Is Media Hostility a 'Favor' To Republicans?

September 22nd, 2011 5:40 PM

James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal cited our new study of the dramatic imbalance in morning show coverage of the presidential candidates in his Best of the Web Today column. We thank him for reporting the study. Then he suggested this is somehow doing the Republican nominee a "favor."

Well, dog bites man and all that, but to the extent that the media are hitting GOP candidates now with hostile liberal questions, they're doing the ultimate nominee a favor by toughening him up for next fall. Barack Obama is not going to go easy on his opponent, and anyone who can't withstand tendentious questioning from the likes of Brian Williams isn't prepared to go one-on-one with the president.

It's certainly true that any Republican nominee is going to need to be able to handle liberal hardball questioning. But it has the unfortunate sound of saying liberal bias designed to wreck the Republicans' electability is just part of the political landscape that has to be accepted. Taranto wouldn't say "dog bites man," and then thank the dog for biting the man for the favor.  It can sound like thanking the hurricane for toughening us up against hurricanes...except for the wreckage.

Groups like the MRC are not around to chronicle "dog bites man, yadda yadda yadda." We are around to underline the point that our "objective" national media cannot be trusted to offer honest information and balanced analysis. They fail easy tests of journalistic professionalism because they want to "make history." See the entire knee-quivering, leg-thrilling, "God Damn America"-excusing 2008 Obama campaign.