Doesn't Every Attempt At Humor Have An Element Of Truth?

I see where the noted liberal Bill Press recently had a bout of heart trouble, forcing him to be admitted to George Washington Hospital for treatment. In a bit of an ironic development, he was placed in what is known as the “Dick Cheney Suite,” the “suite” being identified thus due to a substantial donation made by the Vice-President to the hospital. Following his release, Mr. Press commented on his accommodations by noting that, “I suspected it was the Cheney Suite when I walked in and all TV sets were turned to Fox News.”

Okay. Ha, ha, ha. I recognize that Mr. Press’s comment regarding Fox News was said in jest, and I’ll give him that much – although his comment about the shotgun in the closet was funnier. But I do have to say that seeing that comment on the part of someone who openly declares his opposition to most things, if not all things, conservative did prompt some serious thoughts on my part.

First of all, let’s all acknowledge that people on both sides of the aisle have a pretty good idea of which media outlets reflect their personal preferences on how news and events should be portrayed, and which ones do not. Where conservatives are concerned, the list is considerable: ABC, NBC, CBS, Washington Post, New York Times, CNN, etc.

Where liberals are concerned – and this is what I find so interesting – the list seems to begin and end at Fox News. And yet that one outlet alone is enough to drive many a liberal into a frenzy over its “biased reporting,” notably causing some to publicly declare that those who watch the network are “stupid.” (Kind of recalls other comments I have recently made – okay yesterday – on the leftists’ desire to silence any voices that dissent with their own.)

Indeed, there are many, including some conservatives I know, who refer to the Fox News network as a “Republican” network. Frankly, I disagree with that assessment. Sure it looks like a conservative Republican news source to many because it certainly is to the right of most other news outlets.

But if it is a conservative Republican news outlet, why has Democrat Presidential Candidate Wesley Clark recently come onto its payroll? How do we explain the presence of Alan Colmes as one its highest profile personalities? What’s the deal with so many appearances by Susan Estrich, Al Sharpton, Leo Tyrell, Charlie Rangel, and other liberal activists? How is it so easy for hosts and correspondents, like Greta Van Susteran and Paula Zahn, to move between this and other networks?

The fact of the matter is that Fox News is not the exclusive turf of conservative viewpoints. It only appears to be so because it certainly offers more airtime to conservatives than do most other outlets. Indeed, to be perfectly honest, the constant confrontational tone taken in certain of the network’s shows resulting from inviting proponents of conservative and liberal views sometimes makes it difficult for me to stomach said shows (I can only take so many debates that devolve into shouting matches).

The liberal scorn of the Fox News Network, no matter how they try to present it, has less to do with the presence of a conservative bias than it does the lack of a liberal one. Why this is so unpleasant for liberals is that the broad dissemination of viewpoints alternative to their own forces them to acknowledge that such viewpoints do exist and calls on them to make a convincing case as to why their’s is the better one. In the real world, that’s becoming harder and harder for them to do.