Ifill’s Folly

October 2nd, 2008

Debate Overshadowed by Mickey Mouse Ethics

Here is my prediction on the Ifill thing.

First of all, what she’s doing is one hundred percent unethical. Gwen Ifill has written a book about “post-Obama” politics, and it will not be released until the inauguration. Obviously, if he loses, no one will buy the book. It would be somewhat unethical to moderate the debate if she were known to be an Obama supporter, and it would be worse if she had written a favorable book about him. But the situation we have before us is worse. She has written a book which will fail if he loses. There would be a conflict of interest if she merely hoped he would win. The actual conflict is much, much worse, because her own success depends on his.

Second thing: I think she’ll be pretty fair. I thought she was reasonably fair the last time she moderated a debate. If she has tried to be fair in the past, she will probably try tonight.

You have to be a little bit of a lawyer to understand what I’m saying. The conflict of interest is huge, and it’s unquestionably highly unethical for her to moderate the debate. At the same time, my best guess is that she will try hard to overcome her bias.

A lawyer could never get away with what Ifill is doing. Well, okay. I’m pretending bar associations do their jobs. THEORETICALLY, a lawyer could never get away with it.

A McCain shill appeared on Fox just now and pointed out that Sarah Palin’s interviews were cut down very heavily. The interviews took hours, but we didn’t get hours of footage. Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric almost certainly used the least flattering material they had. Even Man O’ War lost when he was boxed in. Tonight, Sarah Palin will be able to run, unless Gwen Ifill has lost her mind. And Governor Palin has a wonderful debating style. And Joe Biden…I’ll say it politely…does not. So maybe we’re in for a good night.

Join me in praying that she does great, and that Ifill is fair, and that Biden does a terrible job. We can’t afford to have a hardcore socialist in the White House when our finances are shaky. Obama’s creaky, ancient, discredited ideas could drive us into a depression, and I think we can also count on him to sell the Jews to the Muslims. He has already expressed a willingness to divide Jerusalem up.

Comments are closed.