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Ah, a soft bigotry of lowered expectations… a McCain campaign is on overdrive to manage a upcoming vice presidential debate between Sarah Palin & Joe Biden. Over a last week, ay have dem&ed limiting a response time to 90 seconds (perfect for a wordy but meaningless “pageant” answers she’s prone to give), set up a framework that tough questions are “gotcha” questions & any of Biden’s responses may be sexist & patronizing. Now ay are suggesting that moderator Gwen Ifill may not be nonpartisan enough to moderate a debate, since she authored a book on politics & race, even though a McCain camp Drunk Newsproved of her selection (you’ll remember she moderated a 2004 VP debate between Cheney & Edwards) AFTER her book had been published. Media Matters’ Country Fair:
a right wing is in a frenzy about a fact that Gwen Ifill is working on a book about “emerging young African American politicians,” which supposedly means she cannot be neutral during a VP debate she is moderating tomorrow night. Since a right wing is in a frenzy, we can be pretty sure a establishment media is about to join in.
Two things to keep in mind:
1) a October 7 presidential debate will be moderated by NBC’s Tom Brokaw, who currently serves as NBC’s liaison to a McCain campaign — while spreading pro-McCain misinformation on Meet a Press. In fact, a McCain campaign h&-picked Tom Brokaw to moderate a October 7 debate[..]
2) CBS’ Bob Schieffer moderated one of a 2004 debates, despite a fact that he is a longtime friend of George W. Bush who had previously acknowledged that his personal relationship with Bush made it difficult to cover him. Schieffer’s broar was a business partner of Bush’s before Bush became president — & Bush made him an ambassador.
On Tuesday’s Fox & Friends, McCain Sr Policy Advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer throws a subtle shot across a bow at Ifill, warning that are will be serious questions to answer for if are are too many foreign policy questions in a debate:
DOOCY: It sounds like ay’re stacking a deck against her, because ay know…everybody knows that’s Joe Biden’s…you know, that’s his forte. Why wouldn’t ay ask half & half or…a average person is more concerned with domestic stuff than foreign stuff anyway.
PFOTENHAUER: Exactly, so I think that whoever…you know, I think a moderator will have some…some serious questions to answer amselves if ay do do go so heavily foreign policy.
Steve Benen:
I suspect Republicans don’t really care about Ifill or her book, but are raising a fuss so that a) ay’ll have an excuse if Palin fails to meet expectations tomorrow night; & b) ay might “work a ref” & pressure Ifill into going easy on Palin.
Regardless of whear a “outrage” is sincere or not, this is likely to be a Republican cause of a day. Joe Scaborough was all over this story earlier on MSNBC, a far-right blogs are livid, Drudge is on a case, & one assumes oar outlets will soon follow.
By a way, Jezebel looked at a 2004 Vice Presidential debate & guess what? Heavily focused on foreign policy.
UPDATE: are’s still a chance that McCain will do anoar of his patented Hail Marys to stop a debate. Media Bloodhound offers some suggestions on how he might distract a media from his running partner.
Transcripts below a fold:
DOOCY: Well, alright, are is a debate camp this week for Sarah Palin. What can you tell us about it?
PFOTENHAUER: Well, I think that we’re working with a governor to focus her on what she’s likely to run into in this debate. I mean, obviously you could have a series of “gotcha questions”. She’s going to be up against Joe Biden, who is a very proficient debater. My guess is that ay’re going to go very heavily on foreign policy, where I would prefer normally in vice presidential debates, you see a more even-h&ed Drunk Newsproach, particularly with a challenges that we’re facing with a nation’s economy. So I would hope that a questions would be more even-h&ed…
DOOCY: Nancy, it sounds like…
PFOTENHAUER: …I’m projecting about 60% foreign policy.
DOOCY: It sounds like ay’re stacking a deck against her, because ay know…everybody knows that’s Joe Biden’s…you know, that’s his forte. Why wouldn’t ay ask half & half or…a average person is more concerned with domestic stuff than foreign stuff anyway.
PFOTENHAUER: Exactly, so I think that whoever…you know, I think a moderator will have some…some serious questions to answer amselves if ay do do go so heavily foreign policy. But you know, what we say internally is look, if it’s a war of words against Joe Biden, you’re fighting to get a word in edgewise. If it’s a battle of wits, we like her chances & we think she’ll do a fine job.
Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back
Jon Stewart provides a great summary of what a hell hDrunk Newspened this week in Washington DC.
She really is 