Wolcott: Faux Laying Groundwork to Blame Liberal Media for Bush Loss

From James Wolcott's blog:

There are no coincidences at Fox News. Three times today, and the day is still relatively young, Fox hit the note of liberal bias to sound the theme that the press is "in the tank" for Kerry, and that any victory he gets will be a tainted gift from the media elite.

I'm not saying Fox News is anticipating a Bush loss, only that they seem to be laying the ground work for the blame game should he cough it up on November 2nd. They are taking the first baby steps to denying the legitimacy of a Kerry win, preparing the first batch of sour grapes.

P.S. John Gibson's "My Word" commentary tonight reprises the same talking points Cavuto made with more volume and anger. Again, there are no coincidences. Roger Ailes claps his hands and the monkeys go into their little dance.

I made a point of catching a bit of Faux News over the past weekend (not to be done on a quesy stomach, I might add) and I had a similar impression. I got the feeling, too, that the Faux crew is bloody amazed Bush isn't wiping the campaign trail with Kerry.

But among all the media, there is this strange phenomenon about poll numbers and phrasing:

* Bush can be ahead by just a point or two and the press labels him "the clear frontrunner"
* Bush can be 2-4 points behind (sometimes outside the margin of error and they'll say "it's a dead heat" or "Kerry has gained little over the president."
But Kerry can be ahead by 6-7 points and he's not "the leader".

I'm not sure I understand the standard being used here. It's relatively rare for the incumbent to be so low in the polls (except for Bush 41, for example) so if anything, it should at least appear more significant that the challenger is ahead beyond the margin of error. Instead, Bush is always labeled as ahead or in a dead heat with Kerry. Bill Schneider was doing it on the afternoon CNN news. Wolf did it over the weekend. MSGOP, too.