Bias in the so-called liberal media is not exactly breaking news.  But you'd have to go back eight years to the media painting Al Gore as a serial liar while giving George Bush the he's-my-buddy-he's-my-pal treatment, to find the blatant bias that we are seeing today in the treatment of the Jeremiah Wright story.  

Don't get me wrong.  The remarks made by the minister of the leading Democratic candidate for the presidency are certainly newsworthy.  In a perfect world, Wright's words would lead to a broader discussion on race in America, but we're talking about the political world so the focus will remain on the political ramifications.  But with Obama's immediate response disassociating himself from Wright, and the fact that the election is eight months out, the damage will be minimal.  Sure, it will provide fodder for the rightwingnutosphere (althought it might screw up their Obama-is-a-Muslim strategy), and cable news talking heads will "tsk, tsk" whenever the subject of Obama and religion comes up, but beyond that, America is ready for its next missing white woman.  But let's not let the media off the hook here.

Back in 2000, John W. McCain had an unintended moment of honesty and said:

They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.

Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.

...and ever since, McCain has shamelessly tried to disassociate himself from his own words,  while the media helpfully looks the other way.  He "mended fences" with Jerry Falwell,  abandoned his own religion, now pretending to be a Baptist, and he "proudly" accepted the endorsement of John Hagee; a man who not only called the Catholic Church "the great whore" who conspired with Hitler to exterminate Jews, but who believes Hurricane Katrina was a righteous punishment, sent to the people of New Orleans for their sins.

And there's another endorsement McCain received that has been flying under the radar.  Last month, McCain:

...campaigned in Cincinnati, where he appeared with the Rev. Rod Parsley of World Harvest Church of Columbus. McCain called Parsley a "spiritual guide," while Parsley later labeled McCain a "strong, true, consistent conservative."

Who is Rod Parsley?  An Ohio pastor whose $600 million ministry's finances is cloaked in secrecy, a man who sells ""covenant swords" and "prayer cloths" -- that he claims will bring...freedom from financial problems as well as any physical or emotional ailments,"  a man who calls himself a high priest who only has to blow in a whistle to have "every demon is coming off your shoulders, outta your mind, outta your finances," and who wants to "restore Godly presence in government and culture and...will tear down the church-state wall."  Then he really gets crazy.  Says Parsley:

In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.

Of course this does go a long ways in explaining Parsley's support for Bush's third term.  After all, McCain does want to stay in Iraq for 100 years and as everyone knows, Crusades aren't won overnight.  But it is good to know that McCain's spiritual guide wants to wipe out an entire religion so we can fulfill out divine purpose.  Who knew?  Certainly not the media.

It's amazing, really.  John McCain seeks out and embraces the support of men who, in the name of God, accuse Catholics of aiding in the Holocaust, who think that the victims of Hurricane Katrina got what they deserved, and who advocate wiping out more than a billion Muslims, and it is all ignored.

Such is the life of a media darling.