I think the fascinating thing about the Bennett story (and it IS a news story, in the WashPost and AP and ABC) is how effortlessly a Media Matters scooplet like this goes from David Brock-land to Democratic press secretaries to the media “mainstream.” Can you imagine an MRC or AIM transcript moving so effectively from Republican press release to Washington Post? No. That’s why they’re called the liberal media.

Then there’s the whole issue of black leaders like Jesse Jackson Jr. taking offense. The media clearly does not respond when black leaders like Julian Bond say conservatives are a racist “crazed swarm of right-wing locusts.” Or when Al Gore pandered to them by suggesting conservatives “use colorblind the way duck hunters use their duck blind. They hide behind it and hope the ducks won’t figure out what they’re up to.” Those quotes didn’t make the news pages of the Post.