Op-ed-gate suggests Pro-McCain media bias

There is a fundamental question that must be asked regarding this week's traditional media coverage.  

When the corporate media genererated narrative is how the media favors Obama and that message is repeated over and over by that same corporate media that is allegedly in Obama's tank, is the media's "meta" self-flagellation a) honest navel gazing or b) an example of cynical pro-McCain media bias in which the media purposely offers itself up as foil to whip up conservative anti-media resentment?

Take the kerfufule of "Op-Ed-Gate."  The TV news media made yesterday all about McCain vs NYT, a narrative inherently helpful to John McCain, especially with his anemic conservative base.   Media Bistro recapped the coverage yesterday:

One of the big topics of the day on the cable news channels is Drudge Report's story about the New York Times rejecting Sen. John McCain's proposed Op-Ed about Iraq. Fox News has Carl Cameron reporting the story, MSNBC's Chris Matthews talked about it on Hardball and Howard Kurtz gave his take last hour on CNN: "One irony of the internet age: the rejected piece will probably wind up getting far more attention by the controversy whipped up by Matt Drudge then if the New York Times had just gone ahead and published it," said Kurtz.

Funny how the ironic consequences  of alleged pro-Obama media bias always seem to accrue to the benefit of McCain.

Take Obama's overseas trip.  Nobody put a gun to the heads of the traditional media to give Obama's trip coverage.  But isn't it kind of cynical that the media gives Obama's trip  a lot of coverage and simultaneously talks incessantly about how they are giving Obama too much coverage?

If the media were truly in Obama's tank, there would be no navel gazing about their own coverage decisions.  They would just slant the coverage and get on with it.   But they don't.  They offer themselves up as whipping boy to help John McCain turn lemons into lemonade.

This week John McCain said that Iraq and Pakistan share a border after previously confusing Iraq and Iran; Sunni and Shia.  One would think the media echo chamber might rev up for this one, questioning whether John McCain is too ignorant and/or senile to be President.  But no, barely a whisper for about the events.  More importantly, there is no navel gazing about whether they are being unfair to Barack Obama by magnifing his gaffes and hushing up McCain's.

See folks, this is how real media bias is done.  If you are in the tank for Candidate X, don't just slant the coverage and narratives towards Candidate X, but also twist the knife by repeating over and over how you are really in the tank for candidate Y because you know that this will help Candidate X.

This is cynical, disingenuous reverse psychology designed to trick low-information voters into believing the myth of "the liberal media."