3 Reasons to Attack Gwen Ifill -- VP Debate Moderator Under Fire

The squeal about her had absolutely nothing to do with her book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama and by inference her alleged pro-Obama bias .

Her book isnt even on the stands yet and wont be until January 2009. Its anything but a pro-Obama book. True, hes the obvious spur for the book, but only that. The book profiles and interviews a bevy of black politicians, civil rights leaders, and black notables, young and old, and tells in their words and hers what impact theyve had on Obama and the new breed of black officials.

The eleventh hour attack on Ifills debate credentials also has nothing to do with her ability to be a fair and objective moderator. The Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign committee approved her weeks ago for the job. There were no gripes about her objectivity in 2004 when she moderated the VP debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic VP opponent John Edwards.

True reason number one for the anti-Ifill blast is VP candidate Sarah Palin. In the run-up to the debate, GOP operatives and the McCain campaign have kept up a drumbeat attack on the media for its alleged sexist, dismissive, and gender double standard bash of Palin. The attacks have shown some signs of working. There have been a spate of articles that have put a happy face spin on her family, her positions on terrorism, the bailout, and the energy crisis. The attacks and the happy face articles have slightly defused the lop sided, and obsessive negative hits on Palin while deflecting attention from her colossal real and perceived inadequacies, lapses, and in some cases flat out ignorance of crucial foreign policy and economy issues. That was, of course, the idea behind the media attacks.

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