WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Controversy swirled over vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill one day before the face-off between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden, after new scrutiny was drawn to her upcoming book featuring Barack Obama. Gwen Ifill of PBS is the moderator for Thursday's vice presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri.
In stories published Wednesday on NationalReview.com and WorldNetDaily's Web site, conservative commentators noted that "Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" -- first announced several months ago -- is slated to be released around the inauguration of the next president in January 2009.
"...as if we needed any further evidence of a jaw-dropping double standard, we have to contemplate the sheer impossibility that someone who wrote a positive biography of [John] McCain being chosen to moderate a debate," wrote NationalReview.com's Jim Geraghty on Wednesday.
The book, published by Doubleday, has not yet been released to critics or the public.
In the book, Ifill takes a look at the black political movement's beginnings during the Civil Rights movement that gave way "to a generation of men and women who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the 1960s," according to Amazon.com.
Ifill discussed the book in a interview with The Washington Post on September 4, well before the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the debate moderators. Watch The Post media critic call Ifill criticism 'a stretch' »
The McCain campaign said it had not seen Ifill's Post interview, or been aware of her book, until Tuesday. McCain told CNN's Juan Carlos Lopez that the situation concerned him but that he was sure Ifill would be professional.
The Washington-based journalist is traveling to St. Louis and has not publicly commented on the controversy. Watch analysts weigh in on Thursday's debate »
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments