One of the oldest canards in our national discourse is that the “mainstream” media hews to a liberal bias.\u00a0\u00a0 Evidence that this just isn’t true has been mounting for years.<\/p>\n
Consider the fawning treatment of the Bush administration’s build-up to the Iraq war by reporters.\u00a0 Or the constant right-of-center tilt of the influential Sunday morning talk shows.<\/p>\n
The most convincing recent evidence that the media is far from infatuated with the American left can be found in the relative fates of Sarah Palin and Howard Dean.<\/p>\n
The two politicians have, in some respects, fairly similar resumes.<\/p>\n
Both were small-state governors (Alaska and Vermont are two of the least populated states in the US.)<\/p>\n
Both emerged onto the national scene in dramatic fashion, with Dean making an insurgent bid for the presidency and Palin running as John McCain’s surprise veep pick.<\/p>\n
Both were treated harshly at times by the media, with Palin’s accent and Dean’s purported howl becoming staples of the late-night comics.<\/p>\n
What makes them interesting, though, isn’t their similarities but their differences.<\/p>\n
After stepping out of the presidential race, Dean took leadership of the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n
He is, beyond dispute, one of the key architects of the Democratic surges of 2006 and 2008.<\/p>\n
He showed real savvy in organizing the Democratic Party’s liberal wing, but also worked to develop more moderate candidates in swing-districts.<\/p>\n
His “fifty state” strategy laid the groundwork for victories in states once viewed as “too red” for a Democratic revival.<\/p>\n
Palin, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction.\u00a0 In the months since the 2008 campaign, she quit her job as governor of Alaska.<\/p>\n
Her primary influence on politics has been a series of Tweets, including the infamous “death panels” salvo.\u00a0 The candidates she has supported for public office have generally been defeated.<\/p>\n
It would be unfair to pile on by mentioning the awkwardness of her family’s personal life (Bristol & Levi anyone?), if not for the fact that Palin’s main focus of late has been launching a reality TV show on TLC.<\/p>\n
Which brings me back to the “lamestream” media, as Palin describes it.<\/p>\n
For some reason, despite her lack of a credible track record, news organizations can’t get enough of Palin.\u00a0 The Washington Post is running a story this morning headlined “The Power of Palin’s Touch.”<\/p>\n
What’s interesting about the article — which describes Palin’s endorsement of a House candidate in Maryland — is that it doesn’t suggest that her backing is lifting the candidate among voters.<\/p>\n
(A recent Pew poll found that twice as many Americans thought a Palin endorsement was a bad thing than thought it a good thing…)<\/p>\n