Franken-Lies-And-the-Lying-Liars-Who-Tell

"All I know is that's what he told reporters in
Tennessee"
Funded the Internet, which changed history
forever
"By far the vast majority of my tax cuts
go to those at the bottom end of the
spectrum"
Snorted cocaine, dodged draft, drove
drunk into a hedge
In other words, both candidates made serious mistakes and legitimate questions could have
been raised about their fitness for national office. Why then did Bush get twice as many positive
stories and so many fewer negative stories? Hummus. That's right. Remember the oil in
the hummus?
It's the other biases that killed Gore. Pack mentality. Once the pack had decided the
story line on Gore, everybody jumped aboard and rode all the way to November. Also, laziness.
That's a biiiiig bias. Why bother to check facts when you can quote yesterday's story
about a story that ran the day before yesterday?
Negativity. What's more likely to hit the front page? Gore Tells Inspirational Story to
High Schoolers? Or Gore Lies Again? Plus, Bush was a new story. Gore was old. And the
media just didn't like Gore. And by attacking him, reporters were safe from the accusation of
having a liberal bias. Or were they?
Writing in the Charleston Gazette, Dan Radmacher cited a study by Howard Kurtz
that found almost twice as many pro-Bush stories as pro-Gore stories on the front page of The
New York Times during the campaign. An incredulous Ann Coulter could find only one explanation
for a liberal newspaper implying a conservative bias in the Times: "The sheer joy
liberals take in telling lies ... They take insolent pleasure in saying absurd things."
I called Radmacher at his Charleston, West Virginia, office. TearnFranken transcribed
the conversation.
AL: Hi, Dan. It's AI Franken. Did you know that Ann Coulter referred to one of your columns in
her book?
DAN RADMACHER: Really?
AL: It was the one where you cited Howard Kurtz's study on media coverage during the election.
DAN: Oh God. What did she say?
AL: That's actually why I'm calling. She said that your column shows that liberals take sheer
joy in telling lies. So I wanted to ask you: Do you take sheer joy in telling lies?
DAN: Yes. Yes, I do.