NewsBusters (and, presumably, the rest of the MRC) is employing a new standard in “liberal bias” detection: If you say or write negative things about the Bush administration, no matter how truthful they are, you’re biased. A few State of the Union-related posts on NewsBusters illustrate the concept:
— In a item headlined “ABC the Most Negative Before SOTU Address: State of the Union ‘Sour,’” Brent Baker criticized ABC for offering “downbeat take on the public attitude facing President Bush.”
— Michael Rule criticized the “negative tone” purportedly used in a CBS interview with Bush White House attorney Dan Bartlett.
— Baker took another whack at news outlets for using the word “sour.”
Such criticism is all situational, of course — we suspect the MRC thought the press wasn’t negative enough during the Clinton years.