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There's a whole lot of rationalizing going on in media circles over the laughable and admitted stump-speech-disguised-as-a-Vice-Presidential-debate last week. Moderator Gwen Ifill apparently thinks that if the candidates themselves weren't worried about staying on topic or engaging one another, it wasn't her job to make them do so.

The understanding was that we were going to have a debate. And one of the interesting things about debates, that people forget -- especially with this one, there was so much obsession about Sarah Palin -- is that there are two people on stage. And their job – you know this, you’re doing this Tuesday night – are to debate each other. The moderator’s job is to control their debate. If they have decided, as Joe Biden decided, that he was going to debate John McCain and she decided she was going to give a stump speech to the American people, there’s very little a moderator can do, other than say, “No, no, no, listen, I ask the questions! Please, please answer!” So I guess I knew going in that they all had their goals for that debate.

I was taken, going in, it can now be said, by how many of the questions that people volunteered to me were all about her. There was 99%, I would say, was all about her. 99% of the analysis afterward were about her. It was as if Joe Biden wasn’t part of this deal. And if she wasn’t challenged on the things she said that were not completely correct, or if she wasn’t challenged on changing the subject and answering the questions, by her competitor, I had another job to do at the table.

By her own admission, Ifill recognizes that it's the moderator's job to control the debate--and says that Palin "blew her off"--but since neither of the candidates called out the other for not following the debate rules, she has "another job at the table". Um, huh?

Why bother having a moderator at that point, Ifill? What other job was monopolizing your time?

Transcripts below the fold:

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Saturday Night Live offers yet another instant classic with their take on last week's Vice Presidential Debate:

IFILL: Now, tonight’s discussion will cover a wide range of topics, including domestic and foreign policy matters. Each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond to a direct question and then an additional two minutes to for rebuttal and follow up. As moderator, I will not ask any follow up questions beyond, “Do you agree?” or “Your response?” So as to not appear biased for Barack Obama in light of my new book, The Breakthrough: Politics of Race in the Age of Obama, coming out on Inauguration Day and available for pre-order on Amazon.com. And finally, we would like to remind our audience that , due to the historically low expectations for Gov. Palin, were she simply to do an adequate job tonight, and at no point cry, faint, run out of the building or vomit, you should consider the debate a tie. All right, let’s begin. Sen. Biden, how as Vice President would you work to shrink the gap of polarization that has sprung up in Washington?

BIDEN: Well, I would do what I’ve done my whole career , whether it’s been dealing with violence against women or putting 100,000 police officers on the streets. I would reach across the aisle. Like I’ve done with so many members of the other party. Members like John McCain. Because look, I love John McCain. He is one of my dearest friends. But at the same time, he is also dangerously unbalanced. I mean, let’s be frank. John McCain – and again, this is a man I would take a bullet for – is bad at his job and mentally unstable. As my mother would say, God love him, but he’s a raging maniac. And a dear, dear friend.

IFILL: Gov. Palin, how would your administration deal with the current financial crisis?

PALIN: Well, first of all , let me say how nice it is to meet Joe Biden. And may I say, up close, your hair plugs don’t look nearly as bad as everyone says. You know, John McCain and I, we’re a couple of mavericks, and gosh darn it, we’re gonna take that maverick energy right to Washington and we’re gonna use it to fix this financial crisis and everything else that’s plaguin’ this great country of ours.

IFILL: How would you solve the financial crisis by being a maverick?

PALIN: You know, we’re gonna take every aspect of the crisis and look at it and then we’re gonna ask ourselves, “what would a maverick do in this situation?” and then, you know, we’ll do that.

The Big Picture: Many experts point to the Financial Modernization Act as one of the causes of our current financial crisis. Byron Dorgan was one of the few senators to speak out strongly against the legislation then. Looking back, his predictions in 1999 seem prophetic and, looking forward, his views raise more questions about the $700 billion bailout plan.

The Brad Blog: New study details massive voter roll purge underway in at least 19 states.

Media Nation: Gwen Ifill? What about NBC's "McCain liason," Tom Brokaw?

TheZoo: Psychogeezer says he gets foreign policy advice from Palin -OMG

Rolling Stone: Make Believe Maverick: A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty.

Spiegel Online: The end of arrogance

CommonDreams: In the Wayback Machine with Iran/Contra conspirator, Elliot Abrams

Danger Room: Chemical weapons have been an international taboo for decades. But now, some in the United States Air Force are pushing to use them again.

The Hill’s Pundit Blog: Destroy Gonzales-ism.  Related: Tired of DoJ's foot-dragging and dissembling, Conyers has issued a big subpoena

Matthew Yglesias: Once more, the Bush Crime Family is fixing the facts around the policy

blackprof: Gwen Ifill--who has been referred to as "the Times' cleaning lady" by Imus--has some thoughts. In Wingnuttia, they just change the subject...

The Washington Note: Take a look at this simple chart...

Russert Watch: Clinton and the Round Table

Arianna: "I Think There's Something Happening Here."

"That was Gwen Ifill on Meet the Press's roundtable, responding to Byron York's comment regarding Bill Clinton's views on Iraq in the previous segment: "I will align National Review with Bill Clinton on this," York said. So the something that was happening on Meet the Press was the news that Bill Clinton and National Review are now aligned on Iraq...read on"

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