Bipartisanship and the Media

Eric Boehlert hits another one out of the park (and keep in mind rrp's recent guest post on how much the media shapes our discourse as you read):

Virtually all the news accounts are stressing the same story: If there's little or no bipartisan support for Obama's stimulus package, then it's Obama's fault, and his fault alone. (No surprise, the media narrative echoes the latest GOP talking point, as dutifully pushed by RNC writers like Peggy Noonan.)

A bit ironic, isn't it? While addressing the issue of bipartisanship (i.e. "involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties") the press holds only one party accountable: the Democrats. Apparently, that's how the press now views the issue of bipartisanship -- it's something Democrats must bring to fruition.

...[I]f you search the Nexis database, you'll find relatively few mainstream media references to Republicans as "obstructionists" during the past week. In fact, one of the few references I found came from The New York Times, which assured readers, "Republicans, for their part, do not want to be seen as obstructionists of a popular new president in a time of national distress" [emphasis added]. How perfect is that? Republicans don't want to be seen as obstructions, and the press, dutifully, isn't portraying them that way.

Emphasis original. Read the whole thing here.