The Daily Howler’s Bob Somerby has suggested that the entire press corps now has a partisan bias against Democrats:

What has changed since 1960? At one point in his iconic first book [The Making of the President 1960], [Theodore] White painted a truly remarkable picture. He described the way the mainstream press corps was flying around the country, mocking and laughing at one of the candidates—and bonding with the other candidate, the one who was pandering to them. And wouldn’t you know it? Forty years later, during Campaign 2000, a string of major profiles painted a very similar picture! As White had done forty years before, they described the way the mainstream press corps was flying around the country, mocking and laughing at one of the candidates—and bonding with the other candidate, the one who was pandering to them. But uh-oh! In White’s account, the press corps was bonding with Candidate Kennedy—and mocking and laughing at Candidate Nixon. By the time of Campaign 2000, though, the press corps was bonding with Candidate Bush—and mocking and laughing at Candidate Gore.

In short, the press corps’s conduct was exactly the same—but the press corps’ party allegiance had changed!

Somerby previously made the same charge against Tim Russert. In both cases, it’s simplistic and unconvincing. Here’s what I said about his Russert accusations — I think the same logic applies here:

I actually agree with Somerby that Russert tends to be more aggressive in his questioning of Democrats. (Anyone remember his interview of Howard Dean during the last presidential campaign?) The problem, however, is that we can’t know Russert’s motives. More importantly, it is strange to assume that the ex-Democratic operative wants to embarrass Democrats for partisan reasons.

There’s a simpler explanation that seems more persuasive. Like most journalists, Russert is far more sensitive to the approval of his peers than to the opinion of the general public (they’re a lot like academics). So how do you win acclaim for being a tough journalist? First, you grill your subjects on alleged inconsistencies and constantly try to throw them off message (his signature style). But you must also fend off any suggestion of liberal bias, a charge that could be especially potent for Russert given his history as a Democratic operative. As a result, it makes perfect sense for him to go overboard in grilling Democrats and to treat Republicans less harshly. There’s no reason to think it has anything to do with partisan animus.