A reader writes:
I agree with you that Rudy doesn't get much love from left leaning press sources. But I think he has largely gotten a pass from many trusted reporters on the right as stated in the article by Ramesh Ponnuru, 'Rudy Wins the Pundit Primary, Conservative journalists choose up.' It may be the conservative instinct to defend against attacks from the left, but the way the debate about the Republican nomination has been framed is about as favorable as Rudy could hope. I think that the clearest example of this is the way trends in polling have been reported, take New Hampshire or South Carolina for instance. When Rudy made gains on Mitt in NH a few weeks ago it was widely reported as a significant development in the race, but recently as Mitt has began to extend his margin it has been quite effectively downplayed by the Giuliani camp. Some widely released AP reports were almost a complete parroting of a campaign release put out by Rudy, see "Giuliani May Not Need Early States." The article came out on the same day that new numbers out of NH were showing Romney up by 12 and 11 points, but the article outright lies and states that Rudy is gaining ground in the state. The article also dismisses the tried and true theory of momentum for 'something simpler: delegate math.' It goes on to misleadingly describe the race in South Carolina as a battle between Rudy and Fred, leaving Mitt completely out of the picture when polls showed him trending swiftly upwards and locked in a three way battle, a story that has been largely neglected given its potential impact on the race.
This reader's criticisms of the AP story linked to in the pull-quote are spot on. But is that story really a case of Rudy getting a pass from the conservative press? Seems to me that it's more a case of a mainstream reporter making analytical judgments that are exactly the opposite of what any non-spun, non-reflexively-liberal-leaning observer would conclude. Which is something that occurs ... um, basically in almost every story you read in the paper.