by TChris

For years, the right has effectively intimidated the mainstream media with false claims of a "left wing bias" in media coverage. Fearful of further criticism, much of the media rather uncritically reported everything President Bush said until it could no longer ignore evidence of deception and incompetence in the White House.

Nobody can accuse the Appleton (Wisconsin) Post-Cresent of a left wing bias. In an editorial last week, the paper asked readers to send in letters of support for Bush to help "balance" all the letters to the editor complaining about the President and his policies. Things are pretty sad when a newspaper serving a Republican district has to plead for letters that support a Republican president. It's even sadder that the editor doesn't realize that the letters the paper received reflected how its readers feel, and that others weren't writing in support of the President because there's just not much to say in his defense.

The paper ran a second editorial this week, backing away from its earlier request "amid complaints of blatant politics."