I don't get this. What makes the McCain people think that Sarah Palin is any more fluent on the economy than she is on foreign policy? She wasn't any better on those bailout questions than she was on Russia? Remember that notorious "get back to ya" response? Wasn't that on the economy?
But more to the point, I could wrong about this, but Gwen Ifill may be the last person in the entire field of journalism I would expect to care about "having questions to answer." There is some very off-color language I would likely use to describe this situation, but I don't know Ifill like that, and out of respect, I'll refrain. Suffice to say, she really ain't the one. First, she isn't from one of the major networks or cable. Second, she's always struck me as pretty tough and fair-minded. Wasn't she the one who sliced Cheney in that last presidential debate?
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Andrew posted this awhile ago, so I checked the transcript on the last debate, Edwards vs Cheney, and here's my count:
> First 9 questions were foreign-policy related questions
> Next 4 questions on domestic/social issues
> 1 question on preparedness, qualifications as a VP
> 1 random topical question on "flip-flopping"
> 1 random question on solving the "divided electorate"
> Closing statements
Who's the "they" who are supposedly stacking the deck against Palin (BTW, nice journalistic objectiv--oh, right, FoxNews)? Weren't the debate formats meticulously negotiated between the two campaigns?
Must be news to Gwen Ifill that she has the reputation of being such a meanie that the folks at Camp McCain have to shake their finger at her.
Now THAT is working the refs.
Gwen Ifill's a tremendous journalist, and you're right, TNC - she ain't the one. Personally, I think she's the best choice for the next full-time moderator of "Meet the Press".
It's so funny that one of the shrewdest tactics of the Enemy (and that's what the GOP is; don't get it twisted) is to convince folks that they're being conspired against -- when in fact, they're the ones conspiring. If anyone falls for Pfotenhauer and Doocy's crap in that segment, they were never going to vote for Obama, anyway.
I agree. Going after Gwen Ifill is going to be extremely difficult. Her credentials are impeccable and her demeanor is perfectly even-keeled and nowhere near condescending or patronizing. She does not look or sound like a member of the old boys network. And the fact that she is black and female will make it just that much more difficult for the McCain people scapegoat and accuse of being sexist and unfair.
Arrogance.
There really is no other word to describe the pick and her rollout. It was arrogant to pick Palin primarily as an appeal to identity politics. It was arrogant to think that her speech could carry her favorables all the way to November. It was arrogant to think they could get away with only three interviews. It's arrogant to think she doesn't have to give a press conference.
Now we're being told that Palin's role is going to be attack Biden and the Ifill needs to remember her place???
First, such an attack on Ifill has to backfire. She can't be seen as cowering to McCain's campaign. Second, it's unbelievably insulting to suggest that the media better not ask a specific question. It's not like they're saying don't ask about the pregnancy or Bristol's wedding. Finally, what does Ifill have to lose? It's not like she has a corporate media conglomerate to appease.
I also think it's a huge mistake to turn Palin into an attack dog against Biden. Whatever one might think of Biden, he's paid his dues. No one can argue he doesn't have the wherewithal to assume the duties of President if necessary. And yet Palin is going to come out swinging? I think if she attacks too much a lot of people will be turned off and think, "who the fuck is Palin to attack someone when she's a national laughing stock?"
"Suffice to say, she really ain't the one."
I think that's a perfect way to describe Gwen Ifill. She's not the one, especially with these group of jokers.
Gwen Ifill doesn't care what the McCain campaign thinks. Gwen Ifill is one of the best and I'm sure she's having a good chuckle at this whole incident, right before she gets back to coming up with a fair and balanced set of questions for the VP candidates. The McCain camp is just laying out a defense for something that hasn't happened yet. They aren't too bright and I'm sure we'll see some major distraction on Thursday or Friday to bump the VP debate out of the headlines.
Also, notice how the Fox News host Steve "I'm not too bright" Doocy supported the contention that "they are stacking the deck against her [Palin]." Fair and balanced my ass. Which is why you'd never see that idiot moderating a student council debate.
I think they could try to stroke some racial resentment due to the fact that Gwen Ifill is the moderator. I'm sure we will hear grumblings of how far 'in the tank' Ms. Ifill is after it is all said and done. Since she is black, she obviously an Obama supporter.
I never underestimate the power of the helpless white woman sctick.
I've got no video at my current location - can someone summarize or transcribe this?
Four years ago I watched the debates as a Bush partisan (don't ask!!). Gwen Ifill struck me as the fairest and most even-handed of all the moderators. I was really impressed. Now that I've switched sides, I'm still really impressed.
space2k:
Essentially, the McCain camp is saying that veep debate moderator Gwen Ifill will have to answer for herself if she asks too many foreign policy questions or "gotcha" questions Thursday night, because obviously, this would give Biden the advantage. They should, at the very least, make sure that the questions are evenly split between foreign policy and economic/domestic issues.
"I never underestimate the power of the helpless white woman sctick"
Won't work when Palin has been sold to voters as a regular woman, a fighter against corruption, blah, blah. The rap against her now is that it is clear that she is not up to the task of being VP or president (which is the only job of the VP).
Playing the "woe is me" card won't help with anyone who isn't already in the tank with the fundicrat GOP. Won't work with swing voters - she needs to convince them that she is NOT the disaster she has shown herself to be, she's now digging herself (and McCain) out of a deep hole.
"I'll get back to ya!" was about regulation -- Couric kept asking Palin for an example, even just one, of John McCain supporting imposing regulations, and she danced around it, called him a maverick a half dozen times, and then offered to go look it up.
Why didn't she say "McCain/Feingold"?? It's got his name on it; it regulates donations, spending, and conduct during Federal elections; and most of the GOP was against it. And itand would have given her a chance to do the "Barack lied to John about public financing!!" rap again.
Okay, here's a theory: They're trying to recast Palin's appalling lack of knowledge as her lack of knowledge of foreign policy, which would be understandable in a governor. It's the narrative they should have started with: "Here's Sarah! A fabulous Republican governor and social conservative, she'll be an important voice on domestic matters, with her impeccable executive experience. New to foreign policy but a quick study...."
Of course, she muffed domestic questions too. As near as I can tell from her limited appearances she's never thought much about any national or international issue, just Alaskan issues. Which should have been something they turned up in vetting--"We're both mavericks!" is not enough info.
Most likely they are going to attack the media while cursing 1000 times that a male--preferably Keith Olbermann--is not running the veep debate. But gosh darn it, the media and Joe ganging up on poor Sarah is going to be their story, and they're sticking to it even if stuck with Gwen in the role of "media."
The thing to remember about Gwen Ifill (and which caused me some initial concern in her last debate role) is that she has a great friendship with Secretary of State Rice.
So, accusing her of being partisan (against Palin) is a bit of a stretch. Ifill is a pro, old school journalist. She'll be tough (but fair)on both candidates.
When that whole Palin son/grandson topic was bubbling under, I remember hearing a comedian say that we'll know something is up if just before the VP debate, Bristol Palin has complications and the Gov has to return to Alaska.
Not sure about that but I wonder if this debate will actually happen.
It seems that Rep. Heather Wilson (N.M.) has been getting an awful lot of network surrogate time this past week and I'm wondering if the Maverick is geting ready to make a switcheroo?
I have the greatest confidence in Gwen Ifill. She was perhaps the only debate moderator last election who wasn't a disappointing pushover.
She's one of the few who actually DOES HER JOB. If McCain + Palin think they can make her cower, they better start coming up with a Plan C, since postponing the debate didn't work either.
Yep, sure are going to be some of those "gotcha" questions.
You know, the kind with answers.
Deborah,
If memory serves, the McCain camp did start with that narrative: "Here's Sarah! A fabulous Republican governor and social conservative, she'll be an important voice on domestic matters, with her impeccable executive experience. New to foreign policy but a quick study...."
"She's the most popular governor."
"She fought against corruption."
"She knows a lot about energy."
"She's got more executive experience than all the other candidates"
And, I think I heard surrogates even use "quick study" verbatim when asked about her foriegn policy.
No? Am I off-base here?
Reading this should be good prep for the debate...
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders
reading the post or the comments, you would have no idea that Gwen Ifill is a black woman and how that will be central to the conservative/Republican perception game.
Attacking the moderator is a common tactic following a poor debate performance, and Ifill's race will be an integral part of the GOP story line. A white male moderator can be easily believed by all sides to be neutral. The same is not the case for a black female moderator - it will be easy for Fox/Republicans to make it look like Ifill had it in for Palin.
Gwen Ifil is the perfect choice to moderate this debate. Not only did she indeed 'slice' Cheney during the last VP debate but she also 'sliced' Edwards when she asked them both about the HIV infection rate amongst African-American women. (this WaPo article from 2005 says it is/was as much as "10 times higher" than the national average, Ifil at the time said it was 13 times as high, I do believe.) At the time Cheney at least admitted he had no idea it was that high, while Edwards completely dodged the question.
Heres hoping she asks it again on thursday. I would love to see both Biden, but especially Palin try and answer that one. I can only imagine.
love your blog.
I find it fascinating that the McCain surrogate didn't mention Ifill's name. Rather, she said "they" and "the moderator." Seems like it could be a way for them to sneak an attack in, without being blatant.
Gwen is an incredible interviewer and moderator. She's tough, and truly, truly fair. I've seen her go after liberals with the same dispassionate questioning that she uses on conservatives.
As for Sarah, well, she's not likely to do well on any front. Almost every question posed to her could be defined as a "gotcha" question, simply because she doesn't know the answers and ends up spewing rhetoric.
It isn't that Palin is more fluent in domestic than foreign policy. It's that there are a few talking points that can be packaged to answer almost any domestic issue (eg. budget deficts? Tax cuts! Unemployment? Tax cuts! Outsourcing? Tax cuts!).
This doesn't work as well on foreign policy issues. For instance, the "never blink, never surrender, kill the evildoers" line doesn't translate so well when applied to the significance of Argentinian debt default or AIDS in Africa...
Btw, if you can stack the deck against someone in a job interview (which is essentially what the VP debate is), maybe it isn't a job that person should be interviewing for...
Heather Wilson couldn't easily replace Palin. She has her own scandal, in the form of new revelations about the US Attorneys firings.
Nancy Pfotenhauer is a trollop and a cunt.
@Tessa: I think the part they left out was how great she was on domestic matters--they stuck to her popularity and let it be inferred that she must be great on all that policy stuff, rather than gov when record oil hit a windfall profits tax, and for too short a time for the scandals to really play out. In an interview with a local Maine outlet, McCain rapidly turned from her extensive energy knowledge (more than anyone else!) to Russia's proximity to Alaska. That is, he thought the Russia and Alaska thing was going to be more powerful than talking about her energy expertise. They never developed that beyond "Alaska is near oil."
While I think the McCain camp have exacerbated their problems, I also think, per Fallows' coaching analogy, that it's too late to expect them to coach her differently--they can say "Okay Sarah, start over and just be you" but they can't mean it. They've got a week to undo a badly coached month, with the same coaches.
I just see a possibility of their trying to rewrite history--"This is our bad. We were so eager to coach her on foreign policy that we didn't let Sarah be Sarah. She clearly knows her stuff as governor, and the fp will come in time...." Of course this isn't too tightly related to what happened, but barring Bristol developing complications which require her mother to withdraw from the race (generic time with the family just proves she didn't know what she was getting into, and there's only 5 weeks left), they have to try something to rewrite this. In addition to "the media is mean" they get back on a positive Palin message that suggests some sort of specifics beyond "she sure is great."
"Wasn't she the one who sliced Cheney in that last presidential debate?"
What do you mean when you say she "sliced Cheney"? As I recall, Cheney massacred Edwards in their debate, but my memory is too fuzzy to recall whether she asked something that made Cheney struggle (or at least struggle more noticeably than Edwards).
But yeah, I agree that Ifill's great. She would make a good permanent host of Meet the Press.
As I watched the stock market crash today, I thought one terrifying thought.
"Sarah Palin's gonna have to talk about this on Thursday."
If I have to listen to her answer and hear her trying to "simplify" this mess to me in her homespun nonsensical way, I will immediately get cancer of the ass and die right then and there.
Palin at the debate will be interesting. Reading (and seeing) hard-line partisans defend her credentials reminds me of Yankee fans defending Chuck Knoblauch's defense at second base after he caught Steve Sax disease. In fact, Palin may be an otherwise intelligent person, but she appears to have the mental equivalent. I'm sure she's going to be dosing up on propanolol for thursday night.
Trollops of the world should be offended by your assertation.