Judy Woodruff Comes To Ifill's Defense

Colleagues of Gwen Ifill are coming to her defense after conservatives, including members of the McCain campaign, declared her a biased moderator for Thursday's vice presidential debate because of a book she is authoring on black politicians that includes Barack Obama's name in the headline.

"Of virtually all the reporters I know, Gwen is somebody I have no idea where she stands politically. I mean, I have no idea where she is," said Judy Woodruff, who has moderated a vice presidential debate herself and works alongside Ifill at PBS. Writing this book does not present a problem "at all," she added. "I haven't seen it because Gwen has been working on it. But Gwen Ifill is a reporter. She is not someone who delivers opinion and I know that that is not the type of book she is involved in."

A virtual political firestorm erupted on Wednesday morning after it was reported that Ifill was working on a book about "emerging young African American politicians," which Republicans - including aides to John McCain - proclaimed compromised her objectivity for the vice presidential debate.

"You know, I think the moderator will have some serious questions to answer themselves if they do go so heavily foreign policy," said aide Nancy Pfotenhauer on Fox News, suggesting Ifill would ask questions that played to Joe Biden's expertise.

McCain himself downplayed the revelation, perhaps rightfully so. His campaign approved of her selection and ostensibly knew about the book before hand (it had been in the news weeks prior).

"I think that Gwen Ifill is a professional and I think she will do a totally objective job," said McCain, "because she is a highly respected professional. Does this help that if she has written a book that's favorable to Sen. Obama? Probably not. But I have confidence that Gwen Ifill will do a professional job."

Woodruff, likewise, touted Ifill's history of professionalism and objectivity, saying she'd brush off the criticism from conservatives.

"Of all the people I know who are unflappable she is not going to be influence in any way by this," said Woodruff. "The fact is in journalism today one has to have a thick skin anyway. And Gwen has a thick skin. And like all of us who work in this business you get accustomed to people telling you what they think, and they have that right, this is a free country and people can way in anyway they want to."

Comments

[filo]

Gee !! St Sarah doesn't have anything to say about Gwen Ifill??


Oh I forgot she's cloistered !!

[KimIslesboro]

They are clearly just playing a preemptive game of "Blame the Ref" (Bush Doctrine for Dummies)

The McCain campaign approved Ifill as the VP moderator on Aug 6, 2008
TWO WEEKS AFTER the AP ran a story on Gwen Ifill's book, including the title.
July 23, 2008 Washington Times, by Kinney Littlefield
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/23/smiley-faces-blog-anger/
"'We have an awkward history about how to talk about race in the nation and in newsrooms,' says Gwen Ifill, senior correspondent for PBS' 'The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer' and author of 'The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,' slated for publication early next year."

They are, therefore LYING now about their lack of knowledge or they are, AGAIN, demonstrating their utter incompetence as a consequence of their inability to use The Google! And we are supposed to trust these bozos with the future of the country?!

[mebble]

Exactly. More Gas Tax Holiday tactics. We're just idiots, remember?

[JAB20]

Ifill will be totally objective. She always is.

[GrainOSand]

To Mrs. Ifill:

Do not let the mind games disrupt your intended line of questioning. The maggots knew before they agreed to the debate that you were writing the book, and now as with all things, because the polls are not favorable, they are looking to turn non-issue into issue, not ready into ready, and gimmick into substantive. Rip both of the candidates a new one in terms of the severity of the questions because these are challenging times and either one could be president. The Right Thing, I mean Wing has no credibility when it comes to credibility in journalism, with my sincere apologies to any Right leaning journalist who does their work professionally such that I do not know how they lean.

We write opinions in electronic forums for no pay. Journalists (those of print and TV) get paid hefty amounts to deliver truth. All that we ask is give truth a chance even if that does not pad your pockets and your credentials any further. Give’ em hell Mrs. Ifill and take no prisoners and leave no stone unturned, get to the heart of the issues, go deep and long for truth.

[Spesabsquemetu]

Let the questions begin!!!

Go, Ms. Ifell.

Go to where NO JOURNALIST HAS GONE BEFORE!!!!

We hunger for the TRUTH, for ETHICS, for INTEGRITY, for THE RIGHT TO BE INFORMED.

LET THE QUESTIONING BEGIN.

[GrainOSand]

Spesabsquemetu,

I talk about love as a basis. From a distance, this may seem flimsy and fantastical fluffy and happy talk. Your comment allows me to expand upon the practical applications of love within a society, and how that favors the society versus burdens it.

Consider the master of her craft whatever her craft may be. To watch her work is to watch excellence in motion or in stillness -- whatever the moment calls for is always the state of the master when they are immersed in their craft. Masters operate within the realm of a margin of no mistake, no error, because they have mastered the ability to prepare for not having all answers in the moment. What does this mean? A master journalist has prepared to ask the relevant questions of the day at the time allotted or stumbled upon, for those questions to be asked. They are not unprepared to talk world affairs with world leaders in the context of what is going through the broader audiences’ mind, and delivering information deemed important to the consuming audience -- this is the function of journalism as I see it.

A loving journalist is objective because the truth is objective the perception is the filter and the lie is the ego. A loving journalist realizes the perils of the ego in the work of being a journalist and they realize the power of delivering the pristine truth to the public. Contrast that with a greedy corrupt compromised journalist.

[IndependentforObama]

Excuse me!! You are assuming that she will be questioning from some sort of left wing perspectiv­e.... She will not!
People make the racist assumption that Black people are liberal and democrats, yes there are a number of them who are.. but there are also some that are not. I doubt that she is a democrat.

The right wingers are not maggots because they are well versed in the art of political theatrics, the left needs to take a leaf from them and be vigorous in their attacks as well.

OBAMA/BIDEN 08

[GrainOSand]

"You are assuming that she will be questioning from some sort of left wing perspectiv­e."

How am I doing that?

"The right wingers are not maggots"
If you support a Party that deems it ok to character assassinate and to blow dog whistles of racism, then in my narrow perspective you are a moral maggot -- a virtuous vulture. Anyone who supports a divided America is surely trying to feed on America for the profit that division brings. The GOP is the succubus Party -- they sucking us dry.

Many of the great problems we face stem from our disunity and many of the great solutions we search high and low for reside in the promise of our unity. No, as human beings the people of the GOP are just like the Democrats, they are human and susceptible to all that means. They are worthy of respect and love as humans. On, verifiable morality I find them lacking in approach, homogenized, and in the case of brown Republicans, cause compromised, and rotten to the core. Just because they can lie well does not make them formidable in my book, just a good liar.

Obama/Biden 08

[corsair1917]

This blaming the "Liberal Elite Media" for EVERYTHING is gettin' old.

BTW, I think that from now on we should drop the "g" from the end of our words from now on when referrin' to the McCain Palin campaign..­. I mean does Sarah Palin EVER use the "G"?

[karela]

Ifill is right. It is a racist argument that because she is black and Obama is black that her book is of necessity pro Obama. There is no other way to interpret that assumption then that it is based on their skin color. I hope that Ms. Ifill will be equally careful not to over compensate for these slurs that she might favor Biden by being too unfavorable to Biden. The coaches son always has the toughest time on the team because he doesn't want to look partial. But I'm sure she will have given that consideration. This is a republican political spin tactic. The idea is to do their best to set up public opinion to see "poor Sarah" as victimized before the fact. For Pete sake, Biden can't address her 'cause folks might think he's being mean to her, the moderator can't ask tough questions because folks might think she's being mean to her, the press can't ask tough questions because . . . . . well, you get the point. Sarah is apparently not a free and equal adult. She can't be treated like the big boys. Who ever told any male candidate that he couldn't go after the other guy because he might make them cry? What a crock!!!!

[NotMcCain]

She already had that stigma because of (1) black (pro-Obama bias) and (2) female (pro-Palin bias).

Luckily, she's an actual JOURNALIST and will do her job while the Repubs do what they always do best (sling mud and smear opponents and anyone else they can find).

[jazzartkitty]

Gwen is cool, Palin will probabaly have an earpiece..­.I wonder if there is a separate party to check things like this...

President Barack Obama 08!

[eegie]

All this concern about Gwen Ifill leaves me to wonder whether Sarah Barracuda is really up the creek at debate camp in Sedona. It's like blaming the professor because you slacked off all semester and now you have to cram for your final exams!

If Palin were really prepared, there would less noise and distraction (speculation about Ifill's impartiality and management of expectations about Palin's debate skills).

Can't wait for the debate!

[blueshield]

They're just trying to intimidate Ifill, to pressure her, so that she may be a bit more reserved, a bit less challenging in her questions. Standard Rethug tactics.

[HalR]

I agree with your assessment, once again they are trying to intimidate to gain advantage. When you don't have any solutions or ideas to offer, you have to lie, attack, create diversions (flip-flop on dropping out,etc.) Typical McBush/Palin this is just more of the same. Time for Obama/Bidens ideas for changes.

[EvasDaddy]

Intimidate Ifill? You evidently know nothing about the woman.

[hellinahandbasket415]

It's getting to be a little scary out there. Every day it's like watching a move out of the underhanded cultish playbook that has become McCain's campaign user manual. If anyone so much as passes gas in Palin's general direction they are either communist or super-liberals.

[LMT]

I just pray that Gwen will have the continued composure to not just keel over laughing at what I anticipate will be some great lines coming out the mouth of Miss S.arah during the debate.

[Piatt]

So there'll be hell to pay if Ifill asks Palin foreign policy questions? In almost fifty years of watching political debates, I've never heard a campaign make a pre-debate comment like this.

Let's not talk too much about foreign policy. Maybe Ifill can ask Palin how to field dress a moose, how to shoot wolves from airplanes, or how to get a small town librarians to remove books.

Palin/McCain have provided us with quite a few whomper-jaw moments. This one's close to the top of the list.

[cnobody]

to be fair, there were several people here who were calling for Brokaw to be removed from moderation because of the appearance of McCain sympathies.

[glesslib]

And to be even fairer, if Gwen Ifill is removed, or in any way disparaged about her performance tomorrow night by the McCain campaign, then Tom Brokaw should step down as a moderator. Why is it that a black woman should be perceived to be any less neutral as a moderator than a white man who gave incorrect, yet favorable information on McCain on a national program 4 days ago? Just because someone writes a book with Mary Poppins name in the title doesn't mean they are pro-Mary Poppins. Why shoud Obama's name in the subtitle of a book about black politicians indicate that she's pro-Obama? It's called marketing. Obama is the new hot thing. That sells books.....­and the McCain camp knows this. They are merely planting the seeds of anger in their supporters in case Palin is a bust tomorrow night.

[AKAchip]

That is NOT being fair!! Gwen has not said anything favorable toward Obama. You're an idio-t for even suggesting such a foolish move!

[cnobody]

? what did i suggest? i merely mentioned that people on this site wanted to remove Brokaw because there is a perceived bias from him toward McCain. people on the right have a perceived notion that Ifil will be biased toward McCain. jeebus.

[cnobody]

..perceive­d bias toward Obama, i meant. so, AKA, i'm not advocating her removal, i'm saying that people here are taking a similar stance toward brokaw.

[Teckwreck]

If I were Ms Ifill I would have to wear a Depends so as to remain calm at the prospect of Ms Palin as President. Now we will see Beauty and the Beast in real time. Go Gwen, you are a true American hero.

[sarahdoodle]

What? Explain please. Thank you.

[AKAchip]

Who's beauty- Gwen Ifill for sure and the beast has got to be P-alin: the original dumb bea-st!

[sarahdoodle]

Thank you so much, Chip, but it was actually the depends part I didn't get....doe­s that make me as mentally challenged as Ms. Palin?....­.Please don't make fun of me :-)

[blackjack19]

Ifill should step aside, not because I don't believe that she could fairly moderate the debate, but because she WILL be the Republicans talking point afterwards. Remove that from their arsenal beforehand.

[sarahdoodle]

blackjack19, I'll go you one further and suggest that they will try to cancel or postpone the debate citing that Ms. Ifill will not be objective. I'll just bet. Remember, you heard it here first. Meanwhile, Ms. Ifill is going through with the debate even after having fallen down a flight of stairs yesterday or the day before resulting in a broken ankle.

[blackjack19]

If I were the McCain camp, I wouldn't want Ifill removed, well, unless Hannity was going to moderate. No matter who the moderator is, they'll claim they were asking her "gotcha questions" if she stumbles.

Now, they can have the Limbaughs and Hannitys of the world throw in the garbage about the book.

I actually believe this works out better for them.

[Newsmonger]

If she stand-down, McCain camp will have won. They know what they are doing...

They know that the objective is for Ifill to stand down, which I think she will be willing to do. But since McCain Camp and the Obama camp have to both agree on who the next moderate will be; if Ifill step down, McCain's camp will stone-wall the selection of the next moderator will be until it will become impracticable to hold the VP debate anymore.

They all along knew that she have written this book, it was no secret, why are they all of a sudden making it an issue merely 24 hrs before the debates? They would have raised it months ago when it was praticable to get a replacement.

[blackjack19]

I believe it's an issue now because there is very real concern that Sarah Palin is going to perform like, well, Sarah Palin. If she doesn't improve on her recent interviews, they will deflect the criticism by saying Ifill is in the tank for Obama and Biden. I just don't want ti hear it.

[foxbat]

If you always back away when challenged, then the Republicans will keep doing this. Everyone in the media is connected in one way or another to most politicians; even if it happens to be because of a book that they've written. The thing is, and this is a big thing, Ms. Ifill has spent her WHOLE career, being the consummate journalist. She is tough, fair, and objective. That's the way that many journalists used to be, but things have changed in the last 20 or so years, so that people are wary about the motives of some/most journalists.

Ms. Ifill was a good friend of Tim Russert's who referred to him as "a standup brother" in her eulogy of him. Nonetheless, and despite their friendship, she went on record calling him out during the Imus affair for remaining quiet. She's the kind of person that believes that fair is fair and will demand the same level of accountability from both friends and strangers. She's in the short list of America's most respected journalists and she's truly a hidden national treasure.

[Norak]

Well, if we listen to the objections from the McCain camp, we will have Biden afraid to go on the attack because he might be seen as bullying, and Ifill nervous about her moderating because she's writing a book about Obama and she's African-American (!). And Palin, who doesn't know the meaning of the word "humility," claiming to be the misunderstood and undervalued breath of fresh air in the mix. Whatever they do will be wrong in the McCain camp's eyes, so I say go get 'em, ask the tough questions, draw the obvious conclusions out loud, forget subtlety and go in prepared to fight, not to be intimidate­d..

[RedKnuckles]

These rightwingers should go easy on the negativity with Ifill....s­he is after all the one who is packing their parachute for the VP debate.