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First ABC's Mark Halperin says this, then ABCNews does this...

Brilliant.

I've tried for a long time to explain this to my political science students, but I finally have an example so clear I won't need to explain anything. The "liberal media" have so thoroughly internalized the conservative critique that they now feel the need to "prove" that they aren't biased.

There's only one problem with that. The conservative critique isn't just wrong, it's also deliberately dishonest. But don't take my word for it. See for yourself what Richard Viguerie, one of the most important leaders of the conservative movement back in the 1980's and 1990's , had to say. The critique was never about changing the media; it was always about undermining its authority.

A free press can only work as a check on the excesses of government if it is perceived to deliver reports that are thought to at least resemble the truth. By undermining the media, they knew they could undermine the most powerful check on their actions. By making claims of bias central to their critique of the media, they called the validity of all reporting into question. In the environment they created, it is no longer necessary to to rebut inconvenient truths; claim "media bias" and the facts simply disappear.

Don't take my word for it. Listen to Viguerie:

MOYERS: This past election Americans experienced the full might and moxie of the right wing media — frontline partisan warriors of a multibillion-dollar communications empire — whose goal is to shape public discourse, influence public opinion and win elections.

Think back to how right wing pundits ganged up to spread the message, without a shred of hard evidence, that Osama bin Laden's latest video, which arrived just days before the election meant the terrorist was supporting John Kerry.

LIMBAUGH [11/1/04]: This is highly suspicious to me, but it is what it is. I mean, Bin Laden sounds like the Kerry campaign. Bin Laden sounds like John Kerry.

MOYERS: Bin Laden "Urges Bush Defeat" read the headline in right wing tycoon Rupert Murdoch's NEW YORK POST. The very next day a POST columnist wrote that "A vote for Kerry is a vote for …terrorists….and Al Qaeda."

And listen to Sean Hannity:

HANNITY [10/29/04]: Why would Osama bin Laden, who's been quiet for so long, come out and virtually try and influence the election today in favor of John Kerry by attacking the president the way he did?

MOYERS: Do you think what Sean Hannity said is fair?

VIGUERIE: Oh, absolutely.

MOYERS: But there's no fact to back that up. There's no effort to substantiate that with documentation.

VIGUERIE: That's what journalism is. It's just all opinion. Just opinion[...]

MOYERS: When the mainstream media got a hold of that story, they began to deconstruct it. They begin to say, "This isn't right. That isn't right. There's no basis for this. There's no basis for that." But by that time it was too late, right?

VIGUERIE: Well, that's a matter of opinion as to whether there was a basis for this story or that story.

But you know, that's the beauty of having thousands of sources of news and information out there so that people can make up their own decision. They can believe what the NEW YORK TIMES and CBS says about the Swift Boat issue or they can believe what the Swift Boat people say.

Now think through again what ABCNewsMark Halperin has said:

...we the Media have to work hard these two weeks to regain the trust of conservatives.

These people despise you, and yet you want to work to "regain" their trust? Newsflash for Mr. Halperin: You never had their trust, and you never will.