by Mark Silva
Gwen Ifill, moderator of tomorrow night's vice presidential debate, gets a vote of confidence from John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee whose running mate will be on stage.
"I think Gwen Iffil is a professional and I think she will do a completely objective job because she is a highly respected professional,'' McCain says of the PBS News anchor and moderator of the debate between Palin and Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden in St. Louis.
Some aren't as generous about their expectations for a moderator writing a book called The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, which will be ready on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
"I have confidence that Gwen Ifilll will do a professional job,'' McCain said in an interview with Carl Cameron of the FOX News Channel today.
McCain also suggested that, if there is a political price for him to pay in "suspending'' his campaign for a day last week in the midst of federal financial market bailout negotiations on Capitol Hill, so be it.
"I had to do what was right. I knew what was right to do that fashion legislation that would stop this or bring to a halt this serious crisis,'' McCain said. "If it cost me politically, that certainly a penalty I not gladly pay, but I'd willing pay because I've got to do what's right for the country."
His Democratic rival might have to suspend something else, he noted - the tax increases on the wealthiest Americans that Obama proposes for new initiatives such as health care - if the economy doesn't improve soon.
"It's one thing to stop the bleeding and put a tourniquet on, but then you've got to heal the wound,'' McCain said of the economy and the bailout that he views as necessary to revive it. "I've heard Senator Obama say he would suspend his tax increases if the economy is bad. Well I've got news for him, the economy's bad."
• 
• 
• 
Comments
Gee, Sen. McCain, it was barely more than a week ago that you said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Will you please make up your mind?
Posted by: HLC | October 1, 2008 4:19 PM
McCain comments regarding Ifill define the term "Generous to a fault."
This is going to be a two against one debate.
Posted by: crobb | October 1, 2008 4:58 PM
Gee HLC,
You are aware that Barack Obama agrees with John McCain on this point, aren't you?
Posted by: Valerie | October 1, 2008 4:59 PM
The best analysis of the first presidential debate concluded that Jim Lehrer won.
My guess is that the best performance in the vice presidential debate will come from Gwen Ifill.
Posted by: Joe Bachofen | October 1, 2008 5:06 PM
I'm sure Ms. Ifill's book would have include African-American Republican politicians in greater number if there were any. There is not a single African-American Republican in elected statewide or federal office anywhere in the nation, nor is there one African-American Republican on the ballot for statewide or federal elected statewide office in the nation.
Not a single one anywhere. If anyone is biased, it's the Republican Party, not Ms. Ifill.
Posted by: Lilly White | October 1, 2008 5:37 PM
"the tax increases on the wealthiest Americans" This is a lie. Obama's tax increases would hit the middle class hard, not just the wealthy. Unless you think wealthy is $65,000 a year, then good luck to you, pal. Please correct the glaring error.
Posted by: Jeff | October 1, 2008 5:49 PM
Geez, Jeff. Stop repeating the Republican rhetoric. If you make UNDER $250,000 a year, you'll get a tax cut. He will also completely eliminate the need for seniors making less than $50,000 a year to file taxes. Period. No more taxes being paid by seniors making less than $50,000.
http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/taxes/Factsheet_Tax_Plan_FINAL.pdf
Now, how about YOU correcting your glaring error?
Posted by: SouthSideD | October 1, 2008 6:53 PM
RNCJeffie,
Facts please. Stop spewing your RNC talking points. No where does Obama's plans say making $65,000 is going to get you hit with a tax increase. I guess you're one of the lucky ones...you know, the middle classer who according to McBush only makes around $5 milllion a year.
Posted by: neal | October 1, 2008 6:55 PM
Jeff,
What are you basing your comment on? Everything I have seen/read have Obama's tax plan providing more relief to middle class families with incomes below $100,000 than McCain's. I'd like to see where you are getting your information.
Posted by: JK | October 1, 2008 6:57 PM
Lilly Vanilli:
President Bush has appointed minorities incl. blacks to his most important cabinet positions. Colin Powell was this nation's first black Secretary of State. Condoleezza Rice was not only the first woman to hold the position of National Security Adviser, she is also the second black American to do so, this post having also been occupied during the last part of the Reagan administration by then-Lieutenant General Colin Powell. Ms. Rice of course went on to become the Secretary of State under Bush. Both of these most capable people are key members in a wartime cabinet. However, these facts seem to be lost on the Democrats.
However, the president's work has not been lost on all black Americans. The highest ranking elected state official in the country is Maryland Lt. Gov. Mike Steele. He was a top Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign adviser. Recently, Steele made the following statement: "Many people ask me how any African-American can support President Bush. Short answer: He has done significantly more for African-Americans than his challenger, Sen. John Kerry, ever did or has promised to do."
- excerpts from David Gibson, American Partisan, 11/04
Posted by: mittforprez | October 1, 2008 8:01 PM
Lilly White:
FYI. Here are the names of some of the African-American Republicans and conservatives:
1. Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education
2. Colin Powell, former United States Secretary of State
3. Michael Powell, former FCC chairman
4. Condoleezza Rice, United States Secretary of State, former National Security Advisor
5. Winsome Sears, former member of Virginia House of Delegates, former candidate for U.S. House
6. Michael S. Steele, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, former candidate for U.S. Senate from Maryland
7. Thomas Stith, town councilman of Durham, NC, former candidate for Lt. Gov. of NC
8. J.C. Watts, former U.S. Representative from Oklahoma
9. Michael L. Williams, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.
10. Edward W. Brooke III, former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.
11. Ken Blackwell, former Secretary of State of Ohio, former Ohio gubernatorial candidate.
12. Keith Butler, minister, former Detroit councilman, former candidate for U.S. Senate from Michigan.
13. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, senior fellow at the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
14. Steven Mullins,Commissioner of Planning and Zoning, West Haven,Connecticut. Republican nominee for State Comptroller in 2002.
Posted by: Ryan | October 1, 2008 11:56 PM
McCain knows he can't tell the truth about the media, or else they'll do even more to sabotage him.
But us common folk don't have to pander to these media elites. So I'll say what McCain can't. Ifill no more a "moderate" than Michael Moore. She's in the tank for Obama and everyone knows it.
Posted by: Disgusted with both candidates | October 2, 2008 12:52 AM
Posted by: mittforprez | October 1, 2008 8:01 PM
Mitty, sorry friend, but but Michael Steele is no longer Lt. Gov. of Maryland. He left that office in 2006. There are currently NO Republican African-American's in statewide or federal elected office.
You will also note that Ms. Ifill's book includes Colin Powell, bolstering my assertion that the lack of Republicans in her book is not due to bias on her part, but due to the evident bias of the Republican Party in selecting candidates.
Posted by: Lilly White | October 2, 2008 7:17 AM