Here's a partial transcript from MSNBC's The Most, by way of Media Matters -- Mike Viqueira, speaking on the nonbinding Iraq resolution:

Russ Feingold, on the lefthand side, says it doesn't go far enough. There are others like Joe Lieberman, more towards the center, more aligned with the president on Iraq, who says it goes too far.

The center? Only 24% of the country backs the Bush/Lieberman position. I suspect that a larger percentage of the American population believes in Bigfoot. If that's Viqueria's idea of "the center," then if he and I ever have to split a sub sandwich, I think I'll do the cutting.

Viqueira has a history of this sort propagandizing. Last October, Firedoglake carried a story on his strange handling of the Foley scandal (see also here):

Viqueria lapsed into right wing talking points we are certain to be hearing more of in the upcoming days. After perpetuating the "over friendly but not overtly sexual in nature" meme regarding the original emails, he goes on to reduce the entire matter to partisan bickering...

And here's what Mikey V actually said:

[A] lot of Republicans suspect that Democrats have held onto this and disseminated it at the last minute just six weeks before the midterms elections. Of course we know the Democrats stand a better chance than ever in the past 12 years of retaking the House. All they need is 15 seats. A lot of people think that they can do that; Republicans whispering to us and among themselves and to us that this was the plant...

In retrospect, doesn't that bilge sound an awful lot like the "Blame Hillary! She smeared Obama!" meme that the right tried to push after their smarmy "Madrassa" fabrication was exposed?

As for Russ Feingold: His proposal to use the power of the purse to stop the war is indeed centrist.

While Feingold's Senate colleagues have largely shied away from talking about the proposal, it may have traction outside Washington. In a Newsweek poll released last week, 64 percent of Americans surveyed said Congress has not been assertively challenging the Bush administration on its handling of the war. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said it had been.

Let's tell MSNBC to stop defining the end zone as "the center."

Labels: bias, media