Now I know that reporters are not responsible for headlines, copy editors are. So when I see this story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution headlined Prospective Democratic Chairs All Liberal I got a Cheney-like lip curl reflex. We may know better, but to the Great Unwashed “liberal” is still a code word for All Evil In The World. But I read the story anyway.

Only to find that John Solomon is apparently not the only AP writer who has been put under a Voldemortian spell compelling the victim to vomit forth Republican talking points as though they were objective journalism. The author of this piece is listed as one Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer. Can I just say it sounds like he outsourced this piece to Deputy Barney Fife?
Take a look at these Forces of Evil and how they are described:

So who are the chairmen to be?

_a Polish-American lawyer with a reputation for making witnesses quiver.

_a die-hard liberal from New York’s Harlem with 35 years in the House.

_a free-spending progressive from Wausau, Wis.

_one of the few remaining “Watergate babies” swept into Congress in 1974.
[snip]
As for those prospective Democratic chairmen, the group is overwhelmingly liberal-leaning.

Only two of 20 earned grades of less than 90 percent on last year’s voting records from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action interest group. Half had perfect scores of 100 from the ADA — or would have had it not been for missed votes.

Polish-American is now a code word for Flaming Liberal? And how elegant is a paragraph which manages to mention that the ADA is both “liberal” and “an interest group.” How often do you see the Cato Institute or AEI called either “conservative” or “an interest group”? Don’t they more often just get named without any characterization at all, as if they were objective, disinterested bystanders? Oh, and the end of the sentence manages an extra dig that they’re not only liberal but lazy because they miss votes.

Some more selected snips:

For Republicans, the prospect of the House being led by a San Franciscan and so many left-leaning chairmen has supporters in business and Washington’s K Street lobbying shops aghast. The switch could mark the demise of Bush’s tax cut agenda and would usher into power union allies such as Rangel and Miller.

We are more than 3/4 of the way down the page before even a grudging bit of “balance” intrudes its nose into the tent.

In a potential power switch between the parties, more than an unrelenting string of liberal Democrats are positioned to take over committees.

Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, who would run the Agriculture Committee, is anti-abortion and as pro-gun as practically anyone in the House. Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri is a longtime hawk in line to lead the Armed Services Committee.

And then we get to the real fun: SCARY BLACK PEOPLE might get to be in charge of things! Let’s look at the list of qualifications and accomplishments of these members of the US House:

Besides Rangel, there is Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, in line for the top spot on the Judiciary Committee; Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi on the Homeland Security Committee; and Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida at the Intelligence Committee.

Conyers has been accused by former aides of misusing his office by turning them into baby sitters for his children. He is the prime sponsor of a resolution that seeks to investigate grounds for possible impeachment of Bush over the war in Iraq….

Hastings, a charismatic former federal judge, was impeached and removed from the bench in 1989 for fabricating evidence that secured his acquittal in 1983 on bribery charges.

If there’s been an undercover mission to infiltrate RNC operatives into formerly reputable news organizations like the AP, I’d say they’re starting to slip up and reveal their true nature. Might be time for some more resume-checking to see if they spent time in those Seminars for the Promotion of Christian/Conservative Journalism for Jeebus groups. Or maybe it really is just Voldemort at work.