MSM TLC

Dean Barnett asks why Mitt Romney, whom he characterizes as a "second tier candidate," has received so much more TLC from the press (which is about the equivalent of PDA with a great white shark) than other candidates.

What's particularly worth noting is the disparity in coverage between Romney and Barack Obama. So very little has been explored about the accuracy of his autobiographical work, as well as some very controversial votes during his tenure in the Illinois State Legislature.

What's more, the articles that covered his presidency of the Harvard Law Review omitted quotes from other members of the Review who were less than complimentary of his leadership (or so I'm told by those who were contacted by The New York Times).

Dean Barnett is absolutely right in pointing out that Mitt Romney has many qualities that will make him difficult for the press to caricature in the ways typical of their treatment of Republicans (i.e. by turns stupid and evil).

Even so, in evaluating the overall fairness of the coverage of Election 2008, it's not only a matter of how easy it is (or isn't) to slime a Republican -- it's also about how much easier the press finds it to glorify a liberal Democrat than a conservative Republican.