Biden-Palin Debate: A Moderator's Bias?

Watching the vice presidential debate between Democratic nominee Joe Biden and Republican nominee Sarah Palin, I came away with the impression that moderator Gwen Ifill did her job, conducting the debate fairly and impartially. Having said that, I did get the impression that she let Senator Biden get the last word a disproportionate number of times, but I will confess that I have not gone back and checked the transcript to see if my gut was right.

I paid extra attention to Ifill because of the pre-debate controversy in which it was revealed that she had a financial stake in an Obama victory. As the author of a book expected to praise Obama's accomplishments, Ms. Ifill could certainly expect to do better in book sales if the Illinois Senator were to win rather than lose.

Of course, not everyone shares my view about Ms. Ifill's performance. Lee Cary, writing for the American Thinker, says "A careful reading of the questions Gwen Ifill asked during the VP debate reveals several that displayed her bias."

The first example offered by Cary is what is termed the "forced-choice" question. "The forced-choice question," Cary explains, "aims to force an answer from a choice of options defined by the interviewer." An example offered by Cary: "As America watches these things [Congress struggling with the bailout bill] happen on Capital Hill, Senator Biden, was this the worse of Washington or the best of Washington that we saw play out?"

This question, Cary writes, "...was a tee-up for Biden. He said, 'neither the best nor worse,' but it was, he said a reflection of the bad economic policies of 'the last eight years.' In other words, it was the worse of Washington on the Bush-Republican side."

How could the topic be addressed in an unbiased fashion? Like this, Cary says: "As America watches these things happen on Capital Hill, what should they reasonably expect to be the outcome, and its impact on their lives?"

The second example offered by Cary is termed the "Bias-Premised" Question. Here, Cary cites the following question: "Senator Biden, how, as vice president, would you work to shrink this gap of polarization which has sprung up in Washington, which you both have spoken about here tonight." The bias, Cary says, is implied by suggesting "...that during the Bush administration polarization 'sprung up.'"

Another bias-premised question, according to Cary: "Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the Constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?"

"Out of left field," Cary writes, "Ifill interjects the man Democrats love to hate, Dick Cheney, into the debate. She attributes an unexplained and unsubstantiated interpretation of the Constitution to Cheney, and then asks Palin to defend or attack that interpretation."

The final type of biased question offered by Cary is the "Contrived Dichotomy" question. He cites this quote from Ifill: "Senator, we want to talk about taxes, let's talk about taxes. You proposed raising taxes on people who earn over $250,000 a year. The question for you is, why is that not class warfare and the same question for you, Governor Palin, is you have proposed a tax employer health benefits which some studies say would actually throw five million more people onto the roles of the uninsured. I want to know why that isn't taking things out on the poor, starting with you, Senator Biden."

Cary says, "Note the dichotomy she creates within her question: Biden wants to tax the rich versus Palin wants to take health insurance away from the poor."

After reading Cary's article, I would say that his argument has some merit. However, I would also say that finding an unbiased moderator is likely to prove an impossible task. Any moderator can phrase questions to elicit a desired response, or to paint an individually preferred picture. It's just human nature for us to project our individual biases and preferences.