RedState.com Notes Party-ID Bias in Associated Press Reporting

Leon H. Wolf of RedState.com makes a great comparison today, calling out the Associated Press for their labeling bias.  This post, found here, is hilariously entitled “AP Discovers GOP Republican Conservative Republican Member of the GOP (R) Involved In Scandal.”

Wolf pointed out the difference between this story and the AP’s coverage of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:

Remember Kwame Kilpatrick?  To review the bidding, Kilpatrick (a Democrat mayor of one of America’s most prominent cities) was implicated in the coverup of the murder of a stripper whose services he allegedly frequented, much to the consternation of his wife.  Kilpatrick was ultimately arrested and indicted with eight federal felonies and resigned from office in total disgrace as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.  Did we mention that text messages obtained from the city also clearly indicated that Kilpatrick was a serial philanderer?  And also that Kilpatrick was dragged to jail for violating the terms of his bond?

You might have guessed that these stories would be of some interest to the Associated Press, and you’d be correct! You’d be less correct if you assumed that the Associated Press showed the same vigor for disclosing Kilpatrick’s Democratic Party violation.  In fact, the AP repeatedly and continuously refused to identify Kilpatrick as a Democrat whatsoever.

One might also add the Sanford affair as an example of this bias – or, for that matter, the ongoing Blagojevich saga, or the recent coverage of the release of former Rep James Traficant (D-Ohio).  In fact, it could be accurately noted that Traficant’s hairpiece (like Blago’s overtended coiffure) received more attention than his Democratic party affiliation.

Not that the media’s forgetfulness is surprising in the slightest.  But when it is so brazen as the AP has shown here, it reeks of politicization of the news.