Admiration for the movie star Charlton Heston poured out of the obituaries and appreciations when he died. He would say he was an actor, which he certainly was, but he was also a star, a riveting presence that could credibly play great men like Moses. But the story of Heston’s activism came like a cautionary note, that he used to be a civil rights hero, but then he wandered badly astray.

Many were struck at the similarities of the late careers of Heston and Ronald Reagan, two actors who became more conservative as the 20th century moved on, and both passed away through the long and difficult descent of Alzheimer’s Disease. Journalists and biographers who suggest a dramatic conversion of these two men – sometimes with a nasty implication that they cynically switched sides in the debate to keep their faltering careers alive – often fail to acknowledge how the political and cultural ground shifted under their feet, causing the leap.

Before ABC News on Sunday night described Charlton Heston as “polarizing” for his conservative views and CBS News dubbed him “controversial,” the Fox News Channel aired a obituary piece which impugned Heston as “infamous for his politics, including his belief that the Bill of Rights is built upon the bedrock of the Second Amendment.”

The MRC's Rich Noyes caught the characterization on Fox & Friends Weekend, at about 7:12 AM EDT Sunday morning, in a pre-packaged piece narrated by Bill McCuddy, though he was never identified or shown, possibly because he is no longer with FNC.

The Oxford dictionary defines “infamous” as “well known for some bad quality or deed” or “morally bad; shocking.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary: “Having a reputation of the worst kind: notoriously evil,” or “causing or bringing infamy: disgraceful.”

There are more examples of biased reporting in connection with Charlton Heston's death beyond what Tim Graham discussed earlier this morning.

AP movie writer David Germain devoted the second paragraph of his story chronicling reactions to Heston's passing to, of all people, Michael Moore:

Nancy Reagan was heartbroken over Charlton Heston's death. President Bush hailed him as a "strong advocate for liberty," while John McCain called Heston a devotee for civil and constitutional rights.

Even Michael Moore, who mocked Heston in his gun-control documentary "Bowling for Columbine," posted the actor's picture on his Web site to mark his passing.

Not that much later (paragraphs 13-16 of a 40-plus paragraph report), Germain gave the far-left documentarian four additional paragraphs:

Remembering Charlton Heston, who died Saturday night in his Beverly Hills home at age 84, the ABC and CBS anchors on Sunday night tarnished the actor's political activity on behalf of conservative causes, particularly his leadership of the NRA, as “controversial” and “polarizing.” Dan Harris, anchor of ABC's World News, asserted: “As President of the National Rifle Association, he became one of the most-polarizing figures in American politics.” CBS Evening News anchor Russ Mitchell declared: “Once the quintessential big screen hero, in his later years he drew as much attention for his controversial politics.”

Those pro-gun rights views were certainly “controversial” to network journalists who disagreed with him and so hit him repeatedly from the left on the issue in 1998 and 2001 morning show interviews, especially Katie Couric.

I guess we shouldn't expect any sense of decorum from Kossacks, but it is pretty lame that they had to unleash their hatred only minutes after the announcement of the passing of famed American actor Charlton Heston. A Daily Kos "diarist" named doriangz started out calling Heston a "gun-nut" and ending with his life and causes being considered "political nutdouchebaggery," and the incivility just flowed like the opening of a damn from Kos posters' keyboards after that. Not much respect for a man who's film career spanned many decades, who marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., and fought to uphold our Constitution.

One poster said that Heston tore into the "victims of Columbine," one Marcus Tullius said he laughed when Jerry Falwell died and that Heston's death made the world a better place. And Fairy Tale echoed that with a post that said, "Things are already getting better in America" now that Heston was dead. RandySF said that he was sorry but that he "can't think of anything nice" to say about Heston. Aqualad08 seemed to think that if there were "no guns in heaven" that would make it "hell" for Heston.

And they were just getting warmed up.