There was something of a world-turned-upside down feel to this morning's Today show.
There was Katie, putting WH spokesman Dan Bartlett on the hot seat. Nothing unusual about that. But rather than using allegations or statements coming from the left, Couric threw in Bartlett's face statements made by Rush and Bill Kristol.
Katie ran a clip of Rush's oft-quoted remark that the Miers pick was made "in weakness,' and Kristol's admission of being "disappointed, depressed and demoralized."
Bartlett responded with a litany of defenses. Most were along the line that Miers does indeed share W's judicial philosophy. One defense strained credulity: "during the selection process, many people recommended we look for someone from outside the judiciary." Isn't that convenient?
MSM bias is at its most insidious when opinions are offered as facts, as when Katie asked whether W's political vulnerability led to the Miers pick, W's vulnerability being taken as a given.
In any case, the episode proved the adage: all a conservative has to do to garner respectful treatment by the liberal media - even a conservative normally as reviled by the MSM as Rush - is to criticize a Republican president. Strange bedfellows indeed!
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Finkelstein has degrees from Cornell University and Harvard Law
School.He lives in Ithaca, NY where he hosts "Right Angle," a local
political talk show. Finkelstein specializes in exposing liberal bias
at NBC's Today Show.
