"CONSERVATIVE" VS "MODERATE" VS "LIBERAL"

A constant refrain heard from the right is that of Liberal Media Bias. Often we are just laughed at by the left, who claim a CONSERVATIVE media bias. Other time, we are quietly told by smart people that they don’t think there is any bias in the news, like the day after the 2002 elections when my friend told me that. Of curse, it was just about an hour later when Reuters had the headline:

“Republicans seize control of Congress”

That’s usually the kind of bias we find, subtle wording like “seizure of power”. Last night, I ran into another case of subtle, probably unintentional media bias.

My wife likes to watch local news and she often watches NECN (New England Cable News) and as we were going to bed, they had a little segment comparing the Vice-Presidential Candidates. I was only half paying attention when I heard Alison King call Dick Cheney a “conservative Republican”. I listened for a few minutes, waiting for her to get to Robin Edwards. When she did, she called him a “moderate Democrat”.

A moderate Democrat? In the National Journal’s ranking of the 2003 voting records, John Kerry was found to be the MOST liberal Senator and Robin came in number 4. 4th most liberal and he was labeled a “moderate”.

Now, to be fair, Robin did have a moderate voting record for the first four years in the Senate, but when it came time to run for President, he went hog liberal wild. Some would say that he did that to win the nomination, but I disagree. I think he started voting his beliefs. You see, at the same time he started running for President, he decided NOT to run for the Senate again. And freed from having to face the voters of North Carolina again, he didn’t need to temper his votes. So, the real John Edwards came out.