Ironclad rule

While it's not news that the Bushists lied morning, noon, and night, it's always useful to have the details. The professional media have little to no interest in uncovering them.

By now, no one who covers politics for a living should ever take at face value what a Republican says. They lie, smear, bullshit, and distort. It's what they do.

Lots of smart people work in media, yet it's obvious after many years of failure that the media is institutionally incapable of learning the simple ironclad rule that no Republican talking point is trustworthy.

Hell, the media shouldn't trust the Democrats either, even though Democrats are significantly better about telling the truth. The media's useful job - though not what publishers and editors actually hire staff for - is to question and verify or falsify the assertions of all people in power.

Yeah, I know. I'm living in the past. The media hasn't done that in at least thirty years.

The sense in which the media once had a liberal bias: Conservatives oppose change, and learning from a truthful source what has actually happened often provokes demand for change. A media that is anything other than the defender and handmaiden of power looks liberally bias to conservatives.

(h/t Atrios here and here)