I don’t recall the AP ever running a story about Bill Maher saying that he wished Dick Cheney had been killed while he was in Afghanistan because “people wouldn’t be dying needlessly” (I couldn’t find one in their archives, either). Yet they see fit to run a story on Ann Coulter mocking Bill Maher and the mainstream media and saying that she wished John Edwards had been killed in a terrorist attack. The story begins without even mentioning Bill Maher and making it look like Coulter was being serious. Only when you get to the very end of the story do you find out that her comments were made in jest. I have no intention of defending Coulter, she’s perfectly capable of doing that herself, but it is so interesting to me that liberals refuse to see the bias in the way the media presents stories and which stories it chooses to run. I often wonder whether they are truly blind to the bias or they are simply being dishonest. The BBC, for one, admitted its left-leaning bias. Their conclusions could be drawn by almost any major news outlet in the US as well, especially considering that nine out of ten reporters who make political donations give to Democrats (hat tip to Evan Coyne Maloney).

The actual quote is this:

Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t — I wouldn’t insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. That would be mean. But about the same time, you know, Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I’ve learned my lesson. If I’m going to say anything about John Edwards in the future I’ll just wish he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.

Does that sound anything like the AP’s caricature?

Elizabeth Edwards pleaded Tuesday with Ann Coulter to “stop the personal attacks,” a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Edwards’ husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists. (Emphasis mine)