FU - FairAndUNbalanced.com

News reports of the Romney-Ryan ticket bring to mind the continuing bias of today's journalism. Oh, I'm not talking about Fox News, the Tea Party Channel. In fact, the reporting class bias bends heavily in two directions: equivalency and laziness.

Whenever I hear the words "both sides do it" my skepticism meter goes toward the high end of the scale. I don't become a total rejectionist. But if I start hearing weak examples, or if I hear no examples at all, my hand heads toward the channel changer like Dr. Strangelove's arm shoots reflexively toward the new Republican direction. Sometimes both sides actually do something or other, so I wait long enough for a quick judgment.

That's the equivalency part. One side eats little kittens alive. The other side shoots rabid dogs. So both sides do the same thing. Kind of.

The laziness part is perpetual. It's part of human nature.

I can relate, of course. It gets worse with age. Some Saturdays I try to get up on time just so I won't miss my nap. I often regard sleep the way other folks regard a chef-prepared meal or the perfect martini. The best martini, by the way, ignored the Bond advice. It's never shaken, always stirred. Otherwise you get a bunch of tiny ice chips that quickly melt, which is okay if you like a watered down drink. Okay. Back to the art of sleep. I think of it the way friends might think of a chef-prepared meal or the perfect martini. M-m-m-m, that's good. Gimme more.

Journalists don't actually sleep. Ever. But they are lazy.

I'm thinking now of Mitt Romney's bold choice of Paul Ryan. Bold is the word. Mitt Romney has taken under his wing the top choice of the rightest wing of the right wing of the right wing Republican Party. So it's bold. Ryan has been famous for a while. He's been the man with a plan. It's the one that turns Medicare into a voucher system. The one that turns the Romney 13.9% tax year into the 0 percent tax year. That's the Romney choice for Vice President.

Sounds pretty bold, right? Except Mitt Romney is making clear he doesn't necessarily buy the Ryan budget. "I have my budget plan. And that’s the budget plan we’re going to run on."

Democrats have been pouring arctic water on on the Mitt attempt to separate the man from the plan. History might help just a little. Mitt Romney went through a lot of trouble to convince the far right that the Ryan Budget is exactly what he wants to run on. Not "my budget plan." The Ryan plan.

Annie-Rose Strasser at Think Progress recalls five instances in which Mitt Romney endorsed the Ryan plan, if not to the delight of far right Republicans, at least to their placation.

• I’m very supportive of the Ryan budget plan...I applaud it. It’s an excellent piece of work and very much needed.

• He is setting the right tone for finally getting spending and entitlements under control... we are on the same page.

• I think it’d be marvelous if the Senate were to pick up Paul Ryan’s budget and to adopt it and pass it along to the president.

• We’re going to have to make changes like the ones Paul Ryan proposed.

• Paul Ryan and I have been working together over some months to talk about our mutual plans and we’re on the same page.

Democrats at large are making similar observations.

I notice something else at work. Each of the Romney endorsements resembles his tricky business contracts, the ones with magnifying glass loopholes, and tax-avoidance sub-paragraphs. The finely tuned clauses that engineer heads-I-win tails-I-win-bigger hidden ability to raid pension programs and retirement buildups.

Supportive,
right tone,
marvelous if they would,
changes like the ones,
on the same page

It all sounds to the cheering throngs like endorsements. Sounds that way to news folks as well. News folks are supposed to know better than the keep-your-government-hands-off-my-medicare folks. But knowing equals research. Research equals work.

Lets see if the loophole technique holds when the wiggle protests begin. The "I never said that" protests. Will that fly with the general public the way it does with those sub-paragraph clauses in BainLand? We'll know eventually.

But for now, in journalist country, the quitting-time whistle is blowing. Copy due by five. Get it done with as little effort as possible.

Bold. Yeah. That's the word.

Bold.