A couple of weeks ago, someone I work with made a comment about how the right wing controls the media because FOX News was so popular. I laughed when he said it because unless you have been living under a rock for the past 40 years, you would know that the statement was ridiculous.

But because he is self-admitted liberal, he thrives on conspiracy theories and Rovian machinations of the right. He then went into a rage about how paranoid I am - and by extension all conservatives are - about what we believe (and know) are clear biases in the press against all things conservative.

His anger - and that is a generous term here - was bordering on irate. He went on to tell me that as a liberal, he defends the constitution (unlike us neanderthals on the right) and as far as he is concerned (remember, he is a tolerant liberal) "I hope each of you drop dead!"

Nice.

Anyway, I read in today's Wall Street Journal this little piece, which I thought confirmed my "paranoia":

Accountability Journalism
The Associated Press has announced the results of its annual editors poll on the top news stories. Three of the top 10 concern American politics:

1. U.S. ELECTION: Obama emerged from Election Night as a decisive victor and a symbol for the world of America's democratic promise. But he reached that point only after a grueling battle with Clinton for the Democratic nomination and then an often-nasty showdown with the McCain/Palin ticket in the run-up to the election. . . .

7. SARAH PALIN: Few Americans outside Alaska knew much about its governor when Republican John McCain picked her as his running mate. That changed rapidly. To her conservative admirers, she was a feisty, refreshing change from most politicians; to her critics, she was in over her head, and worthy of all the lampooning she endured. . . .

9. HILLARY CLINTON: She didn't win, but Clinton came closer than any other woman in U.S. history to becoming a major party's presidential nominee. Her determined primary campaign, waged vigorously even when it seemed a lost cause, inspired millions of women across the country--and helped persuade Obama to choose her as secretary of state.

We can't dispute the order, or the omission of--uh, what was his name again? Oh yeah, McCain.

But you've got to love the AP's editorializing. Obama is "a symbol for the world of America's democratic promise," and Mrs. Clinton "inspired millions of women across the country." But Palin, according to the AP, drew only "conservative admirers."

Meanwhile, we learn that in the view of Palin's critics, she was "worthy of all the lampooning she endured." That is no doubt true, but is it not also true of Obama and Mrs. Clinton, neither of whose critics the AP so much as acknowledges?

Indeed, didn't Obama and Mrs. Clinton themselves have a lot of harsh things to say about each other during the course of the year? Sure, they buried the hatchet in the interest of party unity. But since when is it the job of the Associated Press to promote party unity?

The mainstream media may well recapture their lost prestige, but it won't happen any time soon. The Internet has rendered this dinosaur obsolete and the once mighty press still has no idea what a mess they made of themselves.

The reason FOX News leads the others is because they are the most fair and balanced. Liberals and those who lean left like to vilify FOX as being on the right, but the reality is much different. Simply because it doesn't tow the media-elite, leftist protocol, they are branded "far-right."

After their shameful performance in 2008, the last people I would trust to "tell it like it is" is the mainstream media (aka: CBS/NBC/ABC/CNN).

Gee, I wonder how Chris Matthews' "tingle" is?