Categorical Aperitif

I'm not used to seeing the mainstreamiest of mainstream journalists stand up for, well, journalism in the face of St. McMaverick's rising ire like this:

There is a tendency in the media to kick ourselves, cringe and withdraw, when we are criticized. But I hope my colleagues stand strong in this case: it is important for the public to know that Palin raised taxes as governor, supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it, pursued pork-barrel projects as mayor, tried to ban books at the local library and thinks the war in Iraq is "a task from God." The attempts by the McCain campaign to bully us into not reporting such things are not only stupidly aggressive, but unprofessional in the extreme.

Well, I guess when your war is unpopular, your record is full of flip-flops and panders, your agenda is indistinguishable from that of the man who may go down in history as the Worst President Ever, and your running mate is "a borderline-traitorous intellectual lightweight with a track record of penny-ante authoritarianism, utter ignorance of American history, unapologetic suckling on the federal teat, and a family situation worthy of Jerry Springer on a bad day" (in the immortal words of Sifu Tweety Fish), then you might as well dust off the old "liberal media" canard. It'll probably work—at least on anyone who hasn't been paying attention to how the media has actually behaved during the last eight years.

Or who hasn't paid attention to McCain's long-charmed history with the press.