THE RIGHTWING BACKFLIPS TO KEEP THEIR LIBERAL MEDIA CANARD ALIVE

Instapundit quotes the following:

If Kerry had won, the war would undoubtedly be repudiated in the press everywhere. But now that Bush has won, it has been decided that he won on other issues like gay marriage and abortion.

Jack's brother said more or less the same thing a few hours later. The obvious implication is that because the media isn't saying Bush won on the war and his foreign policy, the media are a bunch of Democratic suck-ups.

First of all, a lot of people, pollsters even, were predicting a Kerry win with over 300 electoral votes, and if that occurred, then yes, that would have been seen (rightfully) as a repudiation of Bush's foreign policy. What actually happened was Bush winning essentially by Ohio. He ended up with 12 more electoral votes than the minimum needed to win. The electoral map barely changed. The ball is on the Democratic 48 yard line, so to speak.

And we can argue about how appealing to antigay bigotry was a cornerstone of Karl Rove's campaign strategy, especially in its final days.

And nevermind the fact that the media has spent months saying that the race 1) is very, very close and 2) will be based largely on foreign policy, so if they find something different in the actual result they will report it.

But here's the thing: In expressing the above-quoted sentiment about the media, these righties are accidentally making an argument AGAINST a liberal-bias or Kerry-bias in the media.

How so?

Well, the reporters and talking heads you see on CNN and elsewhere didn't say Bush's edge came from people who are anti-gay, or even anti-gay marriage. They referred to these voters as people who voted based on "moral values".

Remember, the media is "liberal". Also remember that the "liberal" position on opposition to gay rights is that such positions are bigoted. So why are all these liberally-biased people going around saying "moral values" when they mean "friggin homophobia"?

One of the few sources of pleasure for me in this election is that the results, and the way Bush and Rove got over the top, and the way the media has reported it, has forced the ref-workers on the right to engage in massive contortions and backflips to keep their liberal media myth afloat. And for their own sanity they'd better keep it alive, because since they have complete control of every branch of government, they'll need to find something to complain about!