McCain On Ifill: I Wish They'd Picked Someone Else

Yesterday, John McCain responded to right-wing attacks on debate moderator Gwen Ifill (over a book she's writing about politics and race) reasonably, saying he thought the PBS correspondent would be "totally objective." But today on "Fox and Friends" he turned that endorsement into something more like a warning. The Politico reports:

McCain also went further than he had yesterday in responding to a question about Gwen Ifill serving as the moderator of tonight's veep debate, saying he preferred somebody else.

"Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn't writing a book favorable to Barack Obama," McCain said of Ifill, who is examining the rise of the Illinois Democrat and other post-civil rights black leaders. "Let's face it. But I have to have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professional journalist that she is."

"Life isn't fair, as I mentioned earlier in the program."

McCain agreed to Ifill as moderator on August 6th, and her book had been public for weeks at the time.

Ifill herself has responded to the controversy:

"Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?" said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, "I don't know what it is. I find it curious."

COMPLETE VP DEBATE COVERAGE: BIDEN PALIN VIDEO, HIGHLIGHTS

Comments

[janinei]

Does anyone else remember Doug and Wendy Whiner from SNL? That is who McCain and Palin remind me of!

[DieHardObamaSupporter]

Wait one d@mn minute, wasn't George Stephanopolous the political adviser for Bill Clinton and, no

one yelled foul when he was a moderator during the primary debate between Obama and Hillary?

Changing the rule game, again.....­..sniff...­...sniff..­.....has that funky double standard racism smell.

[TrueIndy08]

doesn't it just reek??

[boing007]

Gwen Ifill found it curious but it's just par for the course. More race baiting.

[janinei]

Pelosi was mean to us, so we voted against the tax cuts, Ifill is writing a book that includes a small chapter about Obama, so we say life is not fair.... geesh, I did not know that Republican=wimpy white guys

[TrueIndy08]

hahahaha..­. so he agreed t Ifll back in AUG... book was already made public.... he still did it!

He picked Palin... she has turned out to be a completel liability.­....

Looks like he is 2 for 2 on the buyers remorse!

Oh well grandpa...­. you are stuck with both!

[MaxxKrieger]

What Iuvienne? America Dumb down for Palin? That's rich! You're amazing! You once again reinforce the liberal premise: Do anything and say anything necessary to win the White House!

[TrueIndy08]

sorry... you are mistaken..­. thats the RETHUG premise.. thats why you losers have NOTHING substantive to say on any REAL issues!

[laurabethh]

exactly THANK YOU TRUE INDY!

I read some comments here every week or two but its always
uninformed angry people many like THE GUY JUST BELOW YOU J in h
who really is pathetic;

[jackinhack]

McCain is such garbage.

Go Gwen, this is about trying to soften you up on 'smiling sarah'. It won't matter what you do they're going to say you , just like anyone else who's interviewed her, were asking gotcha questions and are pro-Obama. Screw him and his campaing. What a bunch of low lifes.

[badtimes]

Life isn't fair? Is that a quote from Mrs. John McCain #1?

[dav8d777]

Well, maybe the next best thing to winning is to just rake up a whole cotton sack of reasons why you didn't.

When McCain says he didn't fully "vet" some lady who is about to moderate the debate it has a faint and distant ring of his choice of Palin.

As a candidate for President I would think that a lack or preparation, planning and / or judgment would be a dubious thing to toot one's horn about.

[ClevelandTom]

With McCain's chances of winning in November diminishing with each passing day over the last two weeks, with every issue he has attempted to take command of slipping through his fingers to favor Obama, and with key states like MI and FL breaking toward Oama, McCain only has a few options left. He can blame the media for all the ills of his campaign and he can dredge up or invent unsubstantiated material to smear Obama. That is the sum total of his strategy options now. Complaining about Ifell is an example of that.

[optech007]

I'm beginning to think that the McCain campaign has known about the book all along. They have been playing a strange game with the media and I think this is just another part of that.

Think about it. They think the media is in the tank for Obama so they probably figured nobody would have reported about her book(Although Fox never reported it either). If they had said something earlier she would have either been pulled as moderator or most people would have forgotten about it by now and it wouldn't be such a big deal. But to have this come out the day before, there's no chance to sort out all the facts and now there's this controversy about Ifill and what may be a conflict of interest. It changes the story to benefit McCain because now if Palin does poorly it's because of Ifill and if she does well if in spite of her.

Personally I think that Jim Lehrer did such a good job of being a non-factor in the debate(this isn't the first time there's been an issue with the moderator;Gibson and GS in the ABC Dem primary debate to name one, a snowman to name another) that he should moderate the rest of them.

[ClevelandTom]

I agree that Lehrer did about as good a job as could be done moderating. He and Ifill are cut from the same journalistic cloth. I expect her to perform in a very similar fashion.

[GeoLee]

I think Ifill will do just fine. Frankly for many years I assumed she had cut her teeth working for Reagan or some other Republican administration because I always have felt she goes after Democrats with a vengeance. It has surprised me that so many think she might be biased toward Democrats. And this comes even after watching her for the past couple of years hosting what used to have been my favorite PBS talk show until she took over and one,which I still DO watch almost every Friday night,. If she has done such a good job of fooling me (and who knows what her actual voting record and political stance is, BTW) who is to say she won't be pretty darn unbiased tonight.

[littleddemocrat]

Before the game has even been played people are blaming the ref....hil­arious. I can see why they're worried. Palin muffed a bunch of softballs thrown to her by Couric. She's in trouble of tanking badly.
She's an embarrassment, let's face it. The reason conservatives are so infuriated with Kathleen Parker is that she told the truth about Palin, and sometimes the truth hurts.

Gwen Ifill is a pro's pro and will be fine. It's Palin you all need to worry about....

[Gronamox]

The obvious answer to John is: finally, your virulent racism takes a bow.

[jusion]

In my humble opinion the full title of Gwen Ifill's book "How the Age of Obama Allows for Post-Partisan Uplift in a World Once Again Mercifully and Rightfully Without Republican Leadership" was a little over the top.

[instagladiator]

Precious.

[jusion]

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that was meant as a sarcasm.

[siliconcalley]

The problem isn't about the book itself. It's the fact that it comes out on January 20, 2009 - Inauguration Day.

That means that she has a financial stake in this election. If Obama isn't inaugurated, her book won't do as well.

That also makes her response about Lou Cannon somewhat irrelevant, seeing as how his books were released in 1991 and 2003 and are not favoring a current candidate.

[postman606]

Lou Cannon's book "Reagan was published in 1984 and one would assume written a year or two before.

[postman606]

What continues to boogle my mind is the inability of Repuclicans to do basic reasearch. McCain is again showing how weak his campaign is by not doing the basic research about Iffil, just as SillyConValley didn't know when Lou Cannon's first book about Reagan was published.