Today we keep hearing that Drudge and Fox News, and perhaps others, are raising questions about Gwen Ifill's objectivity in tomorrow night's debate. (Forgive me if I don't provide the links) This sounds to me like yet another way to game expectations and pre-set the post-debate spin if Palin does badly.
Well, I did a little bit of digging while the dinner is on, just to see what the process was like and who was involved. And I'm sure everyone will be relieved to hear that the McCain/Palin was involved in the process of negotiating the terms of the debate, and stated clearly that they are fine. Details below...
Here are a couple of news stories on the VP debate terms as announced on September 20. Here is the NY Times, Sept 21, with nary a mention of concern from the McCain/Palin team about Ifill as moderator
McCain advisers said they were only somewhat concerned about Ms. Palin's debating skills compared with those of Mr. Biden, who has served six terms in the Senate, or about his chances of tripping her up. Instead, they say, they wanted Ms. Palin to have opportunities to present Mr. McCain's positions, rather than spending time talking about her experience or playing defense.
While the debates between presidential nominees are traditionally the main events in the fall election season, the public interest in Ms. Palin has proved extraordinary, and a large audience is expected for her national debate debut.
....
The debate formats were negotiated by Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, representing the McCain campaign, and Representative Rahm Emanuel, Democrat of Illinois, for the Obama camp. A handful of aides from both camps were also involved, hammering out issues between themselves and then holding conference calls with members of the commission to reach final agreements, people involved in the process said.
Just for corroboration, here's The Washington Post, same date
Negotiators for the campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agreed yesterday on a format for the Oct. 2 debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., resolving an issue left open in August after the campaigns settled on the structure of the three presidential debates, according to sources involved in the talks.
Under the plan agreed to yesterday, Palin and Biden will have less time than McCain and Obama to reply to moderators' questions and discuss each other's answers. And there will be no guidelines given to Gwen Ifill of PBS, moderator of the vice presidential debate, as to subject matter, allowing her to mix in questions about foreign and domestic matters, the sources said.
Both sides were satisfied with the final agreement, the sources said. The Commission on Presidential Debates, the independent nonprofit organization that manages these quadrennial events, had hoped the campaigns would agree to the same longer segments for the vice presidential aspirants as those adopted in August for the presidential debates.
If you read further in that article, it is clear that both sides willingly accepted the modified terms, and neither complained about the moderator then or since. The Republicans wanted time limits (hence the 2 minute space for Palin's canned responses); the Democrats wanted lecterns.
Both sides got what they wanted. Palin and Biden will each have 90 seconds to respond to questions, followed by a two-minute period for discussion between the candidates.
All this was finalized September 20. Ifill's forthcoming book was announced long before that, and given the attention the McCain team, steered by Lindsay Graham and a team of aides, has lavished on this debate, it's ridiculous and completely disingenuous for them to cry foul on the eve of the debate.