David Brock and assorted others are gallivanting around claiming that talk of "liberal bias" in the media is a myth. They might be right that conservatives use it as an excuse for their mistakes a tad too often, but that bias is unquestionably there. It is present somtimes in subtle ways that are hard to quantifiably document.
A case in point would be the comments made by Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina about Jews. In a newspaper column, Fritz wrote:
“With Iraq no threat, why invade a sovereign country? The answer: President Bush’s policy to secure Israel.” He continued: Bush “came to office with one thought — re-election. Bush felt tax cuts would hold his crowd together, and spreading democracy in the Mideast to secure Israel would take the Jewish vote from the Democrats.”
In the face of bad media in his home state, Fritz has remained defiant, calling criticism of the column "ridiculous."
Now, if a Republican had made these comments, it would be a national story and high up on the sked on the nightly news. But Fritz is a Democrat. He gets the kid glove treatment.
When I type "Fritz Hollings AND Israel" at Google News I get TWO articles pertaining to this issue. (One is an AP dispatch, meaning it might have made a few more papers, but only one is showing at Google).
This is the liberal media bias. If a conservative had said this, it would be all the rage. He'd be forced to apologize or resign. But, as is the case here, if a Democrat says it, all is forgiven.
# posted by Adam Daifallah : 8:46 PM
