Distract, Distort, Demagogue- Worried about their chances in November, conservatives are desperately seeking diversions.

By Sam Fulwood III

If nothing else, the sycophants genuflecting to the McCain-Palin presidential campaign are experts at creating diversions.

When things go bad, they call out the troops to fill the airwaves with misdirection. Or they heave Hail Mary passes, hoping to connect with their easy-to-anger supporters. In fact, they'll do just about anything except admit to the campaign's shortcomings. So now, they've dragged PBS anchor Gwen Ifill into the crosshairs of their phony efforts at sowing confusion and distraction.

On the eve of tonight's vice presidential debate, a bevy of right wingers mounted a smear campaign against Ifill. Michelle Malkin kicked it off with a poisoned-pen commentary in the National Review Online, claiming Ifill is unfit to moderate the debate because she's writing a book about Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

But this shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. Washington-based journalists write books all the time, and Ifill's book was no secret. Random House plans to publish Ifill's book, "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," about the time the next president is inaugurated.

"[T]here is nothing 'moderate' about where Ifill stands on Barack Obama," Malkin wrote. "She's so far in the tank for the Democratic presidential candidate, her oxygen delivery line is running out."

Then, others picked up the spear to poke at Ifill. Matt Drudge made it the lead story on his blog. Fox News trotted out its resident expert on all things black, Juan Williams, to express both admiration and admonishment for Ifill's role in the debate, noting that he thinks Ifill is a first-rate journalist but that "there's a perception problem" related to her writing about Obama.

Distract, Distort, Demagogue....