The New York Times' continuing hostility toward the GOP's conservative Freedom Caucus got snide in Sunday's news pages. "The Fights That Ryan Will Face as Speaker, In Plain English" was co-written by veteran congressional reporter Carl Hulse, who never hides his Democratic sympathies, certianly not in this snide, cynical "translation" of a Freedom Caucus-issued questionnaire, which converted standard congressional-ese into the apparently rude and aggressive demands that the "hard-right" caucus is prepared to make on Speaker of the House in waiting, Paul Ryan, including holding legislation "hostage."

During CBS This Morning’s daily “Headlines” segment on Thursday, co-host Norah O’Donnell eagerly touted a piece by Time magazine which “reports on Congressman Paul Ryan accused of hypocrisy.” The CBS reporter mentioned no names who accused Ryan of “hypocrisy” when she promoted the article and instead noted that “Ryan said if he were to serve as House Speaker he would not give up spending time with his family. Critics say Ryan has opposed measures to help families.”

On Wednesday’s CBS This Morning, reporter Nancy Cordes previewed Congressman Paul Ryan’s expected bid to be the next Speaker of the House by repeatedly playing up the potential conflict he will have with the supposed “hardliners” within his own party. The CBS reporter introduced the segment by stressing how Ryan will only run for speaker if he receives support from the entire House Republican Conference which “turns the tables on hardline conservatives who were hoping to extract concessions from their next speaker in exchange for their support.”

During the 2012 election the New York Times treated Rep. Paul Ryan, currently a reluctant Speaker-elect, as fearsomely conservative. But now the paper is defending him from the "far-right" on the front page. Reporter Jennifer Steinhauer got to the labeling bias right off the bat: "Far-right media figures, relatively small in number but potent in their influence, have embarked on a furious Internet expedition to cover Representative Paul D. Ryan in political silt."

Esquire’s Charles Pierce seemingly would like a time machine to take him back a quarter-century so he could advise the Tom Foley/George Mitchell-era Democratic party. Failing that, Pierce wishes today’s Dems would at last act on his idea to persuade the American people that the Republican party is “thoroughly, deeply, banana-sandwich loony,” thereby “beat[ing] the crazy out of [the GOP] so the country can get moving again.”

“Republican extremism should have been the most fundamental campaign issue for every Democratic candidate for every elected office since about 1991,” argued Pierce in a Friday post. “The mockery and ridicule should have been loud and relentless. It was the only way to break both the grip of the prion disease, and break through the solid bubble of disinformation, anti-facts, and utter bullshit that has sustained the Republican base over the past 25 years.”