U.S. News Thinks Dean “Frugal”, Bush “Weird”

Paul Bedard's "Washington Whispers" section in the August 14-21 issue of U.S. News and World Report includes the following blurbs (the highlights are mine):

The Top Dem Finally Dumps Dial-Up

He was heralded in 2004 as the king of Internet politics and fundraising, but get this: Up until just a few weeks ago, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean had only snail-slow dial-up service wired to his home computer in Burlington. “We finally got him to buy DSL,” says a relieved aide. It wasn’t the technology that kept the Democratic Party chairman from the light-speed service. Friends say he’s just frugal and didn’t want to spend more. And he won’t expense it to the party. Another old-school sign: Dean doesn’t carry a BlackBerry, choosing to phone aides instead.

So U.S. News spins Howard Dean’s lack of high-speed Internet access as “frugal” and principled, since he “won’t expense it to the party”.

You wonder how this story would have been reported if it had been about President Bush. Would the President also have been shown as “frugal” or would he be “out of touch” and “behind the times”?

Right after this little love-fest is a story about President Bush:

Mmm, Nice, Warm Bottled Water!

If you ever have a chance to snag President Bush as a featured speaker, here are two little quirks on his list of wants. First, provide a box of Altoids. Yes, he’s a fan of those “curiously strong” semisweet breath mints. “He doesn’t,” says a Bushie, “like sweets much, so these work good as mints.” Second: warm water. Actually, room temperature. Preferably bottled. “He doesn’t like it cold,” adds the insider. “It’s kind of weird.”

So, President Bush’s tastes are “kind of weird”.

It's interesting how these stories were co-located, the first showing Howard Dean as “frugal” and the next showing President Bush having weird diva-like back-stage demands. Requesting Altoids and room-temperature water seem like very normal demands, showing me that he’s a regular guy.

It’s comical how the article takes these pretty normal requests and works hard to depict them as unusual and “kind of weird” by using short sentences:

"Second: warm water. Actually, room temperature. Preferably bottled."

Also note how Dean has “aides” and “friends” while the President has a “Bushie” and “insider”.

I don’t know if Mr. Bedard consciously intended any of this, but his obvious bias shines through.

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http://thephantomrepublican.blogspot.com/2006/09/us-news-thinks-dean-frugal-bush-weird.html