Great First Lady

I like Laura Bush. She's honest and smart and diplomatic. Here's a comment from an interview article in the Washington Times:

During an interview with The Washington Times, Mrs. Bush laughed incredulously when asked whether the press was fair and impartial in its coverage of a conservative such as President Bush. Her press secretary, Gordon Johndroe, laughed even more heartily.

"I mean, I think it's obvious in some parts of the media — some newspapers, some television networks — that there's a bias," she said late Tuesday. "Or an agenda — maybe I should say an agenda."

The first lady said she has resigned herself to the reality that conservatives seeking the presidency must work harder than liberals in order to compensate for the liberal bias of the press.

That theory has been confirmed by influential journalists themselves. For example, Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas recently acknowledged that the press wants Sen. John Kerry to win and thinks that is responsible for 15 percent of his support. ABC News political director Mark Halperin mused whether the press would root for the Massachusetts Democrat as vigorously as it did for Bill Clinton in 1992.

Considering that the AP issued a Freedom of Information Act request for Larry Thurlow, a Swiftee contesting Kerry's versions of events, and the media requested George Bush's military records through FOIA, but no media outlet has made a similar FOIA request for Kerry's records (see here for details), it seems Halperin's question is being answered in the affirmative.