Comment "signature" of DailyKos diarist mollyd:

"Fact does not require fiction for balance."

How are the Repubs and MSM going to chip away at the emerging Democratic majority?

As James Carville might have said, if he weren't busy throwing Howard Dean under the bus: it's the equivalation, stupid.

Since the advent of "Nightline," cable news, and Ronnie love — and the end of the fairness doctrine and something we used to call "shame" — the news game has been a game.

And the name of the game is making everything into either a horserace (tilting the field in favor of the undeserving) or a star-spangled army-recruitment poster.

And, oh yes, MSM includes NPR:

Equivalation may not be a real word. But it's a real problem — quite possibly the single biggest problem in our national media and discourse.

Let's define it thusly:

1. The knee-jerk assumption that competing sides, especially political parties, are equally extreme, equally guilty, etc.

This approach minimizes public outrage when one side has blatantly or repeatedly misbehaved. It is beneficial not only to wrongdoers and their supporters, but also to media outlets that thrive on continued argument, rather than on problem resolution.

2. Treating a dubious position as arguably equivalent to a legitimate one.

Dignifying questionable claims and disreputable agendas provides sensational fodder for an increasingly entertainment-focused news media. It also brings those claims and agendas within striking distance of acceptability.

A good example of the former is Joe Klein's comparing the Daily Kos blog to right-wing shock-jock Rush Limbaugh, after Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox's physical impairment.