LATE TUESDAY NIGHT I was watching John Boehner give his victory speech on MSNBC, that bastion of evil, nasty, socialist commentators, and I was struck by two related contrasts in the small drama that was played out in a few brief minutes.
Boehner ended his speech choked up with tears.
I don't really know what reaction I expected to that on the part of the MSNBC crowd.
There were many possibilities.
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They could have attacked him as a phony, crying crocodile tears in order to influence his base.
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They could have ridiculed him, labeling his breakdown in front of the cameras as a "Glenn Beck Moment."
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They could have argued that it was a sign of weakness or instability, and that he wasn't fit to lead the house.
We can all imagine what the response would have been on Fox, if a Democrat had cried in front of the cameras.
Oh—wait. We don't have to imagine.
Remember when Hilary Clinton teared up in the midst of her presidential campaign?
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Dick Morris, on Hannity & Colmes: "I believe that there could well come a time when there is such a serious threat to the United States that she breaks down like that."
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Laura Ingram on Fox & Friends: "We can't have people who break down and start crying at the most difficult moments."
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Billy Kristol during Fox News coverage: "She pretended to cry; the women liked it."
So, it would come to no surprise to those who see MSNBC as simply the left-hand mirror image of Fox to hear similar comments about Boehner there.
Except that isn't what happened.
The entire table of liberal commentators agreed that the tears were genuine, and a real reflection of Boehner's emotion in the moment.
They defended him against any charges that he was pretending, or weak, or unfit to lead because of his tears.
There is a distinct difference between the attitude of the left, reflected by MSNBC, toward the right on one hand, and the attitude of the right, reflected by Fox, toward the left on the other:
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MSNBC commentators are willing to give the other side the benefit of the doubt, they want to believe that conservatives are honest, and well-meaning (which explains why they are so outraged whenever that turns out not to be true), and
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They are instinctively biased toward the truth.
In this case, that meant not spinning Boehner's tears to their political advantage, since they knew that they had no way to tell what was really going on inside his head.
Liberals have a bias toward thinking that their political opponents are reasonable and good human beings, and a bias toward sticking to the facts.
They instinctively see Boehner as a fellow human being, a fellow American, and a potential ally in the effort to make this country a better place.
The second point that struck me came from Boehner himself.
In his speech, he repeatedly emphasized that "the American people" were demanding change, that the "will of the people" was that Obama now do things the way Republicans want him to.
My way or the highway.
He had also said, earlier but repeatedly, that this was "no time for compromise" that he, and the Republicans he represented would not compromise with the Democrats, who he sees, not as a potential ally, but as his political enemy.
That is, he is convinced that it is the will of the American people that Republicans refuse to compromise with Democrats.
Next time, we'll examine that belief
through a bias toward the facts...
