Man bites dog

By any objective measure, the print and television media overwhelmingly tilt to the left. Even so, as James Taranto notes, it is interesting to hear complaints of liberal media bias from Bill Clinton, of all people:


"Former President Clinton, defending his senator-wife's statements on abortion, said Wednesday that Democrats are held to a double standard," the Associated Press reports from Washington:

He contended that Republicans have defined the abortion debate in a way that boxes in Democrats.

"So for example, if you're a Democrat and you have sort of normal impulses, you're a sellout, like when Hillary said abortion is a tragedy for virtually everybody who undergoes it, we ought to do all we can to reduce abortion," Clinton said.

"All of a sudden," he continued, the media began asking, " 'Is she selling out? Is she abandoning her principles?' But if John McCain, who's pro-life, works with Hillary on global warming, he's a man of principle moving to the middle."

"It's nuts," the former president said.

Clinton is absolutely right: The media cheer when a Republican moves to the left and boo when a Democrat moves to the right. For an even more extreme example, compare their treatment of Jim Jeffords and Zell Miller.

Conservatives have been complaining about liberal media bias for decades. Now they've found an unlikely ally in Bill Clinton.