…ladies and gentlemen, I give you the moderator of Thursday night’s Vice Presidential debates: Gwen Ifill.
You’re not familiar with Ms. Ifill? Neither was I. Evidently, neither was the Commission on Presidential Debates (a supposedly neutral organization), nor was the McCain camp. Ifill is a senior correspondent for the PBS show, The News Hour, with Jim Lehrer. (Any association with PBS woulda done it for me – PBS being far from neutral in it’s news shows. But I digress.) More importantly, on January 20, 2009, Ifill’s new book will be released. The title? The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. If you harbor any illusions that her book is a critical look at the Democrat’s standard-bearer, take a look at this abstract from Amazon.com: [Read more…] about Just in case you had any delusions about a lack of media bias…
In the world in which we live, it’s actually pretty easy to forget that nature trumps technology. For all our computers, machines, and other man-made paraphernalia, we still can’t control Mother Nature to any great extent. (Which, of course, is one of the things that makes me a hard-core skeptic over the man-made global warming thing – but that’s a topic for another time.) 
So after all the hype, all the speculation, and all the waiting, Biden’s the guy. Most of the pundits are asking the question “What does Biden bring to the ticket.” While that’s a question that certainly bears asking, I’d much rather go the other way, and ask “what does Biden take away from the Dem’s chances in November?” Fortunately, Biden is a known quantity – after all he was a candidate for President twice on his own – most recently this year.
As a part of my agency, we own a teleprompter. Teleprompters are marvelous devices – even someone who can’t memorize their own name can look into the camera lens and read a script. It’s a great invention, but what it can do is to make someone who can act – but can’t think on their feet – seem as though they are something they are not. That’s why debates and interviews can be so revealing. And so it was at the Saddleback Church event. We’ve already learned that Senator Obama can give a great speech. We knew that at the last DNC convention, where he first emerged on the national stage. But giving speeches might help get you elected, but they won’t do much for you when you are being judged on your ability to make decisions that can affect the future of the world.