The McLaughlin Group on McCain's press

The other day, The McLaughlin Group panel discussed McCain's adoring press by asking the question, "Is the press smitten with McCain?"

I don't see how one could conclude otherwise, especially considering how the wolves have been savaging anyone who dare criticize McCain recently with regard to his foreign policy "expertise." The best example of this is the reception in the press of Gen. Wesley Clark's comments on Face the Nation from this past Sunday, when Clark answered Bob Schieffer's question with Schieffer's words. You would have thought that Clark called McCain a traitor.

In the clip above, I laughed when Pat Buchanan asked whether the quotes were taken "from blogs or something?" Typical of GOP pundits these days - confront them with facts, and they will look at you dumbfounded.

Crooks and Liars has the quotes and their sources:

Kind of like a Martin Luther [Chris Matthews - Hardball]

A man of unshakable character, willing to stand up for his convictions [R.W. Apple, NY Times]

An affable man of zealous, unbending beliefs [Richard Cohen, The Washington Post]

The hero who still does things his own way [Richard Cohen, The Washington Post]

Rises above the pack-eloquent, as only a prisoner of war can be [David Nyhan, The Boston Globe]

The perfect candidate to deal with what challenges we face as a country. [Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC]

Blunt, unyielding, deploying his principles, what he does do is what he’s always done, play it as straight as possible. [Terry Moran, Nightline]

Wordly-wise and witty, determined to follow the facts to the exclusion of ideology. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]

Willing to defy his own party and forge compromise. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]

Pragmatic in the service of the national interest, rises to passion when he believes that America’s best values are at stake. [Michael Hirsh, Newsweek]

The maverick candidate still. [Terry Moran, Nightline]

Not a blog in the bunch, Pat Buchanan.

This stuff really makes me sick. People who make the blanket statement that there's a liberal bias in the media ought to have their heads examined. It's absurd, and quite frankly, totally outrageous. Every candidate, no matter from which party, ought to be asked tough questions. Gone are the days when journalists tried to hide their political loyalties - those are a dying breed.

The line is now so blurred between journalists and pundits on television (still the most dominant medium in America as far as where people get their news and entertainment, by the way), it's hard to distinguish hard news from political diatribe.

I know how conservatives would respond to the above two paragraphs, too: What about Keith Olbermann! Fine. Name me four more popular liberal television personalities who get the ratings of prominent conservative personalities. You can't. But, it's pretty easy to come up with pundits and personalities on the right who get plenty of face time and ratings, both on TV and radio: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage (the three highest rated radio personalities in the country, respectively), Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, the entire Fox Network, Pat Buchanan, etc. The list is long and distinguished notorious.