Conservative Creators of Media "Conventional Wisdom"

Judging by the scare that the Abramoff scandal has sent through GOP Washington, you could be forgiven for thinking that Congressional Republican wrongdoers would be the ones doing the bulk of the post-facto public relations damage control.  But some members of the so-called liberal media have seemingly become just as intimately involved in trying publicly to mitigate the damage that the scandal inflicts on the Republican machine. 

Take cable television babbling-head Chris Matthews, for instance.  On today's episode of Matthews' weekly Sunday morning roundtable gabfest, the excitable host was ready to stand atop the GOP barricades and defend the honor of President Bush and his party against any charges swirling around the Capitol.  

When --as you'd expect it would-- the recent spate of elected officials giving Abramoff-related contributions to charity arose on this morning's show, Matthews began flacking for the President.  Matthews blathered...

"President Bush, of course, got only $6,000 from Abramoff, which was small-potatoes comparatively..."

Matthews' roundtable guest, NY Times reporter Elizabeth Bumiller was kind enough to remind Matthews that Abramoff had "raised almost $100,000 for the President" --a fact which led Mathews to segue quickly onto another topic.  Matthews, it seemed, was more interested in prodding his guests to tell viewers that this scandal surely isn't going to help Democrats.

Matthews' bobblehead bookend, Newsweek's Howard Fineman, was only too happy to oblige. 

After being asked about how the Abramoff case and other lobbying scandals might affect the midterm Congressional elections, Fineman was careful to spout the RNC's party line.  Fineman offered his assessment of possible partisan effects...

"Americans view this very much as a pox on both their [Republicans and Democrats] houses."

Fineman's obtuse statement is, of course, either blissfully ignorant or deliberately obfuscative of the fact that, just days earlier the Associated Press released a survey showing Americans with a broad preference for Democrats over Republicans when asked who ought to control Congress.  A story on the poll paints a much different picture than Fineman:

In an ominous election-year sign for Republicans, Americans are leaning sharply toward giving Democrats control of Congress, an AP-Ipsos poll finds. Democrats are favored 49 percent to 36 percent.

The poll was taken this week as Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to tax evasion, fraud and corruption charges and agreed to aid a federal investigation of members of Congress and other government officials.

The boobery on Matthews' show today is yet another reminder of the media's complicity in building the grand conservative-Republican media echo chamber by endlessly reciting GOP talking points.  Certainly, there is no shortage of examples of this media behavior. 

So next time someone tries to run some bogus "liberal media" jive by you, tell him to hold up, tune in to see Chris Matthews go in the tank for the Bush/DeLay/Abramoff GOP, and then tell you about "media bias".