You Are So Right

Megan Smith — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:47:55 -0500

I totally agree with everything you've said. This is such an obvious ploy to have excuses for Palin if she messes up, it's not even funny.

Megan

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around

Lay Off Gwen

Southerngirl — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:09:08 -0500

Note to Conservatives: BACK OFF OF GWEN! I started seeing these stories yesterday about Ms. Ifill and her new book. I could not believe what I was seeing. Ms Ifill somehow will not be able to be fair because she is writing a book about Obama. What they failed to mention was that the book was not about only Obama but Patrick Devaul, Collin Powel and a host of other Black politicians. Her book is actually about the evolution of politics in Black America. This is a look at where we were in the 60s to where we are today. Of course I suspect a lot of the book will be about Obama and I am hoping there will be some material about David Patterson. Michelle Malkin wrote in the New York Post about Ifill's book, saying, "She's so far in the tank for the Democratic presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out." WHAT?????

Ms. Ifill has been doing this a long time. She is not some rookie who is having an Obama love fest, she is a professional reporter. In her time she has not shown anything but professionalism. Her work should speak for it self. Are these questions because, dare I say it, she is Black? Any moderator is going to hopefully be a voter. Therefore they will be voting for one person and not the other does that automatically make them biased. I cannot find any reference to where Ms. Ifill has come out in favor of Obama. David Bauder writes:

Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama."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."

In an article posted on CNN this morning where they talk of an interview she gave back on September 4th:

"I'm in great demand -- everyone wants to talk to me -- but I'm not speaking for the whole race," Ifill said. "My job is to be a reporter. I cannot be the great interpreter. It's not my job to be on someone else's air telling them what black people think." Ifill told Kurtz that as Obama accepted his party's nomination for president, a white television reporter asked her: "Aren't you just blown away by all of this?" She said she was not. Kurtz also points out that "on one level, Ifill says, she views this moment as the daughter of a black minister who marched in civil rights demonstrations and who she wishes were alive to see what Obama has achieved." Ifill told Kurtz, "I still don't know if he'll be a good president. I'm still capable of looking at his pros and cons in a political sense." Besides, Ifill says, "no one's ever assumed a white reporter can't cover a white candidate."

She does not seem to be now nor ever trying to hide the fact that she is writing this book. I suspect this is a setup for Palin. If she falls on her face then it was because she was in an unfair fight not because she is out of her league but because the moderator was biased. If she does well it will be in spite of having a biased moderator. They have to be dizzy from all that spinning. This is an insult to Ms. Ifill and Mrs. Palin. If she is qualified then let her go, no pre-game set ups just get out and clean Biden’s clock. Because she is qualified and can do the job just as well as he can. Yes, there are questions about her but show some grace and dignity and just set about proving the critics wrong. I am a woman who has spent her entire career around people who assumed I was there not because I was qualifed, but for a host of other reasons. You do the job and earn the respect not whine about everything and everyone that may work against you.

In the interest of full disclosure I am a HUGE Gwen Ifill fan. She looks like my mom and as a kid I said if I wasn’t going to be a doctor then I would be her. Neither panned out. Sigh. I was not now nor ever a Sarah Palin fan. She hurts my head and heart. I was not a Hillary fan but man I was proud of her and still am every time she opens her mouth. Condi and I would never agree on politics but she is smart and classy. I can say none of this of Palin. She opens her mouth and I cringe. Class not so much. She is to me the relative that you would only prefer to see at the family reunion. We all have them that one person you wish you could get rid of but can’t. I fear Sarah will be a weight on many a woman’s shoulders for years to come. No matter how you feel about her.

I digress, if John McCain’s Campaign truly did not know about this book they really, really should not let that on. How stupid are they? I could have found this out back before everything was on the net. READ. I ordered my copy of this book 3 weeks ago. If they are this unprepared in the campaign how can they run the country?

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You Are So Right

Lay Off Gwen