Gwen Ifill can, should and must resign immediately as the moderator of tomorrow night's Vice Presidential Debate. Her conflict of interest is the size of the Grand Canyon. Ifill is writing an iconic Obama book that is pre-planned to release on the very day Obama will be inaugurated as President in 2009 (yes, Obama will win; stop worrying about it).If, somehow, McCain were to win, Ifill's bookn would be an publishing and financial disaster. Ifill has a huge financial interest in insuring that Obama wins the election.
To make matters worse, YouTube has gone viral with Ifill videos that prove beyond any doubt that she is in the tank for Obama, and that Ifill is not capable of being fair to Palin.
Ifill won't resign, of course, and so everybody loses. Well, everybody except perhaps, Sarah Palin. This is a virtual get out of jail free card for Palin. No matter how badly Palin does in the debate, it will be easy to argue that Ifill was unfair. That's because Ifill lacks any professional journalistic ethics. Because if Ifill had one ounce of integrity, this would never have happened.
At this point I have virtually no remaining respect for Gwen Ifill. And frankly, she deserves no respect. I would be hopeful that PBS would actually discharge her for her astounding lack of professionalism.
If Gwen Ifill cares at all about her reputation, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.
If Gwen Ifill cares at all about journalistic ethics, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.
If Gwen Ifill cares at all about fairness, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.
And finally, if Gwen Ifill cares at all about Barack Obama, she will immediately apologize and resign as debate moderator.
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UPDATE: October 2, 2008 - Mary over at FREEDOM EDEN forgoes her usual rant and has posted a thoughtful and restrained review of Gwen Ifill's Omission.
