The mask is off.  Further denials are useless.  After the events of the past seven days the ingrained leftist, pro-Democratic Party bias of the nation?s mainstream media has been fully exposed.  All it took was for a certain Vietnam veteran to write a book daring to question the war hero status of Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry.  Media lips are now drawn into a permanent snarl; the knives are out and the scent of blood is in the air.  Circle the wagons and may the effort to protect the Democratic candidate proceed.

To make this scenario as clear as possible, I ask you to remember one basic difference between George Bush and John Kerry.  George Bush is not running on his record of military service during the Vietnam War.  John Kerry is.  John Kerry is not running on the basis of his recent service as an elected official.  George Bush is. 

Now ? turn back the calendar to earlier this year.  George Bush was asking the voters of this country to reelect him on the basis of his previous four years as president and commander in chief.  Suddenly Democratic detractors come forward with questions about Bush?s service in the Texas Air National Guard over 30 years ago.  Democratic sycophants were using words like ?AWOL? and demanding investigations.  Blood had been thrown in the water with the media sharks and the White House press briefings immediately turned ugly.  Reporters wanted details ? all of the details ? of Bush?s National Guard service.  They wanted pay records, dental records, medical records, flight records and statements from fellow guardsmen confirming Bush?s participation.  The AWOL word had been used and it was George Bush?s job to provide all of the information necessary to prove that it wasn?t so. 

If you think back I?ll wager you can?t remember one single story from any of the alphabets (ABC, NBC, etc.) questioning the motives or the honesty of the people who brought the AWOL charges.  Their motives were assumed to be worthy and pure.  It was the president on the spot, not the detractors. 

Now ? let?s turn the calendar pages to early August, 2004.  A group of Vietnam veterans step forward with some questions and charges about John Kerry?s record of service in Vietnam, the very record that John has presented to the American people as the sole and exclusive reason (save for their hatred of George Bush) that he should be the 44th President of the United States.  If the media?s treatment of the George Bush AWOL charges were a guide, we would expect to see an immediate feeding frenzy from the mainstream media.  Demands would be made of the Kerry campaign that records, documents and any and all other available evidence be presented to prove Kerry?s claims of heroism.

The Kerry campaign would be handling multiple demands from The New York Times, the Boston Globe, ABC, NBC and the rest of the locusts for all of the medical records pertaining to Kerry?s second and third Purple Hearts.  Apologies would be demanded of the Democratic and Kerry lawyers who referred to Dr. Louis Letson, the physician who applied the band aid to Kerry?s first Purple Heart wound as a ?phony? physician.  Maureen Dowd would be opining about obscene Republican operatives daring to question the medical credentials of a man who undoubtedly had saved far more lives in Vietnam than John Kerry.  Obviously, it hasn?t happened exactly that way.  We haven?t heard one objective reporter asking Kerry to defend his lawyer?s name-calling.   Change the fact situation just a tad.  Have Dr. Letson make a statement supporting Kerry?s claims, and have a Bush lawyer refer to him as a ?phony? physician.  I don?t have to tell you how outraged the media would be, do I?  I didn?t think so.

And what of the people supporting Kerry?s detractors? One columnist referred to a Houston homebuilder who had made a donation to the Swift Boat veterans as a ?mysterious Republican moneyman.?  Mysterious?  A Texas homebuilder is mysterious?  I think a Hungarian financier who finances Moveon.org and The Media Fund, both Kerry surrogates, might qualify as mysterious, but has anyone seen dark hints about the money behind these organizations? 

If anyone else out there has a plan to write a book exposing liberal media bias in America, they should consider applying their efforts to another cause.  The media is doing all too good a job of exposing itself.