The Biggest Loser: Gwen Ifill

Ah! The adoring glances of a smitten suitor!
Picture shamelessly stolen from Wizbang's Weekend Caption Contest

The biggest loser of last night's Vice Presidential debate, was the moderator, Gwen Ifill.
She wrote all the questions. A committee of one. Many of the questions were mediocre at best. I think a high school government or journalism class could have come up with better questions.
Then, she had problems articulating the questions! She said no one wrote them for her (or did they?) and yet, she had trouble getting the words out. The questions did not roll off her tongue as someone who was familiar with them. What did she have to do before the debate except write the questions? Most writers I know are familiar enough with their own work that they don't stumble when they read it. Many can recite entire passages from memory, as they labored hard to get the sound and the cadence exactly right. Gwen stumbled and stuttered.

Stage fright? It's not like she hasn't been on television before! Perhaps she was so concerned with making the questions look more profound or better than they were, that she tried to "jazz them up" a little as she delivered them?

Or, in light of the book revelation, maybe she was trying to knock some of the partisan edge off them on the fly. Either way, she came off as less than polished, less than professional.
I think Ifill was the biggest loser of the debate.

Update: Just to refresh your memory as to how "fair and impartial" Gwennie was, a question to Governor Palin:

“Has this administration been an abject failure as Senator Biden says?”

Perhaps she should have asked:

“Has this administration been an abject failure like my attempts at impartiality?”
Inspired by Kenny's Musings
Cross Posted at Say Anything