debate...it was ALMOST (almost) like she forgot whose turn it was.....almost (I say that since it seemed to happen only with Biden)

Funny ("and I don't mean ha ha"...............yes I stole that From Johnny Cougar)

[BeyondGeography]

50. The format was awful and Ifill made it worse by being mindlessly conformist

Which is what she has been for years.

[Bluenorthwest]

52. The debate

was without an active moderator, and that is on Gwen. She simply did not do her job.

[Supersedeas]

53. Another salient example from the transcript of Ifill de-moderating:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/sarah_palin_joe_biden_vice_pre.html

******************

MS. IFILL: You have proposed raising taxes on people who earn over $250,000 a year. The question for you is, why is that not class warfare?

And the same question for you, Governor Palin, is you have proposed a tax the employer health benefits, which some studies say would actually throw 5 million more people onto the rolls of the uninsured. I want to know why that isn't taking things out on the poor.

Starting with you, Senator Biden.

SEN. BIDEN: Well, Gwen, where I come from, it's called fairness, just simple fairness. The middle class is struggling. The middle class, under John McCain's tax proposals, 100 million families -- middle-class families -- households, to be precise -- they got not a single change -- they got not a single break in taxes.

No one making less than $250,000 under Barack Obama's plan will see one single penny of their tax raised, whether it's their capital gains tax, their income tax, investment tax, any tax.

And 95 percent of the people in the United States of America making less than $150,000 will get a tax break.

Now, that seems to me to be simple fairness. The economic engine of America is the middle class. It's the people listening to this broadcast. When you do well, America does well, even the wealthy do well. This is not punitive. John wants to add 300 million dollars -- billion dollars in new tax cuts per year for corporate America and the very wealthy while giving virtually nothing to the middle class. We have a different value set.

The middle class is the economic engine. It's fair. They deserve the tax breaks, not the super wealthy, who are doing pretty well. They don't need any more tax breaks. And by the way, they'll pay no more than they did under Ronald Reagan.

MS. IFILL: Governor?

GOV. PALIN: I do take issue with some of the principle there with that redistribution-of-wealth principle that seems to be espoused by you.

But when you talk about Barack's plan to -- tax increase affecting only those making $250,000 a year or more, you're forgetting the millions of small businesses that are going to fit into that category. So they're going to be the ones paying higher taxes, thus resulting in fewer jobs being created and less productivity.

Now, you said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes -- or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been, you know, all of our lives, that's not patriotic. Patriotic is saying, government, you know, you're not always a solution; in fact, too often you're the problem.

So government, lessen the tax burden on the private sector and on our families, and get out of the way and let the private sector and our families grow and thrive and prosper. And increased tax formula that Barack Obama is proposing, in addition to nearly a trillion dollars in new spending that he's proposing, is a backwards way of trying to grow our economy.

MS. IFILL: Governor, are you interested in defending Senator McCain's health care plan?

***************************

Not only did the MODERATOR alter the nature of the original questions (something the dodgy politician does--thus Ifill was doing Palin's job FOR HER) to Palin, but the MODERATOR made the answer OPTIONAL ("are you interested in....").

[DeschutesRiver]

54. In some ways, Katie Couric did better at questioning, because she repeatedly tried

to make Palin answer a question. With Ifill, the answers were "by golly...there ya go again Joe" and other quaint nonsense and because of the format Ifill chose, it ended with the non-answers. Couric made a point to keep asking in the face of non answers, until it became clear that Palin had no answer to give.

Biden debated; Palin repeated about 50 campaign sound bites she'd rehearsed with little flashcards at the creek. No one made her follow the debate format, heck she said she didn't plan to answer him or the moderator in the way they wanted - "just gonna speak to the American people."

At that point, she should have been escorted from the stage and taken to a small room with a monitor and mic, where she could deliver those pre-planned sound bites continuously on some cable channel to the public. There is a time and place for everything, and this was debate time.

I think the cockiness, the apparent "ease" she had would have evaporated had she been required to debate, and provide an answer, not just shuck yuck yuck it up. She should have to pay the Debate Commission for using the debate as advertising space.