Gwen Ifill: 'An Honor to Be Invited to the Ball'

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Gwen Ifill: 'An Honor to Be Invited to the Ball'

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Respected PBS journalist Gwen Ifill is set to moderate tonight's VP debate between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. How is Ifill prepping amid criticism she can't be impartial because of an upcoming book she's writing? She opened up for an exclusive interview with ESSENCE.com.

This isn't Ifill's first time to the big show -- she also moderated the 2004 VP debate. But she's not taking it lightly -- she knows it takes a lot of work. To prep, she tells ESSENCE she reads "everything that I can get my hands on about what the two candidates have done, what they've written, what their record is, and I mostly sequester myself in the house and come up with the questions myself."

As for whether nerves have the best of her, Ifill shakes it off, remembering it's not her time in the hot seat. "Last time, no matter how nervous I got," she says, "I remembered the candidates are far more nervous than me. So when I realize this, it makes me feel calmer.

And what about the criticism that other moderators are mostly old, white men (Jim Lehrer, Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer)? She says "I'm just glad to be there. I leave it to other people to talk about whether it's the right mix or not. It's such an honor to be invited to the ball."

To read the complete interview, go to ESSENCE.com.

3 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

You rotten lousy liberal DemoRAT moron….GWEN!!! Get out of the debate NOW because you will never be objective when it comes to Governor Palin kicking Biden’s ASS!!!!!

- DJD

Posted 10/02/08 03:16 PM

Now that we know this woman is supporting Obama she should not be allowed to moderate. Especially because she tried to hide this information. Wasn’t there a time when there would be several debates leading up to a presidential election? It seems as though we have not seen our top two candidates debate nearly as much as others in past elections. Oh that’s right… McCain invited Obama to have debates and discussions and town hall meetings and Obama refused to participate.

- ...

Posted 10/02/08 05:12 PM

Do you think other moderators are just not voing or don’t care about these elections? They all have their favorites even if they don’t share them with you. This is a ridiculous fabricated “scandal” to take attention away from the fact that the GOP strategy revolves around character assassination and not the issues since they don’t really want to change anything. Good luck with that this time around fellas.

- Anonymous

Posted 10/02/08 06:56 PM

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Gwen Ifill: 'An Honor to Be Invited to the Ball'

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