Most of the time, I have very little patience for reflexive cries of liberal bias in the media. In fact, I am very firmly in the camp that believes that the threat of such unfounded charges has forced much of the press into a cramped position that wrongly elevates supposed neutrality and "balance" over accuracy, fairness, intellectual honesty and truth-telling.
But I have to say I'm with the bias-criers on their howls about the first sentence in today's New York Times lead story on Barack Obama's historic shift on gay marriage:
Before President Obama left the White House on Tuesday morning to fly to an event in Albany, several aides intercepted him in the Oval Office. Within minutes it was decided: the president would endorse same-sex marriage on Wednesday, completing a wrenching personal transformation on the issue.
Look, I have no doubt that Obama thought long and hard about this. I also think the decision carries with it more political risk than many in Acela-land assume. But neither the twinkle in Obama's eye, as he chalked up his conversion to his daughters' modern sensibility, nor the timing of the announcement, coming just a few days after his vice president "got out a little bit over his skis," suggested a man who had undergone a "wrenching personal transformation" back to the position he had held on this issue in 1996.
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