Double standards and doubler standards

As I noted yesterday, Jessica McBride is all a-twitter because Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle sent a letter (.pdf) to MMAC president Tim Sheehy calling Sheehy and the ads his group helped put on the air "dishonest." She's at it again today, at the bottom of this post, asking, "when's the MSM [main-stream media] going to get around to reporting that Doyle called some of the top business leaders in our community dishonest? Or are they still stuck on the governor compromising?"

See, McBride has been on an anti-media kick lately, complaining variously that the media ignored endorsements earned by her husband's campaign, obfuscated the political affiliations of liberal professors, and (gosh-a-mighty!) reported a story, all in the last two days. And then the bomb, above, about the "MSM" (please read the sarcasm in the sarcasm quotes) not covering big bad Jim Doyle writin' a mean ol' letter.

What McBride neglects to ask in her spirit of fair play--well, there's a whole long list, so bear with me:

• Was Doyle correct in calling his targets dishonest? I have argued that he was. McBride's main problem with Doyle's letter is not its accuracy, but rather its bad politics. Maybe that's what the media should cover--whether or not the ad was misleading.
  
• If the media is "stuck on the governor compromising" on voucher caps, why is there no corresponding coverage of Republicans' refusal to compromise?
  
• Where is the media coverage of those big, bad media figures on the right who made the ad literally equating Doyle with racist, anti-segregationist southern governors like George Wallace?
  
• Now that the Orwellian-named "Center for America's Families" is paying to run the ad, will the media question the ad's accuracy, especially given their history of dishonest and misleading campaigns? (1, 2, 3, 4, and this deceptive website)
  
• Will the media investigate WTMJ's complicity (media investigate itself--ha!) in the production of the now-CFAF-funded ad? At least two WTMJ employees were involved in the production of the ad at WTMJ studios. Is CFAF reimbursing WTMJ for the production expenses, or has WTMJ "donated" those services?
  
• McBride touts more ads produced by the MMAC; will the media explore MMAC's connections to pro-voucher and anti-Doyle organizations, its PAC's endorsements of Doyle's past political opponents? Or will the media keep portraying the MMAC as a disinterested, neutral organization?

I could go on. I think that from now on, in the interest of fair play, Jessica McBride needs to raise these kinds of questions, too. She probably won't, since she's working from a decidedly not-disinterested point of view herself. The MMAC, CFAF, Charlie Sykes--they all speak with McBride's voice. So she will maintain her own double-standard and not ask the questions. But I will.